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Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front 1914-1918
The first history of World War I to place centre-stage the British soldier who fought in the trenches, this superb and important book tells the story of an epic and terrible war through the letters, diaries and memories of those who fought it.
Of the six million men who served in the British army, nearly one million lost their lives and over two million were wounded. This is the story of these men – epitomised by the character of Sgt Tommy Atkins – and the women they left behind.
Using previously unseen letters, diaries, memoirs and poetry from the years 1914-1918, Richard Holmes paints a moving picture of the generation that fought and died in the mud of Flanders. He follows men whose mental health was forever destroyed by shell shock, women who lost husbands and brothers in the same afternoon and those who wrote at lunchtime and died before tea.
Groundbreaking and critically-acclaimed, this book tells the real story of trench warfare, the strength and fallibility of the human spirit, the individuals behind an epic event, and their legacy. It is an emotional and unforgettable masterpiece from one of our most important historians.
Of the six million men who served in the British army, nearly one million lost their lives and over two million were wounded. This is the story of these men – epitomised by the character of Sgt Tommy Atkins – and the women they left behind.
Using previously unseen letters, diaries, memoirs and poetry from the years 1914-1918, Richard Holmes paints a moving picture of the generation that fought and died in the mud of Flanders. He follows men whose mental health was forever destroyed by shell shock, women who lost husbands and brothers in the same afternoon and those who wrote at lunchtime and died before tea.
Groundbreaking and critically-acclaimed, this book tells the real story of trench warfare, the strength and fallibility of the human spirit, the individuals behind an epic event, and their legacy. It is an emotional and unforgettable masterpiece from one of our most important historians.
752 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
50 people are currently reading
1110 people want to read
About the author
Richard Holmes
116 books92 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
See this thread for more information.
Edward Richard Holmes was Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University and the Royal Military College of Science. He was educated at Cambridge, Northern Illinois, and Reading Universities, and carried out his doctoral research on the French army of the Second Empire. For many years he taught military history at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
A celebrated military historian, Holmes is the author of the best-selling and widely acclaimed Tommy and Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket. His dozen other books include Dusty Warriors, Sahib, The Western Front, The Little Field Marshal: Sir John French, The Road to Sedan, Firing Line, The Second World War in Photographs and Fatal Avenue: A Traveller’s History of Northern France and Flanders (also published by Pimlico).
He was general editor of The Oxford Companion to Military History and has presented eight BBC TV series, including ‘War Walks’, ‘The Western Front’ and ‘Battlefields’, and is famous for his hugely successful series ‘Wellington: The Iron Duke’ and ‘Rebels and Redcoats’.
See this thread for more information.
Edward Richard Holmes was Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University and the Royal Military College of Science. He was educated at Cambridge, Northern Illinois, and Reading Universities, and carried out his doctoral research on the French army of the Second Empire. For many years he taught military history at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
A celebrated military historian, Holmes is the author of the best-selling and widely acclaimed Tommy and Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket. His dozen other books include Dusty Warriors, Sahib, The Western Front, The Little Field Marshal: Sir John French, The Road to Sedan, Firing Line, The Second World War in Photographs and Fatal Avenue: A Traveller’s History of Northern France and Flanders (also published by Pimlico).
He was general editor of The Oxford Companion to Military History and has presented eight BBC TV series, including ‘War Walks’, ‘The Western Front’ and ‘Battlefields’, and is famous for his hugely successful series ‘Wellington: The Iron Duke’ and ‘Rebels and Redcoats’.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
July 9, 2016
This isn't a history of the First World War. It doesn't explore battles and origins, major combatants, motivations, rations, bombs. What it does do is explore the experience of the British soldiers in the trenches - who they were, why they fought, how they felt, what they did. It's broken down into thematic sections - about battalions, about weapons, about motivations for and against fighting, about relationships between ranks, about lives pre- and post-war.
It's a very well-written book, with a natural feeling for the soldiers that really flows through the pages. Rather than using material that was often written well after the war and coloured by the bitterness of the peace that followed, Holmes used contemporary material, written by the men while they were there, and it really makes you realise that our view of the war as a useless, wasteful mess is a much later view, that the men in the trenches knew why they were there and what they were fighting for. At the time they would have been offended and insulted by the notion that they were 'lambs to the slaughter', mindlessly following orders into a war that had no meaning.
