book recommendations

W

woznotwos

Member
Having finished Ernst Junger's 'Storm of Steel' i was wondering if anyone could recommend anything of a similar ilk about personal experiences from ww1 . Thanks in advance , Warren.
 
- Wooden Crosses by Roland Dorgeles
- Ceux de 14 by Maurice Genevoix (if you can read French)
- The Bloody Hand by Blaise Cendrars
- To the Slaughterhouse by Jean Giono

... and many others
 
The four books above were written by major French authors who actually fought in WW1. Another one I like particularly is La Vie des Martyrs, by another great French writer, Georges Duhamel. Duhamel was a field surgeon in WW1, notably at Verdun (if you can imagine what this means...). This book is really heart touching, really impressive. It has been translated to English as "The New Book of Martyrs":

https://www.amazon.com/New-Book-Martyrs-Georges-Duhamel/dp/1612031838?SubscriptionId=AKIAI6MZ6I56PEDTRFEQ&tag=worldcat-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1612031838
 
I‘m just reading the journals of Hans Tröbst about his Army-Life in 10 Books (starting in 1910 as a „Junker“).
Don’t know if it is available in english too, but it‘s a nice view of a prussian officer.
 
Started reading Poilu by Louis Barthas for the second time today. The 2 top books written by CEF WW1 veterans are: Ghosts Have Warm Hands by Will Bird and The Journal of Private Fraser. I have read Storm of Steel but no other German WW1 accounts as unfortunately, I do not read German. There seem to be very few German works that have been translated except for "All Quiet".
 
Ernst Jünger's other book "Copse 125" is another good choice. It chronicles trench warfare in 1918.
If you like Ernst Jünger's writing style you will find this as good as "Storm of Steel".

Others are:
"The Beauty and The Sorrow" by Peter Englund
"The Last Magnificent War" by Harold Elk Straubing
"The Guns of August" by Barbara W. Tuchman
"Handbook of Imperial Germany" by our own Colonel Joe, Joe Robinson

Those should keep you busy for a day or two.

John :D
 
Currently reading 'wooden crosses' with 'to the slaughterhouse' waiting patiently in the bookcase. Intend to get through as many of the recommendations i can lay my hands on fellas .
 
I have all the books by Prit Buttar, and while not completely first person accounts, he includes alot of personal accounts. I have read 3 of the 4 he has written on the Eastern Front in WWI, and the WWII one on "Battleground Prussia", since that is where my family is from.

I recommend all of his books:

https://www.amazon.com/Prit-Buttar/e/B00491FBCS
 
One often cited account is Walter Bloem's "retreat from mons" similar to "storm of steel" there are some very different and suspect translations. In the case of Walters book and the 12th Grenadier's this amounts to about one half of the page count. Nevertheless, these translations are often accepted at face value.
 
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