from gas attacks, the fear of going over the top, methods of coping with death - as well as the jovial camaraderie which often grew up between the men. The first memoirs of combatants were published in 1922, not long after the armistice: A Tank Driver’s Experiences by Arthur Jenkins and Disenchantment by Charles Edward Montague. These were shortly joined with Good-Bye to All That (1929) by Robert Graves, A Subaltern’s War (1929) by Charles Edmund Carrington, and Blasting and Bombardiering (1937) byPercy Wyndham Lewis. Nurses also published memoirs of their wartime experiences, such as A Diary without Dates (1918) by Enid Bagnold, and Forbidden Zone (1929) by Mary Borden. Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth (first published 1933) has been acclaimed as a classic for its description of the impact of the war on the lives of women and the civilian population - extending into the post-war years.
Storm of Steel, written by Ernst Jünger, published in 1920 was one of the first personal accounts to be published - a graphic account of trench warfare, unusually glorifying the sacrifice encountered. The book has consequently been criticised for lionizing war, especially when compared with works such as Remarque’s (albeit fictional) All Quiet on the Western Front. In the preface to the 1929 English edition, Jünger stated that; ‘Time only strengthens my conviction that it was a good and strenuous life, and that the war, for all its destructiveness, was an incomparable schooling of the heart.’ As is evident from this short introduction to the memoirs, diaries, letters and poems of the first world war - it is an intensely complex field. Dependent on military rank, geographic position and placement, nationality and subjective experience and character, they take on a wide variety of forms and focuses. Such works give an amazing insight into the experiences of combatants and it is hoped the current reader is encouraged to find out more about this thoroughly worthwhile topic.
This book is part of the World War One Centenary series; creating, collating and reprinting new and old works of poetry, fiction, autobiography and analysis. The series forms a commemorative tribute to mark the passing of one of the world’s bloodiest wars, offering new perspectives on this tragic yet fascinating period of human history.
Amelia Carruthers
Image 1. British artillery position on the Somme
Image 2. King George V studying trench bombs
“The stern hand of fate has scourged us to an elevation where we can see the great everlasting things which matter for a nation—the great peaks we had forgotten, of Honour, Duty, Patriotism, and, clad in glittering white, the great pinnacle of Sacrifice pointing like a rugged finger to Heaven.”
David Lloyd George (1863–1945), British Liberal politician, Prime Minister. Speech, Sept. 19, 1914, Queen’s Hall, London. Quoted in Times (London, Sept. 20, 1914).
OCCASIONAL NOTES,
INDEXES,
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Editor desires to express his cordial appreciation of the assistance rendered him in his undertaking by the officials of the British Museum (Mr. F.D. Sladen, in particular); Professor W. Macneile Dixon, of the University of Glasgow; Professor Kemp Smith, of Princeton University; Miss Esther C. Johnson, of Needham, Massachusetts; and Mr. Francis Bickley, of London. He wishes also to acknowledge the courtesies generously extended by the following authors, periodicals, and publishers in granting permission for the use of the poems indicated, rights in which are in each case reserved by the owner of the copyright:—
Mr. Francis Bickley and the Westminster Gazette:—”The Players.”
Mr. F.W. Bourdillon and the Spectator:—”The Debt Unpayable.”
Dr. Robert Bridges and the London Times:—”Lord Kitchener,” and “To the United States of America.”
Mr. Dana Burnet and the New York Evening Sun:—”The Battle of Liège.”
Mr. Wilfred Campbell and the Ottawa Evening Journal:—”Langemarck at Ypres.”
Mr. Patrick R. Chalmers and Punch:—”Guns of Verdun.”
Mr. Cecil Chesterton and The New Witness:—”France.”
Mr. Oscar C.A. Child and Harper’s Magazine:—”To a Hero.”
Mr. Reginald McIntosh Cleveland and the New York Times:—”Destroyers off Jutland.”
Miss Charlotte Holmes Crawford and Scribner’s Magazine:—”Vive la France!”
Mr. Moray Dalton and the Spectator:—”Rupert Brooke.”
Lord Desborough and the London Times:—”Into Battle,” by the late Captain Julian Grenfell.
Professor W. Macneile Dixon and the London Times:—”To Fellow Travellers in Greece,”
Mr. Austin, Dobson and the Spectator:—”’When There Is Peace;’”
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the London Times:—”The Guards Came Through.”
Mr. John Finley and the Atlantic Monthly:—”The Road to Dieppe”; Mr. Finley, the American Red Cross, and the Red Cross Magazine:—”The Red Cross Spirit Speaks.”
Mr. John Freeman and the Westminster Gazette:—”The Return.”
Mr. Robert Frost and the Yale Review:—”Not to Keep.”
Mr. John Galsworthy and the Westminster Gazette:—”England to Free Men”; Mr. Galsworthy and the London Chronicle:—”Russia—America.”
Mrs. Theodosia Garrison and Scribner’s Magazine:—”The Soul of Jeanne d’Arc.”
Lady Glenconner and the London Times:—”Home Thoughts from Laventie,” by the late Lieutenant E. Wyndham Tennant.
Mr. Robert Grant and the Nation (New York):—”The Superman.”
Mr. Hermann Hagedorn and the Century Magazine:—”Resurrection.”
Mr. James Norman Hall and the Spectator:—”The Cricketers of Flanders.”
Mr. Thomas Hardy and the London Times:—”Men Who March Away,” and “Then and Now.”
Mr. John Helston and the English Review:—”Kitchener.”
Mr. Maurice Hewlett:—”In the Trenches,” from Sing-Songs of the War (The Poetry Bookshop).
Dr. A. E. Hillard:—”The Dawn Patrol,” by Lieutenant Paul Bewsher.
Mrs. Katharine Tynan Hinkson:—”To the Others” and “The Old Soldier.”
Mrs. Florence T. Holt and the Atlantic Monthly:—”England and America.”
Mr. William Dean Howells and the North American Review:—”The Passengers of a Retarded Submersible.”
Lady Hutchinson:—”Sonnets,” by the late Lieutenant Henry William Hutchinson.
Mr. Robert Underwood