It's a very well-written book, with a natural feeling for the soldiers that really flows through the pages. Rather than using material that was often written well after the war and coloured by the bitterness of the peace that followed, Holmes used contemporary material, written by the men while they were there, and it really makes you realise that our view of the war as a useless, wasteful mess is a much later view, that the men in the trenches knew why they were there and what they were fighting for. At the time they would have been offended and insulted by the notion that they were 'lambs to the slaughter', mindlessly following orders into a war that had no meaning.
October 8, 2015
In 1914, five major powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary on the one hand, Russia, France, and Britain on the other, went to war over the small nations of Serbia and Belgium. The Austro-Hungarian army lost the capacity for independent action by the end of 1914. The Russian army collapsed into revolution and the French army succumbed to mutiny in 1917, thought it recovered somewhat by the following year. The German army was defeated in 1918. Alone among the original five powers, the army of Britain and it’s Empire went through the war intact. How did it manage this? The late Richard Holmes sets out to answer that question in this fine book.
This is not an arrows on maps history of the war, but an examination of the British army on the Western Front. We learn what motivated its soldiers to fight, how they fought, what happened to them when they didn't, what they did between fights, how they felt about each other, how they felt about their enemy, how they felt about the war, and much else besides.
These were men who might experience the following;
"One day...a shell hit the officers' latrine, sending the screen flying. I was shocked to see a man still sitting there on the throne and I thought he must be dead. I ran as hard as I could and arrived to find Ellison up and adjusting his trousers. He said with a grin, 'It was lucky that the shell came when it did as I was feeling a bit constipated'"
"(One soldier remembered) the sight of a Saxon boy crushed under a shattered tank, moaning 'Mutter, Mutter, Mutter,' out of ghastly grey lips. A British soldier, wounded in the leg, and sitting near by, hears the words, and dragging himself to the dying boy, takes his cold hand and says 'All right, son, it's all right, Mother's here with you'"
One great grandfather of mine went into the trenches in late 1914, made it through to the end, and lived until 1979. Another joined up in 1914 and was one of the Sheffield Pals, losing an arm and an eye in his first and only day of combat on the Somme on July 1st, 1916. His brother in law likewise joined up in 1914 and fought until September 1918 when he was killed, two months before the end of the war. I never met any of these men, but after reading this book I feel as though I know them a little better.
This is not an arrows on maps history of the war, but an examination of the British army on the Western Front. We learn what motivated its soldiers to fight, how they fought, what happened to them when they didn't, what they did between fights, how they felt about each other, how they felt about their enemy, how they felt about the war, and much else besides.
These were men who might experience the following;
"One day...a shell hit the officers' latrine, sending the screen flying. I was shocked to see a man still sitting there on the throne and I thought he must be dead. I ran as hard as I could and arrived to find Ellison up and adjusting his trousers. He said with a grin, 'It was lucky that the shell came when it did as I was feeling a bit constipated'"
"(One soldier remembered) the sight of a Saxon boy crushed under a shattered tank, moaning 'Mutter, Mutter, Mutter,' out of ghastly grey lips. A British soldier, wounded in the leg, and sitting near by, hears the words, and dragging himself to the dying boy, takes his cold hand and says 'All right, son, it's all right, Mother's here with you'"
One great grandfather of mine went into the trenches in late 1914, made it through to the end, and lived until 1979. Another joined up in 1914 and was one of the Sheffield Pals, losing an arm and an eye in his first and only day of combat on the Somme on July 1st, 1916. His brother in law likewise joined up in 1914 and fought until September 1918 when he was killed, two months before the end of the war. I never met any of these men, but after reading this book I feel as though I know them a little better.
August 18, 2021
The opening chapters of this book were slow going for me, full of dates and numbers and names designating battalions and regiments and divisions, lots of particulars about the course of the war and especially the structure of the army, but the later two-thirds or so were very good, with lots of engaging and moving detail about the lived reality of the war for ordinary British soldiers on the Western Front--what they ate, how they spent their time, what they wore, how often they bathed, what happened when they got injured, how they moved about, how they got on with each other, how they were trained. Holmes is very reluctant to speak ill of these men, sometimes bending over backwards to defend them from historians and critics, but it's certainly possible to think the war was an avoidable disaster that served no good purpose then or now and did incalculable damage (the longterm effects of which we are still coping with) while respecting and feeling great compassion for the people who lived and died under its shadow.
