The Great War

Recently there has been an increase in articles in the national press relating to the Great War. With just under two years left until the centenary of the outbreak of war this is understandable. The build up is going to result in an renewed interest and hopefully a desire to understand the battles of the Great War past the tired and worn stereotype of lions led by donkeys.

There are already a number of authors who hold this revisionist view and their number is growing especially among academic circles. I believe this will lead to a far better understanding of the British “Tommie” of 1914-18, what motivated him, what he was equipped with, how he was trained and importantly how he was commanded and controlled once in battle.

Mons and the subsequent retreat will be the first battle to be commemorated by the British. This was an important milestone for the British as it marked the first time in nearly a century that they had placed an army in north west Europe. It was also the first time that the BEF created by Lord Haldane would see action.  

The battles of Mons and Le Cateau followed by the rearguard actions as the BEF retreated would see the BEF tested to its limits both at an individual and command level. It provides an interesting contrast to the image of mud and trenches and was one of the last times in the war that the artillery would be deployed in the traditional sense and firing over open sights at the enemy.

Some books I would recommend are:

Richard Holmes – Riding the Retreat. This book is as much a battlefield tour as it is a history of the opening actions and retreat. Filled with plenty of great accounts and told in the usual highly readable style of Richard Holmes.

John Terraine – Mons: The Retreat to Victory. Again another book by a respected author and one that I admittedly haven’t read in a few years but was a very good account of the actions.

This months Military History Monthly has an interesting article on Mons as well.

Photo source - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/6461635/Poppy-Appeal-pinning-down-poppy-etiquette.html

An update.

So it has been quite a while since my last post. IT has been a busy and hectic last few months. Now that winter is upon us I plan to try and update the blog roughly once every week.

What have I been up to that has kept me away from my blog.

Well I have been on a number of battlefield tours as a member of the Guild of Battlefield Guides. I have been to Mons and Le Cateau and the route that the BEF retreated down in 1914.

I have visited the sites of Dieppe and Bruneval raids. Both occurred in 1942 and both were very different and had very different outcomes.

I have also had a day trip to Dunkirk and a few of the locations related to the 1940 campaign in France.

I am also about to start some research into the Royal Artillery.

Hopefully this will give me plenty of inspiration for writing and provide some interesting updates to this blog.