Customer Reviews
The Soldiers' War - By: Mungo, 28 Dec 2008 
There are a couple of truisms about the Great War: that it was a famously squalid & horrible four years entailing the senseless loss of swathes of Europe's youth; & that it was the war that the combatants (such as my own grandfather) would never talk about.
It'sin this context that this is such a good book. It builds up a compelling, multi-layered body of evidence about the daily (and nightly) experience of the soldiers. No matter how well we might feel we understand the war - not least from fictional works such as Pat Barker's 'Regeneration' trilogy, or Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong - there is something extraordinary about being told,in the words of those who were there, why there was a general order not to shoot rats, what it was like to watch a firing squad shoot a deserter, & how poison gas moved across the battlefield.
There are numerous frank admissions of terror, as well as the personal means by which the soldiers (both Tommies & officers) overcame this. There are also numerous descriptions of the appalling carnage & the casually witnessed dead - the soldiers playing cards using as their table the level back of a frozen soldier. For the generations that knew such scenes had taken place, but had not found a relative prepared to talk about it, this is an engrossing & important book.
The Soldiers' War - By: JDB, 10 Nov 2008 The Soldiers' War is genuinely exceptional. There are other Great War anthologies around, but this one stands out by a country mile. The book claims to contain primarily unpublished stories from 1914-1918 & whilst I do not know enough about the period to comment, I do not recognise any accounts that I have read before. Furthermore, the breadth & exquisite balance of the tales here makes this book so very gripping.
The book contains not just the familiar stories associated with the war, but others that I have never even thought about: There is a man pulling 18th Century pewter from a dugout, another finding a Roman Sword uncovered by a shell explosion. There are stories of the survival & the beauty of nature, & of men locating trout ponds behind the Somme Battlefield for a spot of fishing.
Some of the stories are frightening and, at times, violent; many others are deeply moving & occasionally almost poetic, emotionally charged as they are. Others are genuinely funny, such as the officer who writes about two Geordie friends one of whom is shot & wounded. One man rips open the tunic of the other, looks at the wound & says `ee man, its champion'. The friend, pleased with the nice wound, replies: `Howay, Geordie, gan awa & shake hands with the German for bein' sae canny.' The incredible gallows humour of conflict.
I found the illustrations extraordinary, not least because the soldiers themselves took them, using their own private cameras, which were banned & therefore illegal. I've never seen such privately taken images elsewhere, although one slight nit-picky point here is the quality of reproduction - it's good, but given their historical importance might have been a little better. That said, on the eve of the 90th anniversary of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, this book is an outstanding tribute to those men who lost so much, & whose sacrifices we must keep on remembering.
Personal accounts brought alive. - By: Capt John Rowlands, 01 Nov 2008 Whilst this isin no way an original format for WW1 books, much of the material is. I have to be honest & say I was expecting more interesting new photographs, but they are remarkable from the point of view that they were taken on Kodak pocket cameras that were banned for most of the war.
The book is mainly a selection of personal accounts, & are a great way for those who have never taken an interestin WW1 to quickly get a feel for the experiences of soldiers without having to study the dry minutiae of war tactics & so on. My personal favourite cameo was one where a British soldier goes to steal some chickens for lunch, but comes across a German doing the same. The German merely nods to acknowledge the Tommy, & both carry on with catching their respective chickens & returning to their trenches.
In all, I think it's been a bit over-marketed on the new photos, but the book is certainly a must-read.
The Soldiers War. - By: A.J.S. 62, 18 Oct 2008 I don't normally feel compelled to comment on any books I read, however this new book by Richard Van Emden is so good that I couldn't resist making my views known.
The book progresses year by year through the duration of the war, each chapter is full of amazing personal accounts most of which have never previously been published, through these Mr Van Emden sets out not just to tell us of the utter horror of the war, but also of the everyday experiences of the troops out of the line.
However it is not just the superb text that makes this book a must buy, the book also contains many truely excellent unpublished photos that I have never seen before. Most of these photos were taken by troops using their own cameras which was strictly against regulations, but thanks to their efforts they give us a remarkable view of their world.
This book isn't just for those who have a major interestin the war, but should be read by just about everyonein order to give us all a better understanding of what this generation suffered.
A really superb read.