April 13, 2013
If you ever wanted to read about the Britsh soldiers experience on the Western Front in the First World War, this is the book for you. The sections on the army's structure are less intersting but the accounts of the men who were there are rivetting. I shall never cease to be amazed at how they dealt with the sheer bloody awfulness of it all.
January 14, 2021
There is perhaps no greater challenge to the historian of war than recounting the personal experiences of those who served in it. Political decisions are documented, units are described and their movements detailed, and battles fought and re-fought in the reports and other chronicles. But the activities of the ordinary soldier or sailor is too often lost to history. For most of human history, most of their experiences have been unaccounted due to simple illiteracy and a lack of interest by the record keepers. Yet even in our more literate era, many of those who fought leave their service unrecounted either for a lack of opportunity or an unwillingness to revisit the horrors they faced.
Nevertheless, some of their number do indeed take the time to describe their experiences in letters or to relate their experiences in postwar memoirs or fictionalized accounts. It is from these that Richard Holmes draws the details that inform his study of British Army service on the Western Front in the First World War. It’s an impressively comprehensive account that touches upon every aspect of their service, from their training to questions of morale and punishment, which is a formidable challenge given the variety of the experiences involved.
Part of the reason for this, as Holmes explains, was that in many respects the force that fought on the Western Front consisted not of one single army but of four of them: the small prewar “Old Army” of professional soldiers, the Territorial Army reserves, Kitchener’s “New Army” of volunteers who enlisted at the start of the hostilities, and the conscripted levies later in the conflict. Each of these armies, Holmes relates, was different in character, reflecting their different preparations and relationship to the conflict. While over time service in France and Belgium brought about a degree of homogenization, Holmes notes the distinctions that persisted, both between the various forces and the armies manning the different sectors of the Western Front.
These distinctions, however, were minor compared to the common experience of trench warfare. Holmes examines it through the various stages of their experience at the front and the types of service undertaken by the men. What emerges from his account is how the drudgery of routine predominated their lives, as they spent most of their days carrying out routine orders, performing manual labor, and coping with boredom and the elements. Looming over them constantly, however, was combat and the prospect of death, the form of which was ever evolving as both sides continually introduced new weapons and tactics designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare.
That the details of all this never detract from the narrative is a testament to Holmes’s ability as a writer. It helps as well that he devotes ample space to the words of the soldiers’ themselves, with generous quotes from their firsthand accounts. At times Holmes’s aspirations get the better of him, most notably with the first chapter in which he offers a fictionalized account of “Thomas Atkins” participating in an attack. Yet this can be skipped past to no detriment to what follows, which is a rich and evocative narrative describing the lives of the men who served in the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War, one that succeeds Denis Winter’s classic study Death's Men as the authoritative work on the subject.
Nevertheless, some of their number do indeed take the time to describe their experiences in letters or to relate their experiences in postwar memoirs or fictionalized accounts. It is from these that Richard Holmes draws the details that inform his study of British Army service on the Western Front in the First World War. It’s an impressively comprehensive account that touches upon every aspect of their service, from their training to questions of morale and punishment, which is a formidable challenge given the variety of the experiences involved.
Part of the reason for this, as Holmes explains, was that in many respects the force that fought on the Western Front consisted not of one single army but of four of them: the small prewar “Old Army” of professional soldiers, the Territorial Army reserves, Kitchener’s “New Army” of volunteers who enlisted at the start of the hostilities, and the conscripted levies later in the conflict. Each of these armies, Holmes relates, was different in character, reflecting their different preparations and relationship to the conflict. While over time service in France and Belgium brought about a degree of homogenization, Holmes notes the distinctions that persisted, both between the various forces and the armies manning the different sectors of the Western Front.
These distinctions, however, were minor compared to the common experience of trench warfare. Holmes examines it through the various stages of their experience at the front and the types of service undertaken by the men. What emerges from his account is how the drudgery of routine predominated their lives, as they spent most of their days carrying out routine orders, performing manual labor, and coping with boredom and the elements. Looming over them constantly, however, was combat and the prospect of death, the form of which was ever evolving as both sides continually introduced new weapons and tactics designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare.
