Books on the Western Front 1914 -1915

[Crunchy]

Other than Lynn MacDonald's works and Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August, can anyone recommend good histories of the campaigns fought in 1914 and 1915 on the Western Front?

Regards

Crunchy

[Take on me]

I see that you are having trouble here. I have not read any of these books but I have heard of them,

Riding the Retreat by Richard Holmes (about the reatreat from the German Offensives in 1914)

Magnificent But Not War: The Second Battle of Ypres 1915 by John Dixon

The Old Contemptibles- by Robin Neillands

Death of an Army by Anthony Farrar Hockley (about First Ypres)

Loos 1915 by Nicholas Lloyd

Loos 1915, the Unwanted Battle by Gordon Corrigan

Most unfavourable ground, The Battle of Loos 1915 by Niall Cherry

Finally Paths of Glory, The French Army 1914-8 by Anthony Clayton is one that I have read and gives very brief accounts of the battles fought by French forces in 1914 and 1915 as well as the other three years of the war. All the others I have not read so you might want to ask other forum members about what they think of them.

JGM

[Crunchy]

JGM,

Many thanks for your reply. It is much appreciated. I will look out for them and let you know. I have read Riding the Retreat which is a delight - that is something I would love to do, but living down here makes it impossible.

There seems to be a real paucity of books that cover the fighting between Sep and Nov 1914 and the British battles of 1915 on the Western Front.

The only stuff I have read is the articles in Purnell's History of World War One. I found in reading Peter Pedersen's Fromelles in the Battlefield Europe series that Fromelles (July 1916) was a re-run of Aubers Ridge on the same ground with the same results under the same Corps Commander ( Haking) 14 months previously. Just shook my head that something like that could happen. It stirred my interest in the early years of the war.

Again, many thanks.

Regards

Crunchy

[Robert Dunlop]

Try and get hold of the two volumes of the British Official History. They are quite detailed and give a good overview from the British perspective. There are a couple of reasonable sources from a French perspective, including Blond's book on the First Battle of the Marne.

Robert

[PBI]

Old Soldiers never Die - Frank Richards.

Theres a Devil in the Drum - John Lucy.

Soldier from the Wars returning - Charles Carrington.

These Books give the Grand strategy a Much more personal Feel.

[Crunchy]

Robert and PBI,

Many thanks for your recommendations.

Regards

Crunchy

[MartinWills]

I'm sure more options will crop up - the bibliographies of some of the books mentioned will give youa few good clues. There are a good few books on the period. As Robert says, the Official History is often under-rated as a source - two volumes for 1914 and two for 1915. Niall Cherry's book on Loos is a good source of information on that battle and allows you to make you own mind up about the event sof September and October 1915.

I see PBI has listed some personal accounts. Whilst not campaign histories as such they give a valuable personal insight. I would add two more to these to allow a more balanced view. Walter Bloem wrote "The advance from Mons" He was German and therefore was advancing. Paul Lintier wrote a wonderfully atmospheric account of his service with a French Artillery unit under the title of "Ma Piece" which translated to "My 75" reflecting the classic 75mm quick firing French field gun which made such an impact in 1914 and 1915 in particular. Both should be fairly easy to find in translation

[Crunchy]

Martin,

Thank you for your post. Your point on the bibliographies of other books is a very good one. The list is certainly building and I will tarck down the official histories. I have read then for Gallipoli and I thought Edmond's work was very good. Better than Bean in fact. Don't get me wrong, Bean is a great resource but the deatil he goes into at the soldiers level makes keeping track of events somewhat difficult. I regard his work more like a primary source.

Regards

Chris

[KJames]

Most Unfavourable Ground and Magnificent But Not War as mentioned by JGM I found to be both very readable and informative accounts, also in terms of memoirs Liaison 1914 by Edward Spears offers an interesting insight into the behind the scenes goings on between the British and French in 1914 and there is also an Osprey book about First Ypres as well as Death of an Army by Anthony Farrar-Hockley.

The Battleground Europe series books on Hill 60 and St Julian have chapters on events in 1914 and 1915 as well as the books about Mons, Le Cateau and Loos. There is also a book called the Royal Regiment of Artillery at Le Cateau by Becke which gives a detailed account of events.

Ken

[Take on me]

I saw a book called;

Ypres: The First Battle 1914 by Ian Beckett

in a shop today. I haven't read it but its another book that you might want to look into. I hope that this is useful.

Jon

[Justin Moretti]

"The Donkeys" by Alan Clark also counts in this period, I suppose, if one can either put up with or agrees (in part or whole) with Clark's hypercritical view of the BEF high command. It covers roughly from the end of 1914 to the dismissal of Sir John French.

Worth a read for its viewpoint, even if its conclusions have been called into question in the meantime. My main complaint with my copy is that the promotional quotes on the cover are even more out of context than the contents supposedly are!

Not so much a 'warts and all' look, as 'all the warts'. ;-)

EDIT: I've read this again recently, and on second look I quite liked it, and found that it really isn't as blood-boiling as I thought it was going to be. There are certainly some parts in which Clark comes across as either deceptive or misinformed; for example when he makes a great deal of Haig getting into the Staff College on the second go by recommendation, he omits to state that it was how things were done then (for about half the intake!), that lots of candidates failed the exam, and that Haig was by no means getting extra-preferential treatment or making use of a special dodge. However I note that he acknowledges the help of Basil Liddell-Hart, and I wonder if Liddell-Hart's hand isn't at work in some of the more objectionable (to Haig-supporter) parts.

