Overview

The soldiers of the First World War left a little-known legacy in forgotten caves along the Western Front: thousands of inscriptions and wall carvings that tell stories of courage, pride, hope and fear. Limestone quarries and bunkers along the front lines in north-eastern France, where the men sheltered, have been rediscovered by archaeologists in recent years. Thousands of British and Commonwealth soldiers pencilled their name, rank and serial number and even their home addresses onto the walls in the agonising awareness that this might be their last trace. In the relative safety of crowded tunnels, they wrote poems and displayed astonishing artistry in the portraits and sculptures they carved into the rough rock. Whispering Walls takes the reader into the gloom of these timewarp locations under the Western Front where the graffiti, in many cases as clear as if it had been written yesterday, rings out with the question: will I survive? The book tracks the fates of individual soldiers and presents some of the most striking inscriptions in over 100 photographs. Now that the last survivors have gone, the writings provide fresh insight into their mindset and are helping researchers to trace the missing, over a century after the guns fell silent.

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9781398111882

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Reviews

'A fascinating and moving introduction to a subject that offers a new lens through which to examine the First World War; it is one that is very much worth exploring.' -- Current Archaeology Magazine, June 2023 'The book tells the stories of men behind the graffiti and presents some of the most striking works in more than 100 photographs.' -- Bradford Telegraph & Argus 'David Crossland's fascination with this fragile legacy of a bitter conflict shines through in this intriguing book which I recommend to anyone with an interest in the stories of the men who fought in the First World War.' -- The Writing Desk 'This is a deeply fascinating and surprisingly personal book.' -- Britain at War Magazine, August 2023

'A fascinating and moving introduction to a subject that offers a new lens through which to examine the First World War; it is one that is very much worth exploring.' -- Current Archaeology Magazine, June 2023 'The book tells the stories of men behind the graffiti and presents some of the most striking works in more than 100 photographs.' -- Bradford Telegraph & Argus 'David Crossland's fascination with this fragile legacy of a bitter conflict shines through in this intriguing book which I recommend to anyone with an interest in the stories of the men who fought in the First World War.' -- The Writing Desk 'This is a deeply fascinating and surprisingly personal book.' -- Britain at War Magazine, August 2023 'This fascinating, if brief, study takes us into a hidden world most battlefield visitors will be totally unaware of.' -- World War One Group, November 2023 'This book is the result of much valuable research and gives us a vivid and moving account of the lives of those who died and those who survived.' -- WDYTYA Magazine, March 2024 'I thoroughly recommend this book.' -- Stand To! Western Front Association, March 2024

Author Information

David Crossland is a journalist and photographer who has been visiting the Western Front for the past 20 years and has written extensively about the legacy of the First World War. The former Berlin bureau chief for Reuters, he has written for publications including the Guardian, The Times, Sunday Times and Der Spiegel.

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