That the details of all this never detract from the narrative is a testament to Holmes’s ability as a writer. It helps as well that he devotes ample space to the words of the soldiers’ themselves, with generous quotes from their firsthand accounts. At times Holmes’s aspirations get the better of him, most notably with the first chapter in which he offers a fictionalized account of “Thomas Atkins” participating in an attack. Yet this can be skipped past to no detriment to what follows, which is a rich and evocative narrative describing the lives of the men who served in the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War, one that succeeds Denis Winter’s classic study Death's Men as the authoritative work on the subject.
September 27, 2016
This book took me a while to read--almost 800 pages and the font is like half the size of normal font, so be ready for spending a lot of time reading about the British Tommy. It is so comprehensive, down to the minutest detail, I think it's a must have for anyone's WW1 library. There is a laser like focus on the British army soldier though on Western Front as promised on the cover--other arenas, or allies, or branches of service get only brief mentions--but after reading this book you get a very well rounded view of British soldier and made me consider a few new avenues of thoughts. How terrible the demobilization went. How flimsy the lions being led by lambs scenario is. This is very similar to his first book Redcoat, about the British soldiers 1760-1860, and now I'll have to finish off his trilogy with Sahib.
Holmes in both books goes into great detail about pay, how such and such award would increase your pensions, and even though paid commissions are no longer a thing in the age of Tommy, what that buying power broke down to, the ins and outs of the weaponry and schedules--but it can also get a little bit too dry at times, and I found it a touch slow going in a part or two. And in a way, since this war was so closely fought with other allies, I would have liked to read more foreign impressions on the typical British soldier, but there's not much of that at all. Still very glad I read this and I am sure to reference it in the future often.
Holmes in both books goes into great detail about pay, how such and such award would increase your pensions, and even though paid commissions are no longer a thing in the age of Tommy, what that buying power broke down to, the ins and outs of the weaponry and schedules--but it can also get a little bit too dry at times, and I found it a touch slow going in a part or two. And in a way, since this war was so closely fought with other allies, I would have liked to read more foreign impressions on the typical British soldier, but there's not much of that at all. Still very glad I read this and I am sure to reference it in the future often.
November 14, 2015
If you can get through the first 200 pages of abstruse militaria, you'll be rewarded with a fascinating and impeccably-researched account of life on the Western Front. The final chapter, on life after the war, is particularly moving
February 15, 2015
Love this book and took it with me to battlefield tour of WWI in 2009. Whilst at Auchonvillers in France had the great pleasure to meet Richard Holmes and he signed my copy of Tommy.
January 12, 2019
I enjoyed this book. The author compiled interviews with WWI British soldiers. Richard Holmes has broken these interviews and comments into chapters that refer to a particular aspect of the British Tommy's experience on the Western Front. These chapters deal with areas including organization, weapons, chain of command, the clergy, medical care, changes in the British military, the homefront, employment after the war, etc. The book is heavily footnoted. I would prefer to have this book in a hardback edition as reading the Kindle Edition was somewhat tedious.
Anyone studying WWI and the Western Front would find this book fascinating. I'll look and see if someone has written a similar book on the German experience on the Western Front.
Anyone studying WWI and the Western Front would find this book fascinating. I'll look and see if someone has written a similar book on the German experience on the Western Front.
November 14, 2015
Timing of this reading is on the heels of the Paris attack at the hands of ISIS November 14, 2015.
This novel is not so much a history accounting as it is a depiction of WW I from the eyes of the they typical British soldier a 'Tommy Atkins'
Here are a few quotes from this book I will let it be my summary.
I may be knocked out in the next few days. If so, this is just a line to you, dear. I don’t contemplate death, but it is all a bloody chance out here. If there is any sort of survival of consciousness, death can hardly fail to be interesting, and if there is anything doing on the other side, I will stir something up. Nirvana be damned!
Who made the Law that men should die in meadows?
Who spake the word that blood should splash in lanes?
Who gave it forth that gardens should be boneyards?
Who spread the hills with flesh, and blood, and brains?----- Richard Henry Tawney
‘There comes a day in the life of all young officers,’ he used to say, ‘when a superior will ask them for their opinion. If the youngster gives an answer which he thinks will please, he is done; he is useless. If he says straightly what he thinks, he is the man to get on.’
