Tommy Goes to War - Softcover

Brown, Malcolm

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1784383295 ISBN 13: 9781784383299

Publisher: Greenhill Books, 2019

Synopsis

The image of the innocent British soldier (or “Tommy”) setting off with a spring in his step in 1914 to fight the “Great War” would not last long.

Indeed that initial euphoria would soon give way to a deep-seated bitterness as these young men endured the horror of the First World War.

In a new edition of this extraordinary book, the uncensored letters, diaries, documents and many photographs tell the story of the British soldier (nicknamed Tommy) in their own words.

While there are flashes of their wit and humour, the overwhelming feeling is that of a generation who felt let down by their superiors and left to perish.

There are visceral, terrifying insights into life in the trenches and agonising descriptions of the squalor and privations of war.

This haunting account also looks at the aggressive drive to recruit more soldiers through the Pals Battalion or Chum’s Battalion. Friends from the same town or village; professional bodies, or work colleagues among others were encouraged to enlist en masse. They would fight together alongside their friends or colleagues. Many of them would sadly die together and leave communities wild with grief for a lost generation, robbed of a future having barely had a past.

With a concise analysis of the British Army in the First World War, we are reminded of the terror of war, the fury, the fear and the frustration of what has been described by some as a war typified by the devastating assessment: “lions led by donkeys”.

About this title

About the Author

Malcolm Brown studied at St John’s College, Oxford. He spent his national service in the Royal Navy. He joined the BBC in 1955 and has been a documentary producer since 1980, specialising mainly in historical and biographical programmes. He has worked on many programmes including the landmark BBC documentary The Battle of the Somme. He co-authored the book Scapa Flow (1968). He died in December 2017.

Born in 1961, Gary Sheffield studied history at the University of Leeds, before beginning to lecture on war studies at the Royal Military Sandhurst Academy. He then completed his PhD at King’s College, London. After finishing his studies, Sheffield moved into full-time academia, as Professor of Modern History at King’s College, and then the first Professor of War Studies at the University of Birmingham. He later moved to the University of Wolverhampton. Sheffield has been published widely on military history subjects, with his second book, The Chief: Douglas Haig and the British Army (2011) widely commended in both academic and popular circles alike. Sheffield currently serves as Vice President of the Western Front Association and sits on the Advisory Board of the Royal United Services Institute.

About this edition

• Publisher: Greenhill Books
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1784383295
• ISBN 13: 9781784383299
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240