Overview

This is a most unusual chronicle of the events of one man during the Great War. A professional soldier at the outbreak, Edward Roe was one of the first to cross over to France in 1914 and as such fought in the early battles of the war and took part in the Retreat from Mons. He was there for the crossing of the Marne and Aisne, the dreadful fighting at Ploegsteert and for the extraordinary events during the first Christmas. Remarkably he witnessed the debacle at Gallipoli and was part of the rear-guard of the Army during the re-embarkation and evacuation of the Peninsula. Thereafter the scene shifts to Mesopotania and the Tigris Corps in the attempt to relieve General Townshend at Kut. Wounded he returned for the final campaign that captured Baghdad.

Full Product Details

9781844151356

Table of Contents

Reviews

Private Edward Roe receives his call up to the so called Great War on 5 August 1914, little realising that the clock of Christianity has just started ticking backwards; marking the beginning of his 'Hells Bells' diaries of daily life on the front line. His prose is a combination of close proximity machine-gun fire and distant, often misplaced, artillery bombardment; from doing nothing one day he is caught between crossfire the next. Shot in Ypres and later wounded again in Mesopotamia, Roe chillingly recalls the 'heroic dead' strewn across battlefields; where he carries not just weapons and rations, but a ticket of his own in this lottery of death. Between mouthfuls of bully-beef and biscuits there is a reminder of Christmas 1914, in the trenches, when war-worn men downed tools and took to No Man's Land only for peace to be destroyed by another outburst of paranoia. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Peter Downham is an author and historian.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available