What should be in a battalion unit history?

[stevehowarth]

I am seeking Forum members' opinions on what content/themes should ideally feature in battalion unit history book.

I am working on the 1/6th Duke of Wellingtons - Craven Territorials from the West Riding of Yorkshire - and a book would be the natural end product.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Steve

 

[EastSurrey]

Having written such a history myself, I would suggest you use the battalion war diary, critically, as a basis for the narrative, whilst adding material from memoirs/ letters -from IWM, regimental collections, etc. I would aim to  put the unit's experiences in context ( brigade/division/wider operations- using war diaries, Official History, etc, etc. & the perspective of the German units facing them-if possible) .I would also suggest you examine the make up of the unit, both officers and men, its tactical proficiency, and how these changed during the War.

Publishers like appendices with lots of names, so include a Roll of Honour, list of officers, if available, list of awards, and Orbats

Modesty prevents me recommending my own book, but I drew particular inspiration from Mark Connelly's book on the Buffs and Kevin Mitchinson's on the London R.B.

Michael

[trajan]

I would also STRONGLY suggest that you footnote / endnote the sources of your information. I.E., that you say where you got the published information from. It is an easy thing to do while writing, and when published it will allow your readers to follow what you are saying when they want to explore more. This is especially true of unpublished private diaries and oral records, but it applies also to war diaries and other published material.

 

Trajan

 

[Chris_Baker]

Please don't forget to include a good index. They are a pain - so plan how to create one, right from the start.

[John_Hartley]

Steve

 

I've had two published with another due early 1917. I think EastSurrey puts his finger on the context expected of the modern unit history.

 

The war diary, and probably the brigade diary, provide the chronological information. My method has been to then collect the personal account information - the letters, diaries, etc that may be held by IWM, Liddle Collection, Regimental Archive, snippets from obituaries. I file these chronologically so they are easily to hand. It is then "just" a matter of telling a story, bringing the diary and the filed info together. I suspect that, as its a Territorial unit, a goodly part of the story is going to be its link with the community (something that should also aid book sales as well as being "good stuff"). I'd suggest that what is not necessary is a literal day-by-day account of activities - there will be times, for instance, when they are in deep reserve, that little happens and you can be telling a decent story in a paragraph that practically covers several weeks.

 

My current effort mentions quite a lot of soldiers. In many of the cases, I've got research information on them - obituaries, census, marriage certificate, together with photos. It means this account is, hopefully, going to lean towards "human interest", rather than a relatively dry account - so , rather than just saying one man was KIA on the day, I'm able to say that Joe Bloggs, a 24 year old plumber from Glossop, was KIA, leaving Martha a widow and John & Elizabeth without a dad.

 

John

[barkalotloudly]

Maps and Photographs {a picture paints a thousand words} and names, these always make the history far more personal i rather like the battalion histories of the 1/6th and 2/6th battalions West Yorks, their only fault ? as has been mentioned elsewhere ....no index!

[TEW]

Trawl the other battalion diaries for the same brigade and division? Operation orders, dispositions, maps, Corps/Army material sometimes only ends up in one battalion dairy when it would originally have been sent to all concerned.

 

TEW

[trajan]

And in addition to indicating sources and providing an index, please indicate the origins/ownership of any photographs you use! Prior to reading any of the recently-published British unit-histories the only similar thing that I had read was Fighting the Kaiser's War: The Saxons in Flanders 1914-1918 by Andi Lucas and Jürgen Schmieschek, and I was inspired by this to follow up on some of their sources and on the photographs they published. A great disappointment, therefore, to then find that neither of the two British unit-histories I have recently obtained lack these (to me) fundamental matters of scholarship - and the research and the writing of a battalion history is a work of scholarship.

 

The point being that if you don't have the reference to the source for, let's say, your quote from the last letter of a man who was KIA the next day, or of another man's recollections of trench life, then these cannot be independently checked and verified, and so could be dismissed as inspired pieces of fiction presented as fact to embellish a tale. With photographs also, a source is needed: these days photoshop and similar programmes can be used to great effect, but more to the point, if somebody else wants to use that photographs for another purpose, then they need to know where to find the original source. 

 

All that aside - good luck and patience are also needed!

 

Julian

[stevehowarth]

Many thanks to all who have given such useful advice. I am very grateful for your time and thoughtfulness.