It's short, but within those limitations it's a good overview of "Neuve Chappelle to Loos."

[squirrel]

The Battleground Europe series has Neuve Chapelles and Aubers Ridge, the latter covers Festubert as well.

[spike10764]

Farewell Leicester Square by Kate Caffrey is one I'd recommend......

[Staffsyeoman]

I saw a book called;

Ypres: The First Battle 1914 by Ian Beckett

in a shop today. I haven't read it but its another book that you might want to look into. I hope that this is useful.

Jon

Heartily recommend this book.

Surprised no-one's mentioned 'The Mons Star' by David Ascoli yet - a sound grounding for 1914 and the BEF.

[3rdID]

I thought Farrar-Hockley's Death of an Army was a pretty good read. I wouldn't place it in the same category as say The Price of Glory or George Blond's The Marne but it's one of the better battle books I've read.

[john jerome mcmanus]

Other than Lynn MacDonald's works and Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August, can anyone recommend good histories of the campaigns fought in 1914 and 1915 on the Western Front?

Regards

Crunchy

Crunchy,

G'day mate

If you can find it try 'The Battle Book of Ypres' by Beatrix Brice isbn 0-907590-17-9

It is a little unusual but was first published in 1927 and of some merit

If you are interested I have a copy and may be able to forward you any relevant info.

PM me or email me if you are interested

Regards

Pop

[armourersergeant]

Farewell Leicester Square by Kate Caffrey is one I'd recommend......

I would second this recommendation, can be picked up for under a tenner on Abebooks. One of the first books I read, not read it in fifteen years but the impressions left are still strong.

regards

Arm

[PBI]

Crunchy,

G'day mate

If you can find it try 'The Battle Book of Ypres' by Beatrix Brice isbn 0-907590-17-9

It is a little unusual but was first published in 1927 and of some merit

If you are interested I have a copy and may be able to forward you any relevant info.

PM me or email me if you are interested

Regards

Pop

I have just had a look on Amazon,they have a copy of the battle Book,for £32.00..also they seem to have a large amount of Titles which cover the Great War 14-15,a lot of the Titles stocked have already been mentioned here,the prices that Amazon are selling them at are very very low.

[tootrock]

Greetings,

A good source of books is often to be found in the Reserve Supply at a Public Library. East Sussex county library tend to keep old non-fiction books in store, while selling off old fiction. The entire catalogue (on shelf and in store) is searchable on line, and books can be ordered from other branches within the county.

Within the last couple of years I borrowed a book (the name of which escapes me) that was printed about 1932, and the last time it had been borrowed was in 1968.

Each reservation only costs 60p, and one can usually renew it several times, as no-one else is after it.

Regards,

Martin

[tootrock]

Me again,

I have just looked, out of interest, and East Sussex County Library have 3 copies of "The Battle Book of Ypres" available. I am sure other county libraries have copies.

Regards,

Martin

[Crunchy]

To Everyone who has posted threads and made recommendations, many, many thanks.

I have just seen this thread for the first time since my last post back in Aug last year, so my apologies for not thanking people at the time they posted. I have no idea why I didn't pick the other posts up as they occurred.

You have given a great reading list that will keep me occuppied for some time.

Agian many thanks to all.

Regards

Chris

[Joan and Terry]

I have just had a look on Amazon,they have a copy of the battle Book,for £32.00..also they seem to have a large amount of Titles which cover the Great War 14-15,a lot of the Titles stocked have already been mentioned here,the prices that Amazon are selling them at are very very low.

Have found a copy on this site

http://ukbookworld.com/cgi-bin/order_enq.p...kbarn%237962706

very interesting book,well worth the money,if you do a Google search,you may even find a cheaper copy.

Joan

[MartinWills]

Try and get hold of the two volumes of the British Official History. They are quite detailed and give a good overview from the British perspective. There are a couple of reasonable sources from a French perspective, including Blond's book on the First Battle of the Marne.

Robert

Robert,

I'm sure you mean four - there are, of course, two for 1914 and two for 1915. All four are good solid accounts, though they need a little bit of interpretation as, like all volumes, they are not perfect. If looking at 1914 volume 1 in original copies (often too be found for more reasonable prices than for other volumes) do remember that there were three editions - the third took adanatage of published German sources. If buying a reprint, this is of the third edition. Most of all I particularly enjoy the maps from these volumes.

Martin

[Guest Jim Davidson]

I'm also looking for a book reference. I found this quote on this website last week, but have failed to find a reference in order for me to put it in one of my essays.

"On the 26th August, the British 4th Division faced Jaeger Battalion 3 at Le Cateau. A German Officer wrote “We were full of amazement at the superb practicality and quality of the British equipment. Their belts and web equipment were all of one uniform grey-green colour, which was barely distinguishable from the ground. Every man had spare underwear, tea, ample supplies of tinned rations and, which was an especially wonderful sight to we grubby, bearded, front line soldiers - an excellent razor.”

Can anybody help?

Kind regards,

Teacher Jim

[Len Trim]

Hi,

I have read this within the last week or two so would hazard a guess at 'Liason' by Edward Spears.

Len