Thursday, 11 June 2020

BOOK REVIEW. GUN FODDER.

The diary of four years of war.


This is the next in the batch of books I purchased from Navy Military Press. The original book was written in 1920. The author joined up as a cavalry trooper in 1914 and finished the war as a Major commanding an 18 pounder gun battery. Quite a record of achievement.
He was a writer before and after the war so there are a number of literary bits such as often appear in these autobiographies. I tend to skip them. He also became, due clearly to the stresses he was under over those hard years, very anti war  and anti establishment. The end of the book includes quite a rant on that matter.
However the bulk of the contents give a very interesting description of life both as a cavalry trooper and as an artillery officer. As a university graduate, his descriptions of his early service in the ranks are very eye opening, he had little knowledge of the common man that is for sure.
The highlight of the book to me is the detailed report of his batteries activities during the March 1918 German offensive. Overall a good book well worth reading.

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