Around 70 percent of soldiers killed on the Western Front were the victims of indirect fire, that is, of the fragments or blast effect of shells or trench mortar bombs. But in the case of generals killed in action, where the cause of death is known, thirty-four were killed by shellfire and twenty-two by small-arms fire.
let us never forget that generation whose courage and endurance lift my spirits and break my heart. And let us do better for their great-grandchildren than we did for them.
This novel is not so much a history accounting as it is a depiction of WW I from the eyes of the they typical British soldier a 'Tommy Atkins'
Here are a few quotes from this book I will let it be my summary.
I may be knocked out in the next few days. If so, this is just a line to you, dear. I don’t contemplate death, but it is all a bloody chance out here. If there is any sort of survival of consciousness, death can hardly fail to be interesting, and if there is anything doing on the other side, I will stir something up. Nirvana be damned!
Who made the Law that men should die in meadows?
Who spake the word that blood should splash in lanes?
Who gave it forth that gardens should be boneyards?
Who spread the hills with flesh, and blood, and brains?----- Richard Henry Tawney
‘There comes a day in the life of all young officers,’ he used to say, ‘when a superior will ask them for their opinion. If the youngster gives an answer which he thinks will please, he is done; he is useless. If he says straightly what he thinks, he is the man to get on.’
Around 70 percent of soldiers killed on the Western Front were the victims of indirect fire, that is, of the fragments or blast effect of shells or trench mortar bombs. But in the case of generals killed in action, where the cause of death is known, thirty-four were killed by shellfire and twenty-two by small-arms fire.
let us never forget that generation whose courage and endurance lift my spirits and break my heart. And let us do better for their great-grandchildren than we did for them.
December 31, 2013
I did enjoy this book very much and came away from it with a much greater knowledge of how the British Army was organized and fought in the Great War. It is a long book, and much of the information provided sets out the administration of the army and the structure, rather than solely concentrating on the experiences of those in the front line, although there is a lot written about that too.
This is interesting in it's own right and the detail is substantial and adds to the readers knowledge of the army and those that fought it rather than the progress of the various battles etc. This is therefore a useful addition to the literature on the war and challenges a lot of the perceived truisms about the war itself (that the troops were lions led by donkeys, that every battlefield was a sea of mud etc.) Holmes does this very effectively by going back to primary sources written at the time as his main source of information. He explains his reasoning and it is sound indeed. This is the best way to avoid retrospectives even from well meaning veterans whose memories may well have been shaped by subsequent accounts and their own failing memories.
Much of the writing is very good and very readable, but I found some of the accounts a little repetitive in places and there was a heavy reliance on a few soldiers whose accounts naturally account for much of the narrative. However that is a minor quibble really in what is a very good account and sets the sacrifices of those that fought and died in this dreadful conflict into context.
This is interesting in it's own right and the detail is substantial and adds to the readers knowledge of the army and those that fought it rather than the progress of the various battles etc. This is therefore a useful addition to the literature on the war and challenges a lot of the perceived truisms about the war itself (that the troops were lions led by donkeys, that every battlefield was a sea of mud etc.) Holmes does this very effectively by going back to primary sources written at the time as his main source of information. He explains his reasoning and it is sound indeed. This is the best way to avoid retrospectives even from well meaning veterans whose memories may well have been shaped by subsequent accounts and their own failing memories.
Much of the writing is very good and very readable, but I found some of the accounts a little repetitive in places and there was a heavy reliance on a few soldiers whose accounts naturally account for much of the narrative. However that is a minor quibble really in what is a very good account and sets the sacrifices of those that fought and died in this dreadful conflict into context.
September 27, 2014
Interesting and involved effort to get into the heads and experiences of any and all Tommy's in any and all stages of the Western Front. In that way it fails, but only for not being twice as long.
Holmes also tries, with some success, to broaden "the lions led by donkeys", and once again has some success, if only in making the reader realize that to simplify Tommys and their leaders as being any one thing is to do a disservice to what was a very complex and evolving situation.
Holmes also tries, with some success, to broaden "the lions led by donkeys", and once again has some success, if only in making the reader realize that to simplify Tommys and their leaders as being any one thing is to do a disservice to what was a very complex and evolving situation.
July 29, 2008
That the western front in 1916 was not a good place to be and that the British Army may make mistakes but, they do seem to learn from them.
