Soldier from the Wars Returning

by Charles Carrington

Soldier from the Wars Returning is one of the truest, most profound and readable personal accounts of the Great War. The author waited nearly fifty years before writing it, and the perspective of history enhances its value.

He writes only of the battles in which he participated (including the Somme and Passchendaele), though his comments on affairs beyond his knowledge at the time, through later study and reflection, are pungent and stimulating. Among other topics, he describes the politicians, the generals, Kitchener's Army, Hore-Belisha, German gas attacks, Picardy, dug-outs, tanks, the sex-life of the soldier, scrounging. trench kits and the censoring of letters.

The author saw the First World War from below, as a fighting soldier in a line regiment. In the Second World War he served as a staff officer liaising between the Army and the RAF; serving two tours at RAF Bomber Command HQ at High Wycombe. This equipped him to draw forthright comparisons between the conduct of the two wars.

Genres: History, World War I

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 2, 1965

Reviews

[Martin Samuels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charles Carrington was a volunteer for Kitchener's Army, aged 17, at the beginning of September 1914. He served throughout the war, ending as a captain commanding a company. First published in 1965, this book describes his experiences, but it does rather more than that alone, as it also provides an outline account of the war as a whole, thereby placing Carrington's personal experiences into context. And that broader account draws on the rather more strategic perspective that he gained as a field rank staff officer during the Second World War, which brought him into contact with many leading generals. In some ways, however, the combination of perspectives sometimes sits a little uneasily together, as the sections of personal narrative can feel too few and separated in the text, while the broader narrative of the war (and Carrington often draws contrasts between the two world wars) can on occasion be a little thinly based, even verging into personal prejudice.

Despite these relative weaknesses, the book provides a fascinating insight into the war of one infantry subaltern, who served in several of the key battles on the Western Front, and was sent to Italy as part of the forces intended to prop up the defences after the collapse at Caporetto. The account is perhaps unusual, in that there is none of the war-weariness and disillusion that is so often found in similar personal narratives - Carrington is clear that he went to war for moral reasons and remained convinced throughout that these were valid and true. Carrington also describes his own state of mind and mental state, with a degree of honesty and perceptiveness rare in such accounts. His description of 'the zombie' - the mental torpor and detachment into which he fell during the autumn of 1917 - is particularly moving and revealing.

Overall, this remains a powerful and insightful memoir of the war, to contrast and compare with the very different perspectives presented by Ernst Junger, Remarque (fictional, of course), and many others.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1965. Very interesting combination of memoirs and reflections on World War I. Carrington was a political scientist and writer who was a very young infantry officer in the Great War and later a staff officer with the RAF in World War II. So the book combines his early ground-level view with his later overview of wartime. Very interesting thoughts on changes from one war to the other. I hope to find and read Carrington's battle memoir, "A Subaltern's War."

Note -- did find and read later in 2008.

[ANGUS ROSBOROUGH · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read

The author excellently connects what the common soldier went through (because he lived it) and what the top brass were thinking. He also does admirable work describing what life was like at the time and what soldiers true thoughts were. A different book from many WW1 accounts that I have read.

[Sharon Zink · Rating 4 out of 5]

An account of World War I from the perspective of a soldier.