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Death's Men: Soldiers of the Great War
The story of the Great War, told by the soldiers themselves.
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1978
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 29, 2009
If you want to read a true historical account of the Great War and how it affected the men & women involved this is the book. The author does not hide the gruesome accounts of the survivors of artillery fire and the affects upon mens body of the modern weapons of war. He tells the story of what men went through as soldiers in WWI, from training to the end of the line. This is a story about the soldiers not the Generals and their doomed tactics. Its a must read if you want to understand the Great War fully.
February 14, 2021
An absorbing discussion of “ordinary” British infantrymen in WW1. Thematic chapters cover topics including recruitment, training, trench life, leave, battle, and life after the war. Excellently written, with hundreds of first hand accounts, Denis Winter’s unflinching book captures some of the horrors while remaining compassionate.
April 17, 2021
Excellent human history of the combat vets of WWI.
February 28, 2012
An eccentrically and discursively written survey of trench warfare on the Great War's Western Front. Reading it felt like I was at the library of the British Museum and the disheveled scholar in the next carrell had grabbed me by the lapels and just wouldn't stop talking about what he'd researched and the conclusions he'd come to. Recommended in the same spirit of extremes.
June 25, 2015
I didn't love this book, but I'm not sure why. I think it may have been Winter's dry writing because the content is fascinating. While most of it was not new to me, specific examples and many excerpts from memoirs were, and I love reading about the soldier experience during the First World War all the same.
Although the book is subtitled 'Soldiers of the Great War,' it's solely about British soldiers on the Western front. I spent two-and-a-half years working on my Master's degree researching one of the 'sideshow' theatres and writing on the men's experiences there, so exclusion of anything other than the Western front pains me.
But anyways, the content is great and very informative. You'll definitely come away with a solid understanding of life on the Western front, plus training and demobilization.
Although the book is subtitled 'Soldiers of the Great War,' it's solely about British soldiers on the Western front. I spent two-and-a-half years working on my Master's degree researching one of the 'sideshow' theatres and writing on the men's experiences there, so exclusion of anything other than the Western front pains me.
But anyways, the content is great and very informative. You'll definitely come away with a solid understanding of life on the Western front, plus training and demobilization.
August 18, 2026
Many books have been written about WWI and many of those contain stories of what the soldiers experienced during their stay in the trenches and during combat. Less is written about what it meant to become a soldier in the British army in WWI and how these men ended up in the trenches.
This books takes you along from the recruitment office, through training and on to the battlefield. But it also tells you what life was like at the front and behind it. What did they do during their moments out of the lines? Well, you can fill this in yourself, but there was far more to it. What happened to men that got wounded or worse? How did the daily routine influence human behaviour and how do these soldiers look back on this all? What about the horrors they witnessed and the hardships they suffered due to the rain, mud, vermin and more? All of this is written in an interesting and detailed way.
Life could be hard and brutal and once an assault had died down and the evening fell, no-man's-land could be the scene of horrors that came to the men in sound. Men trapped in the barbed wire or almost drowning in a shellhole would cry out for their mother. Men send out on patrols would encounter mutilated bodies or men close to dying. Dead could come fast and violent.
One of the passages that has stayed with me was this. An officer came across a man carrying a sandbag:
In addition to this, the book also tells us what it was like to lose a friend or even family member due to combat. Did they hate the Germans they encountered and how did they treat them once the fighting had stopped? How did the homefront react to all this and how did the soldiers that returned to 'Blighty' experience their brief return to the country they left behind to serve it? Coverage is also given to the period after the war when the men returned to a world in peace or the invalids that lost limbs. How did England take care of them? How did the medical services cope with the enormous amount of wounded and mutilated men that streamed in during a battle. What about the dead? How was takes care of them? The efforts made in this field are staggering.
Obviously the book only covers the British side of it all, but it gives the reader a really good overview of what took place and how much the world had changed during the war years for these British soldiers.
This books takes you along from the recruitment office, through training and on to the battlefield. But it also tells you what life was like at the front and behind it. What did they do during their moments out of the lines? Well, you can fill this in yourself, but there was far more to it. What happened to men that got wounded or worse? How did the daily routine influence human behaviour and how do these soldiers look back on this all? What about the horrors they witnessed and the hardships they suffered due to the rain, mud, vermin and more? All of this is written in an interesting and detailed way.
Life could be hard and brutal and once an assault had died down and the evening fell, no-man's-land could be the scene of horrors that came to the men in sound. Men trapped in the barbed wire or almost drowning in a shellhole would cry out for their mother. Men send out on patrols would encounter mutilated bodies or men close to dying. Dead could come fast and violent.
One of the passages that has stayed with me was this. An officer came across a man carrying a sandbag:
In addition to this, the book also tells us what it was like to lose a friend or even family member due to combat. Did they hate the Germans they encountered and how did they treat them once the fighting had stopped? How did the homefront react to all this and how did the soldiers that returned to 'Blighty' experience their brief return to the country they left behind to serve it? Coverage is also given to the period after the war when the men returned to a world in peace or the invalids that lost limbs. How did England take care of them? How did the medical services cope with the enormous amount of wounded and mutilated men that streamed in during a battle. What about the dead? How was takes care of them? The efforts made in this field are staggering.