July 28, 2024
(4.5 stars) This is a really great survey of what life was like and how it functioned for British soldiers on the front during The Great War. At first, I wasn't too impressed because it seemed a little unfocused and difficult to get into my head, but after a while it picked up a nice steady pace and became completely compelling to me.
I think it is incredibly difficult to explain what life was like within the trenches and battles of any modern war, because it almost doesn't seem like a believable human experience that we can and do allow to happen. Humanising warfare can be a very painful and off-putting task, but it is possibly one of the most important things that we can do in order to reduce international conflict. Books like this, that focus on the common soldier, are vital to our studies and understanding of our behaviour. I only wish there was more information within.
I think one of the reasons why I wasn't as fond when starting to read this was because I went in expecting more of an overview of the whole British war industry at the time and how things ran 'back in Blighty', but it genuinely just is focused on the British soldier on the Western Front during WWI! Just like in the name. That's something to keep in mind.
I think it is incredibly difficult to explain what life was like within the trenches and battles of any modern war, because it almost doesn't seem like a believable human experience that we can and do allow to happen. Humanising warfare can be a very painful and off-putting task, but it is possibly one of the most important things that we can do in order to reduce international conflict. Books like this, that focus on the common soldier, are vital to our studies and understanding of our behaviour. I only wish there was more information within.
I think one of the reasons why I wasn't as fond when starting to read this was because I went in expecting more of an overview of the whole British war industry at the time and how things ran 'back in Blighty', but it genuinely just is focused on the British soldier on the Western Front during WWI! Just like in the name. That's something to keep in mind.
March 30, 2023
If you have an ancestor who served on the Western Front (in the British army!) or are just interested in the British experience of the Great War and only want to read one book, then it has to be this one. There is a brief account of the war, but it is really a detailed social history of the army - and primarily front-line soldiers - during that conflict. It's got it all: how it was organised, lice and rats, sex, religion, death, humour and outstanding, if heartbreaking, bravery. It is a solid book packed with details but, at its centre, are the experiences of people, recorded in their own words. The late, great Richard Holmes is just so steeped in the history of the British army and the British soldier that the anecdotes - from funny to touching - just keep on coming and bring the subject to life. Importantly, we get the view of the war from the soldiers and their own experience, not the distorted one through the prism of 'Oh! What a Lovely War', 'Blackadder Goes Forth' and even the lauded 'War Poets': "... we must judge the men who fought the war by their motives and achievements, not by the conflict's origins or results ... But let us never forget that generation whose courage and endurance lift my spirits and break my heart."
November 24, 2021
4 maybe 4.5 stars
Richard Holmes gives us as complete a picture of the world of the British soldier during World War I as any. Importantly, this snapshot of life on the Western Front is taken from contemporary letters, journals, and reports, and not one that is tinted with the haze of reflection and hindsight. I found the beginning of the book difficult to get through, as it related to technical aspects of the organization of the British Army. However, the rest of the book is an in-depth look at the varied thoughts, opinions, grievances, joys, sufferings, and feelings of the average British soldier and officer. This is an important work and highly recommended for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of the war from a more personal perspective.
Richard Holmes gives us as complete a picture of the world of the British soldier during World War I as any. Importantly, this snapshot of life on the Western Front is taken from contemporary letters, journals, and reports, and not one that is tinted with the haze of reflection and hindsight. I found the beginning of the book difficult to get through, as it related to technical aspects of the organization of the British Army. However, the rest of the book is an in-depth look at the varied thoughts, opinions, grievances, joys, sufferings, and feelings of the average British soldier and officer. This is an important work and highly recommended for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of the war from a more personal perspective.
December 14, 2025
This author had written many excellent books on warfare, about the soldiers that took part and how they were treated.
This book concentrates on the soldiers themselves , how they were organised, the difference between the Officers and the all pervading Other Ranks. It deals less with the battles and more with what happened to make the soldiers battle ready, what happened afterwards, what they did when they weren't in the front line trenches. It is extremely well written and easy to read. One of the last sentences I found very moving:
'But let us never forget the generation whose courage and endurance lift my spirits and break my heart. And let us do better for their great-grandchildren than we did for them.'
Read this book.
