GREAT WAR BOOK LIST

At the end of this listing there is a section about booksellers, click here to go there now.

Books on this subject seem to fall into five broad groups:

1. Causes of the War, strategic concepts, and political histories
2. Accounts of campaigns, battles, and smaller scale engagements.
3. Biographies, narratives, personal accounts, unit histories (from companies up to divisions).
4. Guides
5. Fiction

1. CAUSES of the WAR ....

One of the best all-round history's is, History of the First World War by Basil Liddell Hart. First published in 1930 as The Real War , 1914-1918 by Faber & Faber, it is still available in paperback - my own copy was produced by Pan Books in 1972.

Another interesting book is entitled, Realities of War by Philip Gibbs. Sir Philip Gibbs - an Establishment figure - was a reporter for the Daily Telegraph during the War and his newspaper reports printed then are bland, dull, and follow the official line. Realities of War was written after the War, and many of his comments are very astringent, especially when analysing its conduct by British Generals.

The Great War (in three volumes) by Winston S. Churchill; and War Memoirs (in two volumes) by David Lloyd George are both most interesting to read. Lloyd George had no time at all for Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig, (British Commander-in-Chief from the end of 1915) thinking him incompetent, and would have sacked him; sadly for LG, Haig was rich and had influential friends - notable the King.

[Both Churchill's and L George's works were very popular and were published in many editions by a variety of publishers. They are still readily available for sale, and I found my own copies after grubbing around on the very dusty ground-floor level shelves of a second-hand bookshop. Each set only cost £5, which was a bargain.]

2. ACCOUNTS ....

Here are samples of a few of the better known ones.

Vimy by Pierre Berton, paperback published by Penguin in about 1989 or 1990. This is the story of how the Canadians captured Vimy Ridge in April 1917

First Day of the Somme by Martin Middlebrook, paperback published by Penguin. A first-class account of this Battle which took place in 1916.

In Flanders' Fields by Leon Wolff, paperback published by Penguin. Story of Third Ypres (Passchendaele) fought in 1917.

The Hell They Called High Wood by Terry Norman. High Wood held a commanding position overlooking part of the Somme battlefield. The protracted fighting for its capture is a microcosm of trench warfare dominated by artillery, and machine-guns.

3. BIOGRAPHIES ...

The numbers of these is huge. But they can be split into several types.

On the Generals

I am sure that books on Haig account for a very large proportion of these. Those who have written on him can generally be divided into two (often fiercely) opposing groups - the apologists, and the detractors. Of the former those written by John Terraine, President of the Western Front Association, show Haig's better Generalship qualities. (One book by Terraine which comes to mind is, To Win a War - 1918 , Year of Victory published by Papermac). Another similar book is, British Generalship in the 20th Century by E K G Sixsmith published by Arms & Armour

Within the last decade or so new evidence has been uncovered about Haig's wartime command. It has mostly come from Australian, and Canadian archives which are now being opened to the public. Consequently, enthusiastic authors from those countries have written more recent books on Haig (and other Generals) using these sources. The assessments are not always flattering.

A selection is:

The Killing Ground by Tim Travers, published by Allen & Unwin
On the Psychology of Military Incompetence by Norman F. Dixon, published by Jonathan Cape
Douglas Haig, 1851-1928 by Gerard De Groot, published by Unwin Hyman
General Sir Arthur Currie by A M J Hyatt, published by University of Toronto Press. (Currie commanded the Canadian Divisions)
Haig's Command by Denis Winter, published by Viking
The Donkeys by Alan Clarke, published by Hutchinson
British Butchers & Bunglers of World War 1 by John Laffin, published by Alan Sutton
Foch: Man of Orleans (in two volumes) by Basil Liddell Hart, published by Penguin

Interesting light is shown on German High Command in the following three books:

The Kaiser and His Court by Admiral Georg Müller, published by MacDonald
The Kaiser and His Court by John C G Röhl, published by Cambridge University Press
The German High Command at War - Hindenburg and Ludendorff and the First World War by Robert B. Asprey. Published by Warner Books in 1991)

