Paul Hederer Posted 28 February , 2005 Share Posted 28 February , 2005 "The Holocaust: From a Survivor of Verdun," Wilhelm Hermanns for the German side. "Sagittarius Rising," by Cecil Lewis for the Allied. Paul Hederer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike10764 Posted 28 February , 2005 Share Posted 28 February , 2005 Some Desperate Glory by Edwin Campion Vaughan, followed by Tickled to Death To Go by Trooper Ben Clouting and Johnny Get Your Gun by John F Tucker(although the latter two share 2nd spot). Books I can read many many times and find something I missed each one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tag Posted 1 March , 2005 Share Posted 1 March , 2005 Along with some of the others mentioned I would suggest ABRASS HAT IN NO MANS LAND by FP Crozier Tag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Invicta Posted 2 March , 2005 Share Posted 2 March , 2005 I thoroughly enjoyed "The Great Push" by Patrick MacGill, a medical orderly with the London Irish at Loos. A fantastic insight how the lads just "got on with it" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GavinH Posted 2 March , 2005 Share Posted 2 March , 2005 My favorite first hand account of WW1 is the book called: 'Saying Good By To All That', by Robert Graves. I agree. Excellent book. However, I believe the title is actually 'Goodbye to all that' Regards Gavin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewey Posted 10 March , 2005 Share Posted 10 March , 2005 I woud recommend the following memoirs: Into Battle By: Ernest Parker There's a Devil in the Drum By: J.F. Lucy Somme Harvest By: Giles E.M. Eyre The Winding Road Unfolds By: T.S. Hope A French Soldier's War Diary By: Henri Desagneaux Anger of the Guns By: John Nettleton I own fifty WW1 memoirs but these were my favorites, I think Somme Harvest is my favorite of all of them though, perhaps my favorite book ever, as I have read it four times now. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andigger Posted 10 March , 2005 Share Posted 10 March , 2005 50 separate WWI memoirs! and you can only recommend 6, thats a 12% satisfaction rating. ps not only do I read a lot myself, but I am highly anal. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewey Posted 10 March , 2005 Share Posted 10 March , 2005 I would recommend all of them, I just wanted to keep the list short. There are so many excellent books out there on WW1 written by its participants. I hope one day to own all of them or at least close to it. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birkettm Posted 10 March , 2005 Share Posted 10 March , 2005 Vaughan book already mentioned. "diary of an old contemptable" very readable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyes Posted 10 February , 2008 Share Posted 10 February , 2008 A Passionate Prodigality by Guy Chapman. Beautifully written, describing his time with the Royal Fusiliers from 1915 to the end of the war. first published in 1933 and still in print. Cheers. I quite agree. Actually, only half way through and really quite enjoying it. Its the small details regarding their life and times, in this as in other books, which I find most intriguing. Details of how things were actually done, etc. Not unique but a treat for sure. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Parsons Posted 10 February , 2008 Share Posted 10 February , 2008 A Passionate Prodigality by Guy Chapman. Beautifully written, describing his time with the Royal Fusiliers from 1915 to the end of the war. first published in 1933 and still in print. Cheers. I agree. The first book on The Great War that I read. Still a classic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjnsn1 Posted 20 February , 2008 Share Posted 20 February , 2008 Got to be The War the Infantry Knew which is a compilation of first hand accounts compiled by Captain J. C. Dunn DSO, MC and Bar, DCM - the decorations earned by the author have to be a recommendation in themselves. regards tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Armstrong Custer Posted 21 February , 2008 Share Posted 21 February , 2008 The excellent Twelve Days On The Somme: A memoir of the trenches by Sidney Rogerson. See review here: TwelveDaysOnTheSomme Another excellent title which hasn't been mentioned so far is Soldier From The Wars Returning by Charles Carrington. ciao, GAC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Saunders Posted 21 February , 2008 Share Posted 21 February , 2008 OLD SOLDIERS NEVER DIE by Frank Richards ... Since I last wrote on this thread in 2003 I would amend my choices as: A Life Apart by Alan Thomas and Five Years in the RFC by James McCudden. McCudden's speaks for itself - Aircraftman to Squadron Commander. Thomas was a subaltern from late Oct 1916 and then Company Commander with the 6 Bn Royal West Kent's - in later life an accomplished writer, his 1968 autobiography is as good as any first hand account I have read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 21 February , 2008 Share Posted 21 February , 2008 Also try Red Horizon by Patrick MacGill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trenchtrotter Posted 23 February , 2008 Share Posted 23 February , 2008 Not necessaarily my fave but a good and informative read......"Men of 18 in 1918". Written by an 18yr old "boy" soldier F J Hodges and covers the last few months of the war. Good section on the Somme in the summer of 18 around the Ancre amongst other bits...if I