Scan barcode
sydsnot71's review against another edition
4.0
This is an interesting read. It's a blunt account of World War One, written by a Welsh private. Richards had been in the army - in India - before World War One began and was called back up once the war began. He managed to survive the whole war despite the best attempts of both his own Generals and the Germans to kill him. He ended up with rheumatism and piles, for which he seems quite grateful.
It isn't a literary masterpiece. There are better-written books about World War One, but this strikes me as one of the most honest. Initially, I wondered if there was some bullshitting going on. He paints a picture of the British Army in World War One that you don't often see: malingering, scrounging, looting, and swearing. It's almost as if he's deliberately going out of his way to show things at their worst. The British Army certainly doesn't come out of this well as an organisation. Richards is scathing about staff officers, the French, ridiculous officers and NCOs who demand standards that can't be met on the front line and some of his fellow soldiers.
But he also does a fine job of paying tribute where it is due: to his mates, to some of the Officers he served with and to soldiers. He despises false claims of heroism and soldiers who did little or no fighting. Both Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon make guest appearances and Richards pays tribute to both of them. They both appear to have been good Officers and brave men.
The funny thing is the one group that Richards never really criticises are the Germans. There's a tendency in the book to suggest that the German army has better equipment and weapons than the British and is better led and better informed than the British.
However, the reason I don't think this book is bullshit is that he's bluntly honest and modest about his own war. He knows he is a good soldier. He knows he is a survivor, but he knows that it is as much by luck as judgement. He never boasts about his own war. He won a DSO and a MM but never shows off about either. He did, he often says, only what other men would do in those circumstances. But that's blatantly not true. He's told enough stories about the 'windy' soldiers, NCOs and Officers he's met to know that.
This is a book I recommend. Yes, it isn't as well-written as a lot of the better-known memoirs and novels, but it doesn't need to be. This is an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances, which turn him into an extraordinary survivor. He never broke, like a lot of men on the front line in World War One, which in retrospect is perhaps the most astonishing thing of all.
It isn't a literary masterpiece. There are better-written books about World War One, but this strikes me as one of the most honest. Initially, I wondered if there was some bullshitting going on. He paints a picture of the British Army in World War One that you don't often see: malingering, scrounging, looting, and swearing. It's almost as if he's deliberately going out of his way to show things at their worst. The British Army certainly doesn't come out of this well as an organisation. Richards is scathing about staff officers, the French, ridiculous officers and NCOs who demand standards that can't be met on the front line and some of his fellow soldiers.
But he also does a fine job of paying tribute where it is due: to his mates, to some of the Officers he served with and to soldiers. He despises false claims of heroism and soldiers who did little or no fighting. Both Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon make guest appearances and Richards pays tribute to both of them. They both appear to have been good Officers and brave men.
The funny thing is the one group that Richards never really criticises are the Germans. There's a tendency in the book to suggest that the German army has better equipment and weapons than the British and is better led and better informed than the British.
However, the reason I don't think this book is bullshit is that he's bluntly honest and modest about his own war. He knows he is a good soldier. He knows he is a survivor, but he knows that it is as much by luck as judgement. He never boasts about his own war. He won a DSO and a MM but never shows off about either. He did, he often says, only what other men would do in those circumstances. But that's blatantly not true. He's told enough stories about the 'windy' soldiers, NCOs and Officers he's met to know that.
This is a book I recommend. Yes, it isn't as well-written as a lot of the better-known memoirs and novels, but it doesn't need to be. This is an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances, which turn him into an extraordinary survivor. He never broke, like a lot of men on the front line in World War One, which in retrospect is perhaps the most astonishing thing of all.
komet2020's review
5.0
This book is a remarkable account of life in the trenches from a soldier (the author) who served in France from the beginning of the war in August 1914 to the Armistice. Never once was Richards wounded in all that time! He served with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers, which also numbered among its ranks Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon. Unlike Graves and Sasson, Richards did not become an officer. Nor did he want to be one. He was a Private throughout his years of service in France.
Richards saw action from the earliest clashes between British and German forces at Mons (Belgium) in August 1914, to First Ypres, to Loos, the Somme, Arras, Passchendaele, and the decisive battles in the late summer and autumn of 1918.
For anyone with an interest in an engaging memoir about a man who managed to survive combat service throughout the First World War, "OLD SOLDIERS NEVER DIE" is a must-read.
Richards saw action from the earliest clashes between British and German forces at Mons (Belgium) in August 1914, to First Ypres, to Loos, the Somme, Arras, Passchendaele, and the decisive battles in the late summer and autumn of 1918.
For anyone with an interest in an engaging memoir about a man who managed to survive combat service throughout the First World War, "OLD SOLDIERS NEVER DIE" is a must-read.
sj_andy's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Frank Richards, a private during the "Great War" stayed very determinedly one of than ranks. This is well written but relentless account of that war, and life in the trenches and "the front line". About the numbers who died and the capriciousness of fate. It feels like to survive against the odds rather like having to roll a 6 on the hour every hour. He delivers a well drawn picture of life in the trenches and its the hardships.
More...