First World War Book Recommendations

[j4r4lly]

I want to understand WW1 in more detail and am looking for book recommendations that will take me through the sequence of major events and battles from 1914 - 1918. Something with maps and illustrations is what I'm looking for.

I'm familiar with the Somme, Ypres, Passchendaele, Jutland etc. but don't understand the sequence of the war in any detail.

I'm also looking for a book or guide with details of the battlefield locations, cemeteries, memorials etc. as I'd like to visit them once my imminent retirement arrives.

Thanks.

[j4r4lly]

Thanks for the info chaps.

I'll do some digging and see what I can find.

[j4r4lly]

mat205125 said:

90% of my WW1 knowledge comes from Blackadder ....... so therefore, I know about 1% on the topic

Quite so.......... started by an ostrich getting shot I understand!

[j4r4lly]

southendpier said:

DaffyT4 said:

Birdsong is a great book but it is a novel. OP wants to understand the FWW better so I wouldn't recommend it in that context.

Again, the Forgotten Voices books are good and often extremely moving but they are basically just a series of reminiscences from the old soldiers with little context and probably don't fulfill the OP's brief.

Aye - exactly why i recommended them. Always good to read different sources and styles.

He could always just slog through Wikipedia and go to The Imperial War Museum in London
this link leads to some interesting articles: https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/first-world-war-gall...

Thanks for the link which does indeed look interesting

[j4r4lly]

MesoForm said:

Naval & Military Press often have military books cheap if you want to browse -
https://www.naval-military-press.com/product-categ...

Pen and Sword are another decent stockist, don't remember too many offers though -
https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/WWI/c/23/order/pop...

Thanks for the links. The Military Press has some hefty discounts and I also managed to stumble into the English Civil War section, which is another conflict I want to know more about.

[j4r4lly]

Scarletpimpofnel said:

j4r4lly said:

I want to understand WW1 in more detail and am looking for book recommendations that will take me through the sequence of major events and battles from 1914 - 1918. Something with maps and illustrations is what I'm looking for.

I'm familiar with the Somme, Ypres, Passchendaele, Jutland etc. but don't understand the sequence of the war in any detail.

I'm also looking for a book or guide with details of the battlefield locations, cemeteries, memorials etc. as I'd like to visit them once my imminent retirement arrives.

Thanks.

My main area of interest is Ypres and have walked around those battlefields many times. If you are interested in that area then "The battle book of Ypres" by Beatrix Brice is perfect. It was written shortly after the war for the benefit of pilgrims visiting their loved ones graves and others wanting to follow the action their loved ones had experienced and see the land for itself.

It starts with an overview of the main actions over the course of the war in the area BUT then provides a list of all the towns and villages etc in the area and describes in detail who fought there, when, why, how it turned out etc. If you have the trench maps to hand (available for a few quid on eBay) then it is easy to walk over the ground the battles took place on and follow the narrative. Many of the farms and hills etc mentioned in the book are still there today of course.

A useful resource when walking around if you have a 4G iPad is to use the NLS mapping that shows the trench maps superimposed onto today's maps. If you go to this url - https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.6&lat... - then change the level of transparency (highlighted slider in box at the bottom left) you can go from today's map to the trench map and walk exactly where the trenches were. Example below -



If you do ever go walking around such sites then feel free to rope me in as I love to do this. I particularly like the small cemeteries in the middle of nowhere that no one ever visits, I feel like someone should !

Thanks for the information which is very interesting. Once I'm retired (22 months and counting) this is exactly what I'll be doing (along with the wife's "to do" list) and may well take you up on your kind offer.

[j4r4lly]

Many thanks everyone for the tips and links.

I didn't fully appreciate just how many books there were out there about WWI, from Regimental histories, individual soldiers, medics, pilots, the Navy, the home front and the land battles and more in between.

Certainly something to keep me busy for a good while.

Thanks again.

Jerry.