Obviously the book only covers the British side of it all, but it gives the reader a really good overview of what took place and how much the world had changed during the war years for these British soldiers.
August 17, 2021
In high school we were required to buy this book for class, but we never got around to reading it. The book has sat on my shelf ever since. I finally read it this summer, and I'm so glad I did. It is a fantastic, and sobering, account of the day-to-day life of a British WW1 soldier, from commissioning to after the war. It's filled with statistics about the war, as well as details from unpublished diaries of soldiers. I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to learn about The Great War.
September 17, 2008
Wrenching. Great read. I think they should make Congress read this stuff the way they make incoming college freshmen do "summer reading".
March 26, 2023
I must admit to dipping in and out of this book over a long period of time, with the odd result that some parts I read several times whilst others I may have missed. The book boasts being one of the first attempts to look at the war from the point of view of the ordinary soldier. I don't know whether that is true or not, but I do believe there has been more of a shift to this perspective in recent times. Not a shift I particularly favour as I am more interested in the strategic decision making and tactical execution, than the experience on the ground. But if this book filled a lack when published, I am all for it. I picked it up because I was so impressed with Winter's destruction of Haig in a non-fiction title. Haig's Command, I think it is called.
I don't think it will suprise many readers coming to the material now, although it should not fail to move them. The privations of the soldiers are legion and Winter does well to bring that to life and give us aspects like the stench, the flies, the putridness, which we might have missed from Blackadder. But it also acts as a corrective to certain assumptions - for instance, most soldiers did not spend that much time on the front line - although being in reserve or at rest was not necessarily not dangerous, as the author points out, death having a habit of finding one out there. Lots of interesting historical detail that, if one didn't think it already, will truly make one wonder at the senseless, pointless loss of the whole affair.
I don't think it will suprise many readers coming to the material now, although it should not fail to move them. The privations of the soldiers are legion and Winter does well to bring that to life and give us aspects like the stench, the flies, the putridness, which we might have missed from Blackadder. But it also acts as a corrective to certain assumptions - for instance, most soldiers did not spend that much time on the front line - although being in reserve or at rest was not necessarily not dangerous, as the author points out, death having a habit of finding one out there. Lots of interesting historical detail that, if one didn't think it already, will truly make one wonder at the senseless, pointless loss of the whole affair.
February 9, 2023
An intriguing look at what life was like for British soldiers on the Western Front (France) during World War One. Each chapter looks at different aspects of life on the Western Front: battle, trenches, rest periods, attitude towards the Germans, weapons and life after the war. The chapters go into great detail and are loaded with personal accounts. Though I didn't find it broke any new ground (originally published in 1978) it was still involving and beautifully organized.
If one is looking for what soldiers of other warring armies thought and experienced, then "Death's Men" will disappoint. However, this was one of the first historical studies to look at the soldiers in-depth. In the 45 years since it was published there have been numerous works examining other armies and in the age of the Internet consumer they can be found and purchased without too much difficulty. Don't let that deter you from reading this book if you're interested in knowing what life was like for the average soldier, albeit the average British soldier.
If one is looking for what soldiers of other warring armies thought and experienced, then "Death's Men" will disappoint. However, this was one of the first historical studies to look at the soldiers in-depth. In the 45 years since it was published there have been numerous works examining other armies and in the age of the Internet consumer they can be found and purchased without too much difficulty. Don't let that deter you from reading this book if you're interested in knowing what life was like for the average soldier, albeit the average British soldier.
October 23, 2025
This brilliantly written and structured book takes you through the Great War, not by political activity, large battles, grand strategies or tragedies like most historical accounts, it simply details soldiers lives across the war.
His research is clear and he has shed light on ‘normal’ ‘ordinary’ folk whose memoirs or diaries haven’t quite made it ‘big’ like others.
It is a candid look at what the men on the ground went through, how they felt and what their experiences were likely to be.
What I really thought was worthwhile is in the final few pages of after the war and how he describes how each soldier returned in their own way, or how some stayed feeling it their duty to stay and look after their fallen comrades close to where they fell.
His research is clear and he has shed light on ‘normal’ ‘ordinary’ folk whose memoirs or diaries haven’t quite made it ‘big’ like others.
It is a candid look at what the men on the ground went through, how they felt and what their experiences were likely to be.
What I really thought was worthwhile is in the final few pages of after the war and how he describes how each soldier returned in their own way, or how some stayed feeling it their duty to stay and look after their fallen comrades close to where they fell.
May 17, 2016
A compilation of first hand accounts of British soldiers in the trenches during World War One. Well researched and well written. Oddly personal since Denis Winter is a Briton whose father served in the conflict.
For a fabulous series on WWI checkout the 1964 BBC miniseries "The Great War" on YOUTUBE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U22lC...
For a fabulous series on WWI checkout the 1964 BBC miniseries "The Great War" on YOUTUBE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U22lC...
November 17, 2011
I just cried!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews