With Winston Churchill at the Front

[The Scorer]

I've had a new catalogue from Pen & Sword, and this book is included.

 

I think it begins with the story of WSC's time as CO of the 6th (Service) battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers by Captain Andrew Dewar Gibb, the Battalion's Adjutant. Captain Gibb apparently formed a close relationship with WSC, which lasted far beyond their time at the Western Front, although I don't know for how long.

 

So, I have two questions: Has anyone read this and if so, is it recommended, please?  

 

Thank you.

[IPT]

I've posted this somewhere. Hang on...

 

No, I don't think the link on the RHF site works now, but it was quite an amusing and interesting read if I remember correctly.

Edited 22 December , 2016 by IPT

[The Scorer]

Ah, okay, thanks - I'll see what happens in the New Year, then,

[WhiteStarLine]

Someone on the forum linked to this and I downloaded it ages ago.  It is a great read and shows him in a good light.  If we are thinking about the same book, it is a nine chapter Word document that begins like this.  PM me for a copy:

 

With Winston Churchill at the Front

 

By Captain X

 

Chapter 1

The Thunderbolt

One morning in December 1915 I fell in with the Transport Officer in the unsavoury courtyard of the farm which house the Battalion HQ of the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers, and in exchanging rumours he told me as a fact that almost immediately Winston Churchill was coming to take over the Battalion.  Not to be outdone I said I knew, and had further heard that Lord Curzon had, the day before, been made Transport Officer of the adjoining battalion and was already in a position to teach him, Scott, his job.  I was about to communicate further news of a similar nature when I began to suspect from Scott’s unquenchable solemnity that he might after all be making an essay in the truth, and having put him on his honour I gathered from him that it was so and that beyond all doubt this was a rumour that was going to come true.  You know, perhaps, the haunting effect of those book titles whose meaning is not self-evident, such as “Cometh up as a flower” and “What will he do with it?” and how you apply them in all sorts of absurd situations and wonder if this at last is what the author means.  Just so there was running perpetually in my head, “The wonderful thing that has happened to our boys,” only with the epithet quite changed.  It was all I could do – keep on muttering this – stunned.

 

[IPT]

That's the one. This was thread but I can't open the link now (although it may be the device I'm using) - 

 

 

There is a preview here - https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RydGDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq="With+Winston+Churchill+at+the+Front"&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiw7dPb6YjRAhUHiRoKHYmhAn8Q6AEIJTAA#v=onepage&q="With Winston Churchill at the Front"&f=false

[The Scorer]

Thank you both very much for your help with this.

 

WhiteStarLine - I've sent you a PM.

 

 

[The Scorer]

I've just finished this, and I thought it was very good.

 

The comments by Nigel Dewar Gibb (Andrew Dewar Gibb's son) and others add a lot to the original chapters, although I did find it difficult to get used to the different "voices" at the beginning. it is obvious that when WSC took over, he wasn't welcomed by everyone, but very soon won over his critics and by the end was a very much liked CO. Mind you, I don't think that I'd have liked to have been around when WSC had one of his ideas to go over the top on a "brief examination" of the German trenches!

 

The last chapter is a very useful guide to the area around Ploegsteert. I've been to some parts of this area before, but it's given me an idea for a future tour - well, one can hope, can't one! 

 

I do recommend this book to anyone who's interested in the period.