Jump to content
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

A Subaltern's War vs A Soldier from Wars Returning


smawson44

Recommended Posts

Hello All,

Would someone enlighten me on the differences between Charles Carrington's two works: A Subaltern's War and A Soldier from Wars Returning. Is A Soldier from Wars Returning just a reprint of A Subaltern's War? Are they both worth reading, or is one better than the other. I have A soldier from Wars Returning, but A Subaltern's War is a little cost prohibited for me.

Also what specific events does Carrington describe in the books?

Thanks,

Simon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A Subaltern's War describes Carrington's experiences on the Western Front, but Soldier froim the Wars Returning was written in the 1960s and is much more reflective and, indeed, informative. I personally prtefer it to ASW.

Charles M

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with Charles; A Subaltern's War is well worth reading, but Soldier from the Wars Returning is one of the most important memoirs of a British officer.

William

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks in advance for this ... I'm waiting for "Soldier of the wars returning" to be delivered by Amazon... takes a bit longer than anticipated...

M.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I read 'A Subalterns War' quite a long time ago and found it an excellent memoir, I also have had an unread copy of ' Soldier from the wars returning' for a long time.

Prompted by this thread I have just finished reading it and found it a quite absorbing and interesting book , it deals with the authors overview of the political and military

situation and describes some of his own experiences as a young officer in the trenches . The author also challenges the 'Lions led by Donkeys ' view of the war which

was prevalent when the book was written in the mid-sixties. I also found it interesting that the author stated that after the war Armistice Day was a day of celebration for

him and his fellow x- officers, who would meet at the café Royal and have a party until the' do-gooders' captured the day and turned it into a day of 'mourning' and to

march to the cenotaph was, to him, too much like "attending one's own funeral" and so they held their reunions in private and with " no pacifist propaganda".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Am about two thirds of the way through on kindle and would agree with the above comments. I think I downloaded it free from Archive.org.

Hazel

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...