East Surrey (Michael) raises the issue of the battalion's 'tactical proficiency'. I have found this is a difficult one. I have yet to come across evidence that directly addresses it. The Brigade (147) War Diary  held no opinion as such. What has struck me is that the 1/6th Battalion is held in reserve even when its Division/Brigade were selected for leading an attack, such as the 3rd September 1916. Was this generally the case, that certain battalions were selected over others? if so, what were the criteria for the decision? 

 

Steve

[David Filsell]

as a reviewer, I can only agree with the comments about notes and refs, index and maps. Avoid overused and tired pictures too.  As for maps - we seem to be at an all time low in military books  - the reason is publishers' parsimony. Not every reader will know the ground as well as the author. I often comment how inadequate,  poor and unhelpful maps in books are,

 

But take a look at the hard back edition of Seabag Montifiore's book Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Manto see how well it can be done. Twenty maps - all well worthwhile, all helpful. Sadly the new revised paper back lacks the author's detailed and copious notes and refs in the hardback which ran to  45 pages  - appendices, dramatis  personae, abbreviations and chapter notes - again I suspect publishers parsimony. But  they are all on the author website. It's a damn fine book about the 'replay' of a campaign too.

[EastSurrey]

Steve, regarding tactical proficiency, this is a matter of looking at the unit's performance at different times, in operations, both large and small. To give a few examples from the battalion I wrote about, it started out making a very conventional, and unsuccessful, attack on the 2nd day of Loos. Regular officers commented on the inexperience of the Kitchener battalions in the division that autumn,  in their personal diaries. In early 1916, two officers of the battalion were killed on patrol within days, because of inexperience. Performance improved, but the battalion had to be rebuilt after the Somme. In January 1917, there are very clear examples of competence- a carefully planned and executed successful trench raid, and the repulse of an attempted raid by the Germans.

Regarding the German side of things, in addition to 'Fighting the Kaiser's War' on the Saxons in Flanders,Jack Sheldon's books can be invaluable for those of us unable to read the language. British intelligence reports on the enemy opposite may be found in divisional and brigade war diaries.

I haven't encountered one unit being repeatedly selected as the reserve, so find it difficult to comment on that point.

I agree, very much, with the comments about the importance of notes and a good index. Some publishers want the writer to do the index, others want to do it themselves.

As for maps and photos, the two  publishers I have dealt with expect writers to provide these at their own expense. As a result, I used maps from books out of copyright, including the British Official Histories and German regimental histories. For photos, cost is a factor. The larger collections may take planned print run into account in setting reproduction charges, but smaller collections may charge less, welcoming the publicity. All these collections will also generally demand a free copy of your book if you use any of their photos. Great War postcards can still be picked up from £1 upwards and sometimes these can be used for illustrations (although avoid the overused images like the 'Daily Mail' series based on official photos.)

It is easy for authors to be overoptimistic about royalties and think they can afford to splash out on lots of illustrations . However, publishers seem to be mercilessly  squeezed by the big  internet booksellers, so royalties for books sold through them, as opposed to others,  are paltry.

Good luck!

Michael

[stevehowarth]

Many thanks to Michael for your excellent advice.

What you have modestly left out is the title of your own unit history. If you could reveal it on the forum I would be very interested in buying a copy - if not sold out!

 

Steve

[John_Hartley]

Michael makes a good point about images.

 

Regimental archives are probably the best source of general photos and are usually generous in their offer. I say "usually" - my most recent experience with the Cheshires has been excellent, as was my first experience with the Manchesters. In both cases, they made no charge and were exceptionally helpful. My second Manchesters experience was somewhat different - for reasons best known to themselves (as no proper explanation was forthcoming), they would only supply images at a ludicrous price. The member of staff with whom I had dealt was full of apology but her hands were tied - seemingly I had pi&&ed someone off by a post on this forum and this was their "retaliation" (and, no, I don't know for certain which post it might have been).

 

My last book, "Bully Beef & Biscuits", needed lots of general photos. The best source of supply was IWM but their charging system made buying from them unaffordable. By contrast, Australian and Canadian national archives regarded their images as being out of any copyright adn were free to use (although they would have made a small charge if I had needed a high resolution copy). I found there was a similar deal to be done with the collection held by the National Library of Scotland.

