With a Machine Gun to Cambrai

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

I feel very privliged to write a review for this book having met the author. Unlike most of the books available for enthusiasts this was written by someone who was there. The book is based on the war experiences of George Coppard, who joined up at the outbreak of War aged only 16. The story takes you from his home in Croydon, through his basic training as one of the first of Kitcheners men, his pride at being selected for the machine gun team, to his going to France as part of 13 Platoon, D Coy, 6th Bn Queen's Royal West Surrey Regt. He recalls the almost blissful experience of the trenches at Le Touquet compared to his later service. His narrative on the Battle of Loos and particularly the fighting around the Hohenzollern Redoubt is fascinating and introduces the reader to the art of crater fighting and the almost suicidal effort it required by the combatants.

Coppard's narrative on the fighting is interpersed with details on the facets of the Tommy's life such as 'chatting', communal bathing, gas, blighty leave and being wounded. His study on the 'lack of moral fibre' of an officer is an insight, as is description of 'coalboxes' and 'jack johnsons'.

Eventually Pte Coppard was brigaded in to the Machine Gun Corps, his team becoming part of the 37th MG Coy.

He describes the men marching through Albert for the 'big push' and then his first hand view from his position in the line on 2 July 1916 on the Somme; the mass of bodies lying out in the open under the burning sun. As evening descends the cries of the wounded calling back to the British lines for help.

After recovering from a GSW, inflicted by a member of his MG team with a pistol, he is sent to Grantham for fitness training and general beasting at the hands of Home Service NCOs to make him fit enough physically and mentally to return to France. His joy at being sent back to France is short lived as he next sees himself in the Battle of Arras.

Arras over, the 12th Division train hard for the tank assault at Cambrai, where Coppard is wounded for a second time, this time he will never be fit enough for the Front again.

'With a Machine Gun to Cambrai' is not a complicated book, it is a straightforward account of one man's war. Its great success lies in this simplicity. A recommended read for any enthusiast of WW1s Suicide Squad, the Machine Gun Corps.

'Today's my daughters wedding day, fifty thousand pounds I'll give away'

Ian

[Ski]

Ian,

I couldn't agree more, an excellent book and reallly easy reading.

Just out of interest, how did you come to meet the author and if it's not being too nosey, did you have much of a talk with him?

Having read the book and really enjoyed it, it would be interesing to hear of anything extra about George Coppard.

Ski

[Tim Birch]

I agree, a great book written by an "other rank" as opposed to many others which were written by officers.

Tim

[armourersergeant]

As you will see from my posts my major concern to WW1 is the tatics and battles fought by the Generals but recently i have both bought and read this book and whilst it is not my normal meat and veg i would say to anyone who thinks they do not fancy it...READ IT.. you will be surprised the impression it leaves you when you put it down. I was.

Arm.

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

Ski,

George Coppard lived close to us when I was a kid. At the age of 6 or so I didn't quiz him on his Great War experiences. What I do remember however was a quite, gentle and friendly man who always had a cheery hello for any stranger - like most people of that generation. Now 30 plus years on I think wouldn't it have been interesting to talk to him. Perhaps I prefer to remember him as he was then not what he was 50 years before that.

Ian

[Paul Reed]

Was he still living in London then, Ian, or did you know him when he was in Brighton? I only knew him in the latter place, where he retired to, I believe. He had an incredible amount of correspondance with fellow veterans, following the original publictaion of the book by IWM, which I hope is preserved somewhere.

An amazing gent, as you say, and a classic book.

[Gary Samson]

Excellent review, Ian. I have just finished With a Machine Gun to Cambrai and, together with Middlebrook's First Day on the Somme, it is one of the most compelling and engaging books I've read on the First World War to date. My edition (Cassel Military) also includes a heartwarming and reflective account of the author's return in 1972 to the battlefields and places he first saw as a young soldier. There's also some touching correspondence sent to the author by veterans who had read and enjoyed the book.

I'm now on to Frank Richards' Old Soldiers Never Die to be followed by Dunn's The War the Infantry Knew.

Gary

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

Paul,

I knew him in London. I think the IWM has his 'archive' - interesting to find out for sure!

Ian

[Guest Hussar]

This was the book that first caught my interest in the Great War. I remember borrowing it from the local library when I was about 11 or 12 and reading it from cover to cover then starting over again. I was pleased to finally add it to my collection recently, nearly 30 years after reading it!!

[andigger]

I've tried to get my hands on a copy here in the US with no luck. My local Borders and Baners and Noble both say they can't even order it. Any ideas, or is a used copy the way to go?

Andy

[armourersergeant]

Andy,

Try Amazon.com. they have no stock but it gives a couple of links to second hand sites that do.

Alternatively I could try and get a copy here and post it over to ya or poss Amazon .co.uk may have a copy, though I am not sure if this makes monetary sense! because of the postage involved.

regards

Arm.

