Fear

[IanA]

I haven't read the book yet but this review certainly makes me want to read it -

http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/books/book_review_fear_1_2055002

[George Armstrong Custer]

Thanks for that link, Ian - the review does indeed makes it sound a good read which promises to offer a slightly off-beat Great War perspective.

George

[IanA]

Having now read the book, I can thoroughly endorse what was said by the reviewer but I would go further. This book will be of interest to any student of the war but it is also a joy to read: the prose glitters - it is hard, clear-cut and incisive. It has been written with the conviction of youth and the confidence of experience: more than eighty years on, it has the power to grip the reader. It is a work of literature, crafted and honed, and shocking that it has taken so long for an English translation to appear. Of course, a work in translation is often a poor, pale, insipid imitation of the original but the translator - Malcolm Imrie - has, I feel, done a superb job and deserves every credit. (Interestingly, he acknowledges the valuable assistance of Deborah Lake and someone called Mick Forsyth for their help with military terminology.)

Chevallier served from 1915 to the end of the war and members of this forum will be interested to know that there are accounts of the fighting around Neuville-Saint-Vaast in 1915 and his observations on the criminal sacrifice of American soldiers at the end of 1918 when they learnt their lessons the hard way. One of the more interesting sections for me is his description of fighting in the Vosges in 1916. I have been to places such as Le Linge, in Alsace, and it beggars belief that men could have lived and fought in rock-hewn trenches so very close together. Chevallier describes a part of the system where the trenches are no more than eight metres apart and, although there were savage surprise attacks, there also existed a decorum whereby a German working party would cough politely to let a French working party know that boundaries were being pushed. They worked in temperatures of minus 30 degrees where the cold became a more deadly foe than the German. Later, the terror that was the Chemin des Dames is graphically and agonisingly portrayed.

Highly recommended.