This book concentrates on the soldiers themselves , how they were organised, the difference between the Officers and the all pervading Other Ranks. It deals less with the battles and more with what happened to make the soldiers battle ready, what happened afterwards, what they did when they weren't in the front line trenches. It is extremely well written and easy to read. One of the last sentences I found very moving:
'But let us never forget the generation whose courage and endurance lift my spirits and break my heart. And let us do better for their great-grandchildren than we did for them.'
Read this book.
February 19, 2023
Excellent in its humanity. Interesting, curious, moving and entertaining in its details. It makes no attempt to deal with the causes of the war, or take a stance on whether it was right or wrong. However, it does consciously aim to dispel some of the enduring myths of the western front by relying heavily on contemporary accounts, and goes a long way towards redressing the balance. Ultimately, though, it cannot dispel the sheer horror of the front and that is what one is finally left with. That and the overwhelming sadness of so many young men being killed before their time.
December 4, 2024
The first 10-20 pages had me wondering if it was a good purchase or not, but perseverance paid off. The background history and personal accounts of those who served in the Great War made it a wonderful, informative read. The details of the tactics by the combatants (Generals to Privates) and their equipment, life in the trenches and on leave was insightful, and often debunked earlier superficial analyses. For example, I know now why the men carried shovels in their gear. They served a logical purpose and were not simply useless weight (no spoiler alert needed, read "Tommy" and find out). The attention to detail is phenomenal. If you have a true interest in WWI, this book is a must read!
July 8, 2022
I have always loved history. I thank my enthusiastic Scottish history teacher from my years in Secondary School. My grandfather fought in WW1 and was one of the first to be sent to France. He was in the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars (QOOH - otherwise known as Queer Objects On Horseback!)
Holmes is a true historian. I found this book fascinating - a real insight into WW1. This was the first Richard Holmes book I have read. I have a feeling it won't be the last.
Holmes is a true historian. I found this book fascinating - a real insight into WW1. This was the first Richard Holmes book I have read. I have a feeling it won't be the last.
April 17, 2021
This was my first book by Richard Holmes; it will not be my last. A sensational read about the British soldier in the Great War. This is a work that has no frills; it weights both success and failure, motivation and procrastination.
“Tommy” is a great reminder that history has so much left to teach us. The voices of a century ago have a lot to remind us about war, peace, diplomacy and decency.
“Tommy” is a great reminder that history has so much left to teach us. The voices of a century ago have a lot to remind us about war, peace, diplomacy and decency.
December 31, 2022
The essence of the British Soldier…
Richard Holmes knew his subject, of that there is no doubt. My only criticism of this book which in my mind should have been a masterpiece, is that it is overly long, quite like the Great War itself. A very good read nevertheless and a recommended read for any student of the Great War.
Richard Holmes knew his subject, of that there is no doubt. My only criticism of this book which in my mind should have been a masterpiece, is that it is overly long, quite like the Great War itself. A very good read nevertheless and a recommended read for any student of the Great War.
October 30, 2024
If you are looking for a book on the set piece battles of WWI then this is not the book for you. Instead it concentrates on the people, the ‘Tommies’, their reasons for fighting, their equipment and weapons, the conditions and the effects of the carnage around them.
Detailed and moving it’s a book that you can come back to again and again.
Detailed and moving it’s a book that you can come back to again and again.
June 22, 2025
The Book that started my five year obsession with the First World War. About the man and the Men not a general history of WW1. Richard Holmes death was a lose to the History of Warfare. A good man and author.
March 9, 2019
One of the best balanced views of the British Army during the Great War.
March 31, 2020
If you read only one book about the Western Front, you couldn't do better and read this one.
February 3, 2022
A very detailed account of The British Solider on the Western Front.
June 4, 2025
A moving insight into the British soldier on the Western Front
June 18, 2025
Richard Holmes was a ubiquitous presence on British television in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and his documentaries can often be found on YouTube, BBC iplayer and elsewhere. He was also a prolific writer. He covered a very wide range of conflicts across the globe, but his speciality was the British soldier, 'Tommy Atkins' through the past few centuries and in particular the Great War. This book is therefore on the subject in which he had the greatest expertise, and is therefore the logical first step for anyone wanting to know about the ordinary British soldier in the iconic battles such as Loos, Somme and Passchendaele - and equally the 'Hundred Days' victories of 1918. It is well written and well referenced for specialists seeking original sources.
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