New book on 'The Somme' - Richard van Emden

[Seadog]

Anything by Richard Van E has my vote

Norman

[Forton]

Jonathan, Trenchtrotter, Norman

I'm very grateful for your kind words. I'm off to see Alicia again in a couple of weeks and I'll ask her how she has got on with the book. Her eyesight is great so she will be able to read it. It will be interesting to see what she makes of the picture of Becourt Cemetery in 1915 - and with the knowledge that a year later her dad would be buried there. After the war, her mother took some cuttings from the plants growing in front of the grave but, after she and Alicia got home again, the maid threw them away in ignorance. Alicia recalls her mother's face as turning 'ashen'.

R

[speake]

Delighted to say that Richard's new book has been shipped and will arrive in 5 days

[Nigel1898]

I have just started reading this book. I thought it would be another voices from the Great War book but it is more than that. It's amazing how unseen photographs are still turning up 100 years on. I bought it based on the good reviews on this forum and I am glad I did. Thoroughly recommended.

[The Scorer]

Just bought this ... when can I read it, though?

[David Ridgus]

Just bought this ... when can I read it, though?

My advice would be around 1 July this year as a useful corrective to the tide of ill informed guff that I think we all fear may be about to engulf us!

David

[Jim Hastings]

Cracking idea David! And a happy birthday to Richard today!

[The Scorer]

My advice would be around 1 July this year as a useful corrective to the tide of ill informed guff that I think we all fear may be about to engulf us!

David

Good idea .... !

[speake]

Got it yesterday. Halfway thru—love the double shot of varnish of the front cover

 

[The Scorer]

This is an excellent book, with many new (to me, at any rate) extracts from diaries and letters.

 

I think that it's always good to be able to read the words of those who were there. This is because they have a totally different perspective on things than we who were not there (and are viewing events up to over 100 years later with in may ways much more information) can have.

 

Many of the extracts contained in the book made me stop and think "Now what would I have done" or "How would I have coped with that" and in most cases the answers would have been "I don't know". I could quote many passages that struck a cord here, but I won't as I haven't got the time or the space to do so.

 

I'll just thank Richard for the book, and for his hard work in producing it.    

[Black Maria]

59 minutes ago, The Scorer said:

This is an excellent book, with many new (to me, at any rate) extracts from diaries and letters.

 

I think that it's always good to be able to read the words of those who were there. This is because they have a totally different perspective on things than we who were not there

I agree, it's all very well reading official histories about what battalion fought where and how many casualties they suffered but to really understand what

it meant for those at the sharp end you have to read about it in their own words. For example when I was reading ' Englishman Kamerad'  I was struck by the

utter confusion of the attack in September on Leuze Wood , where the author ( a Captain in 1/5 London) had his detailed plans changed at the last minute and

then had to reformulate them and communicate the changes down the chain of command, he also had the added difficulty of not knowing the exact position of

the enemy and had to do all this under constant heavy shell and machine gun fire ( he was blinded in the subsequent attack and made a prisoner of war ).