[Robert Dunlop]

Three copies are advertised on www.abebooks.com (type 'coppard, g' in the search facility), ranging in price from US$11 to $18. Well worth it for the lower price.

Robert

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

I've tried to get my hands on a copy here in the US with no luck. My local Borders and Baners and Noble both say they can't even order it. Any ideas, or is a used copy the way to go?

Andy

It has recently been re-printed and the PRO shop has or had three copies last week.

Ian

[paul guthrie]

It is a fine book. The best ever by a real working class OR man is My Bit, a Lancashire Fusiler at war, George Ashulst, terrific.

[Paul Nixon]

I bought With A Machine Gun To Cambrai in 1981 having had my appetite for it whetted by the many references to it in Paul Fussell's The Great War And Modern Memory. I still think it is one of the best books on the war written from an Other Rank perspective and I wrote to George Coppard, who was then living in Tenterden, to tell him how much I enjoyed it. He replied, thanking me and saying that he knew the book had an appeal to younger readers (I was 19 then) and closed his letter by saying, "Thank you Paul, and I hope you will never be compelled to go to war." I never have been, and when I moved to India in September last year, With A Machine Gun To Cambrai and George Coppard's letter to me were some of the very few personal effects I brought with me.

Paul

[iain mchenry]

This is an excellent book. It had me captivated for hours. I initially read a first edition print of the book, but recently managed to get hold of the up to date edition. It was excellent to read about Coppards return to the Western Front and his meeting with the sister of a girl he knew all those yraes ago in France. It must have been a very emotional trip for him.

Iain

[burlington]

I have just ordered it. £6 +p&p via www.abebooks.co.uk

[andigger]

I've just started the book and agree with everything that is posted here.

What strikes me about the story is that Coppard decided to share his story while he still had the facilities to remember what happened. Of course he relied on his notes, but I think the story flows differently when the individual is walking down memory lane rather than being prompted and lead by an author who is in search of a story.

My thought is a different angle on the traditional quandry of why old soldiers hold back thier memories rather than sharing them with their kids/grandkids.

Andy

[Theo]

I've just started the book and agree with everything that is posted here.

What strikes me about the story is that Coppard decided to share his story while he still had the facilities to remember what happened. Of course he relied on his notes, but I think the story flows differently when the individual is walking down memory lane rather than being prompted and lead by an author who is in search of a story.

My thought is a different angle on the traditional quandry of why old soldiers hold back thier memories rather than sharing them with their kids/grandkids.

Andy

I must re read it! My school library had a copy (can still see it on the shelf now) and I read it 30 years ago. Couldn't recall anything about it but the posts here have whetted my appetite. Enjoyed hearing the stories of forum members who knew Coppard

[andigger]

OK... I've just finished and its a book I would highly recommend.

A couple of questions though.... Why the title? He is wounded at Cambrai, but it is a relatively small part of his entire story. I noticed in the letters he included in the back of the book also ask him this question, but its never answered.

Also, what happened to his best mate Snowy - Acting Lance Corporal William Hankin from Hampshire. Surprisingly Coppard does not say anything about him after being wounded or in the Epilouge.

Andy

[RfnWright]

Just started reading this book today. My main interest being that my great great uncle Rfn David Wright 12th Royal Irish Rifles was killed at Cambrai.

www.freewebs.com/riflemandavidwright

[withcall]

Agreed, all round. I never met him, but wrote to him many times in the 1980s. He always wrote back, and signed a copy of the book for me. He seemed to be a lovely man. Incidentally, his uncle (I think) was A E Coppard, a highly thought of writer in the 1920s. He was mainly a short story writer whose work is now largely forgotten. He enjoyed a brief revival in the 1980s after the BBC filmed some of his stories.

[bradley]

fantastic book,read it many times.i too have the edition with the trip to france and the correspondence all in.

it has timeless writing and,i too,would love to read more about snowy hankin and george too.any photos of coppard out there ????? when did he pass on etcetc

[withcall]

Just a scan from the back of his book.

[redorchestra]

I'm just reading this book at the moment. I've found it really refreshing to hear the perspective of an ordinary working class Tommy. As great as some of the officer accounts are, in many ways the officers and men had completely different experiences of the war, for better or worse.

One of the passages that struck me was where George was in the front lines at Cuinchy and was sent back to get rations for his MG team, and stumbled upon a soup kitchen where he had a delicious bowl of soup. He then mused upon how in 'Goodbye to all that' Robert Graves had been at Cuinchy at roughly the same time, and had written about enjoying a luxurious meal washed down with several bottles of expensive wine. George wondered whether Robert Graves had enjoyed his banquet as much as he had enjoyed his simple bowl of soup.

He tells such tales in a matter-of-fact way without bitterness though, which I find endearing. He sounds like a nice man, I wish I could have known him.