Tank Related Books

[Gareth Davies]

Has anyone read either of these 2 books?

 

Langemark & Cambrai: A War Narrative by Geoffrey Dugdale.

 

The First Battle of the Tanks, Cambrai, November 20th, 1917 by J H Everest

 

If so what are your thoughts?

[johntaylor]

Hi Gareth, I've referred to both when researching Deborah and the War of the Tanks.  The first is very well written - it's by Captain Walter Geoffrey Dugdale and describes his experiences in 6th Bn King's (Shropshire Light Infantry).  I quoted him in my book, because he's the only person I could find who actually saw the heroic German artillery officer (the one who supposedly knocked out a large but variable number of British tanks).  The point I made is that he was nowhere near Flesquieres, which is where the myth took root.

 

The second is a slight but rather portentous work, written under a pen-name by a soldier from an unidentified infantry regiment.  He tried to build it up by talking about tanks, but didn't really have much to do with them.  There was a discussion on GWF about who the real author might have been, but I haven't been able to work it out yet.

 

Hope this is helpful,

 

John

 

PS sorry not to see you in Poelkapelle for the Fray Bentos centenary - you missed a good one!

 

 

[Gareth Davies]

Thanks John.  And sorry I couldn't get to the Salient this past week.

[IPT]

10 minutes ago, johntaylor said:

There was a discussion on GWF about who the real author might have been, but I haven't been able to work it out yet.

 

IWM also mention H.Dodd? - http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1500035419

[Gareth Davies]

27 minutes ago, johntaylor said:

Hi Gareth, I've referred to both when researching Deborah and the War of the Tanks.  The first is very well written - it's by Captain Walter Geoffrey Dugdale and describes his experiences in 6th Bn King's (Shropshire Light Infantry).  I quoted him in my book, because he's the only person I could find who actually saw the heroic German artillery officer (the one who supposedly knocked out a large but variable number of British tanks).  The point I made is that he was nowhere near Flesquieres, which is where the myth took root.

 

The second is a slight but rather portentous work, written under a pen-name by a soldier from an unidentified infantry regiment.  He tried to build it up by talking about tanks, but didn't really have much to do with them.  There was a discussion on GWF about who the real author might have been, but I haven't been able to work it out yet.

 

Hope this is helpful,

 

John

 

PS sorry not to see you in Poelkapelle for the Fray Bentos centenary - you missed a good one!

 

 

 

16 minutes ago, IPT said:

 

IWM also mention H.Dodd? - http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1500035419

 

This thread suggests Dodds.  

 

[johntaylor]

The reason for this is that the copy in the IWM has "H. Dodd" written in pencil under the author's name, though it's signed in ink "J. H. Everest".  I went to check to see if there were any more clues but there was nothing else written inside.  Assuming the name H. Dodd was written at the time of acquisition then we can assume this was the author's real name, but I haven't been able to work out from the descriptions in the book which battalion he was in.

 

I suspect the name "Dodds" is a mis-reading of "Dodd".

 

John