This excellent book gets "under the skin" of day to day warfare in The Great War. Richard van Emden has amassed a wide cross section of first hand accounts of day to day life in the Army. It has been said that the British Tommy was 80% bored stiff, 19% frozen stiff and only 1% scared stiff. Thus while there are many accounts of that 1%, the rest is ofter not dealt with in any detail. This book rectifies that omission and the reader is taken and shown what soldiers did - as well as how they died. This is a very readible book and a great page turner as you are led through all the ups and downs of fighting or sitting in the sun - it did not rain all the time, chatting. It also covers the thoughts and attitudes of soldiers and officers, which in many cases are insightful, amusing and sometimes bring a tear to the eye. This is an excellent book which is recommended to anyone who has an intrest in the Great War.
ISBN 978 0 7475 9780 3
2008