Personal Recollections

Under Fire by Henri Barbusse, published by Everyman
In the Cannon's Mouth by P J Campbell, published by Hamish Hamilton
Ebb and Flow of Battle by P J Campbell, published by Hamish Hamilton
Note: the above two books are often published in one volume
A French Soldier's War Diary by H. Desagneaux, published by Elmfield Press
A Passionate Prodigality by Guy Chapman, published by McGibbon & Kee
Some Desperate Glory by Edwin C. Vaughan, published by Warne
Cannon Fodder by Stuart A. Dolden, published by Blandford
Memoirs of and Infantry Officer by S. Sassoon, published by Faber & Faber
Her Privates We by Fred Manning, published by Peter Davies
The Middle Parts of Fortune by Fred Manning, published by Peter Davies
Note: the second of the two above books is the unexpurgated edition of the first.
Verdun by Jules Romains
Old Soldiers Never Die by Frank Richards, published by Faber & Faber
Four Years on the Western Front by Aubrey Smith, published by The London Stamp Exchange
Note: very highly recommended
Patriot's Progress by Henry Williamson, published by Geoffrey Bles
The War the Infantry Knew by J C Dunn, published by Cardinal
The Burgoyne Diaries by G A Burgoyne, published by Harmsworth
The Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, published by Constable
Undertones of War by Edmund Blunden, published by Penguin

4. GUIDES....

There is a large number of these: but by far the best is Before Endeavours Fade by Rose Coombs, published by After the Battle.

Three worthy books of photographs are by John Giles (founder of the WFA) and published by After the Battle. They are entitled: Flanders, Then and Now ; The Somme, Then and Now , and The Western Front, Then and Now .

5. FICTION....

All Quiet on the Western Front by E M Remarque, published by Putnam (and a host of others as well)
All Our Yesterdays by H M Tomlinson, published by Heinemann
Corporal Jack by Marjorie Quarton, published by Fontana
(The sentimental story of a faithful dog; however, a surprisingly enjoyable tale and historically accurate)
The Spanish Farm Trilogy by R H Mottram, published by New Phoenix (and others)

POETRY....

One of the best collections is Up the Line to Death compiled by Brian Gardner and published by Methuen.

IRELAND & THE GREAT WAR

History of the Ulster Division by Cyril Falls. This was originally published in 1922 by McCaw, Stevenson & Orr, but has been and republished in 1991 by the Somme Association.
Three Cheers for the Derrys! A History of the 10th Inniskilling Fusiliers in the 1914-1918 War by Gardiner Mitchell and published by Yes! Publications, 32 Shipquay Street, Derry in 1991
The Road to the Somme by Philip Orr and published by the Blackstaff Press in 1987.
The Burgoyne Diaries edited by his daughter, Claudia Davison, and published by Thomas Harmsworth in 1985.
Ireland's Unknown Soldiers - The 16th (Irish) Division in the Great War by Terence Denman and published in 1992 by Irish Academic Press.
Orange, Green, and Khaki - The Story of the Irish Regiments ion the Great War, 1914-18 by Tom Johnstone and published in Ireland in 1992 by Gill and Macmillan.
The Catholic Irish soldiers in the First World War: the 'racial environment' by Terence Denman. This is a reprint of an article from Irish Historical Studies , Vol. XXVII No. 108, November 1991

If they are not in print now, many of the above books come out from time-to-time as reprints. Many are well-known and should be obtainable through a good public library.

Nowadays there are in the United Kingdom a number of specialist new and second-hand bookshops which sell books on the Great War. There is an excellent list containing the names and addresses of 44 antiquarian booksellers who specialize in "Military History on Land, Sea and in the Air". It is called the BLUE LIST, and is obtainable from:

Derek Hayles Military Books
35 St. Marks Road
Maidenhead
BERKSHIRE SL6 6DL
England
Tel: 01628 39535

Or, by e-mail at:

Derek Hayles Military Books

Alternatively, readers may wish to contact the following booksellers directly.

A list of booksellers, especially of Second World War books but including those of the Great war as well, may be found at: http://www.sonic.net/~bstone/bookdeal.html

When contacting any of the above booksellers, please mention that you saw their names on this WWW page.

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