recall correctly. All those mentioned are good and another I have just finished is "The Passage" by G A Ebelshauser. A war volunteer (sort of) Swiss German. Joined a Bavarian unit. Good German account of the tanks at Martinpuich on 15/9. Captured and made POW in 1917 at Monchy Le Preux. The stuff about his captivity is very interesting. TT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Morton Posted 23 February , 2008 Share Posted 23 February , 2008 I agree with almost all the memoirs that have been mentioned, but IMHO the most dramatic, riveting account of battle, based on memoirs, unit histories, and eye-witness accounts is "Fix Bayonets!" by John W. Thomason, Jr., Capt., USMC. Naval Institute Press. Annapolis, MD., 1994, originally published by Charles Scribner's Sons, NYC, 1926. ISBN 1-55750-803-8 I admit it is not really memoir, but it reads like one. And Thomason's pen and ink drawings throughout illuminate the book superbly. Lieutenant Thomason was second-in-command of 49th company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 4th Marine Brigade. Grand stuff! I would also mention two more - A Rifleman went to War by H. W. McBride and Her Privates We by Frederic Manning. Both excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geraint Posted 27 February , 2008 Share Posted 27 February , 2008 'Up To Mametz' by Lt Wyn Griffiths has got to be amongst the top ten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armourersergeant Posted 28 February , 2008 Share Posted 28 February , 2008 I can not say I have a favourite as such. I have read a good few that rival each other in many ways. I have to say I have just finished 'Old soldiers Never die' by Frank Richards, annotated by Krijnen and Langley (Grumpy) and found not just this to be a great read, but the work done by Krijnen and Langley really adds to the book. Confirming or enlarging on a paragraph or letting you know what happened to the mentioned soldier etc. The Appendix at the end also adds or helps. You could almost hope for this sort of extra work to be done on many of the books written like this during the twenties and thirties. If you have not read this book, or if you have not read this version then get hold of a copy. regards Arm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geraint Posted 28 February , 2008 Share Posted 28 February , 2008 I've started reading With a Machine Gun To Cambrai, and the Preface by Christopher Dowling, Keeper of Ed and Publishing, IWM, writes about Old Soldiers Never Die -(OSND is) "The only narrative of the FWW to be written by a regular private soldier." Is this true? No other regular soldier wrote a published memoire? I find this amazing. Coppard was New Army, Graves, Sassoon, et al were officers. Frank Richards was a Regular OR. Geraint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampersand108 Posted 26 May , 2008 Share Posted 26 May , 2008 Since this old thread keeps slowly creeping along, I thought I'd add my voice to the chorus of excellent 1st-person narratives. Someone mentioned Blunden's Undertones of War and I've got to say I think it an unparalleled masterpiece, not just for what it relates but due to Blunden's matchless prose. I got so hooked on this I ordered a first edition for a mere $100 Cdn. from an antiquarian bookseller in Winnipeg. I still remember the day it arrived: it was like unwrapping a holy relic. It was/is also in pristine condition. First editions of well-known narratives are often unobtainable or prohibitively expensive, but if fate throws one your way, don't hesitate! The typesetting and paper stock are almost always superior to anything you find today, and the book as artifact is not without interest. After Blunden comes Will Bird's Ghosts Have Warm Hands, James Pedley's Only This, and oddly enough, Ernest Black's I Want One Volunteer. Black was a gunner with the RCA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arras100 Posted 26 May , 2008 Share Posted 26 May , 2008 One of my favs is Ernst Junger's "Storm and Steel". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 26 May , 2008 Share Posted 26 May , 2008 I've started reading With a Machine Gun To Cambrai, and the Preface by Christopher Dowling, Keeper of Ed and Publishing, IWM, writes about Old Soldiers Never Die -(OSND is) "The only narrative of the FWW to be written by a regular private soldier." Is this true? No other regular soldier wrote a published memoire? I find this amazing. Coppard was New Army, Graves, Sassoon, et al were officers. Frank Richards was a Regular OR. Geraint There is an (auto?) biography of Sir William Robertson who was at one time a private in the regular army. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 26 May , 2008 Share Posted 26 May , 2008 One of my favs is Ernst Junger's "Storm and Steel". Junger wrote Copse 125 from later on in the war. His books are slightly overshadowed by his tendency to glorify the war and soldiers. Also his political stance in the inter war years leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. I like Under Fire by Henri Barbusse better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilW Posted 26 May , 2008 Share Posted 26 May , 2008 It isn't a book, but you might like to read this - diary of J A Watson 1915 - 16 http://www.soar100.freeserve.co.uk/ OK, blatant plug for a very poor website containing Grandad's diary! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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