 

As for photos of men, newpaper obituaries are usually the best source - although quality is often not that good as they are invariably taken from microfilm. I have bought a few photos from via this link - http://www.ww1photos.com/

 

John

[EastSurrey]

It's 'The Journey's End  Battalion', Steve, on 9/E. Surrey, a Kitchener battalion. My son, Andrew, gave me enormous assistance with German sources, for the perspective from  the other side of nomansland, before producing his own book on the Saxons- 'Fighting the Kaiser's War'-although I preferred one of his earlier ideas for a title-'Tommy's favourite Germans'!

Michael

[stevehowarth]

9/E.Surrey - that's an interesting co-incidence. My first attempt at a Great War publication featured the fallen old boys of Ermysted's Grammar School (Skipton North Yorkshire), which featured Lance Corporal Sydney Bramley of the 9 ES Reg. He died of wounds on 9.8.17. Just last week we visited his grave at Lijssenthoek with a group of students from the school.

 I never found a photograph or a newspaper obituary. Did you happen to come across anything on him?

 

Steve

[EastSurrey]

Steve, sorry I don't have an obituary, but hope the following is of interest.

Bramley is listed as wounded on 5 August-with the correct service no.-32329, but wrong initial 'A'-in the battalion war diary.

On 5 August, a foggy morning, the Germans(probably IR23) made 3 attacks on the battalion, which had 4 advanced posts, held by a 2/Lt and about 30 men with 2 Lewis guns  in Jordan trench near Groenenburg Farm, Ypres. 3 attacks were beaten off, but the 4th took the posts and around half the men were lost. Lt. Col de la Fontaine went forward to the front line to make a personal reconnaissance, and was shot through the head and killed by a sniper. 2/Lt. Webb, who was with him, later led a party forward and re-established the line, winning an MC. Pte .Shere won a DCM and Pte. Gates an MM for this day, too. The battalion lost that day-de la Fontaine & 6 men killed outright, 11 men missing, and 1 officer and 23 wounded, of whom some, like Bramley may have died later.

There is a detailed account in the battalion war diary, which is available, free, on line, via the Surrey regimental museum.

Michael

[David Filsell]

Publishers do screw authors down. Many of the maps I complain about are simply those copied from non copyright sources and printed far to small because publishers are mean.. There are a number of good specialist map makers out there - and costs are not unreasonable.

[stevehowarth]

I've made an attempt to summarise the advice given by contributors. Please do add in more ideas if it falls short anywhere.

What makes a good Unit history?

 Content:

Personnel – officers and ORs

Narrative

Context

Tactical proficiency, including change over time

Maps – high quality; make use of specialist map-makers

Appendices -

List of officers

List of Medal winners

Roll of Honour

Order of battle

 Organisation:

Footnotes and references

Acknowledgements

Index

Maps – high quality; make use of specialist map-makers

 Resources:

Official histories

Private memoirs and diaries

Photographs – avoid common images; utilise out of copyright; post cards

War Diary – Battalion and Brigade, and other battalions in Brigade

Regimental collections

Newspaper obituaries

German perspectives/German regimental histories

[David Filsell]

Meet all of those objects - and add:

Write in good clear English, use short sentences. You aint Dickens;

Use contemporary language and terminology - not modern jargon, i.e. Shrapnel is not shell fragments;

Reduce adjectives  to a minimum - they are invariably boringly overused by every writer;

Use no abbreviations without spelling them out on first use, 

When you have finished what you consider your final edit  ( it won't be - it never is) read it out loud to yourself and re-edit as you go. Its long, slow and tedious work but vital.

Use, if you can, an established book editor for your 'final' draft;

Don't show your final draft to family and friends -  show it to an friendly expert. Friends and family simply aren't qualified to give yo an opinion. They either lie  - "Its brilliant"or nit pick your work to death,

And finally, finally, pay to use a really  proficient proof reader or insist that the publisher does - good proofer are now rare beasts. Spell check just doesn't do the job. 

(The  first of these last two should knowledgeable about the Great War, the second preferably not - his job is to find mistakes,  literals and poor punctuation - not check facts.

A great editor once taught me that if you read an A4 page without cutting at least ten words - you just aint editing

If ther are any mistakes her it just underlines the fact - it's impossible to proof read your own wort!

Best of luck.

David

[David Filsell]

Steve

Well worth taking a look at the new history of The Scots Guards to see an interesting approach to a regimental history which certainly seems to tick all the boxes. (See thread)

Regards 

David

[charlesmessenger]

It takes more work, but if you can do the Roll of Honour chronologically, instead of alphabetically, with where the man is buried/commemorated, it has more impact..

 

Charles M