Sunday 30 December 2012

Book of the Month


The Vanished Army by Tim Carew, initially published back in 1964. This covers the British Expeditionary Force to France and Belgium in 1914, and is a marvelous portrait of the end of the old regular army told in a very readable fashion from stories of the ordinary privates called back from reserve to those of the people at the top. It covers the period from a pre-war overview of the army, through mobilisation and deployment in France, ending in November 1914. Thoroughly reccommended if you can get hold of a copy.

2 comments:

  1. I'll have to keep an eye out for this. My grandfather would have been one of those reservists I think. He was called back to the RHA for WWI anyway, I'm just not sure of the details of when and where.

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  2. We hear a lot about the rush of volunteers (Pals Battalions, etc.)- more about these in my next BOTM - but seem to forget those old soldiers who thought themselves safely back on civvy street and dragged away by a simple telegram.

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