Crimea: Michael Pope, 110th Regiment, 1853-1857

My Story: Boys

by Bryan Perrett

September 1854 It seemed like an age, lying there waiting for the order to continue our advance. All the while, from the heights beyond the river the Russian artillery fired upon us and from the front we heard the crackle of musket fire as our skirmishers pushed theirs back. Cannonballs passed over our heads with a sound not unlike tearing cloth, and struck the ground in front of us, throwing up earth. At first I was not afraid, for the men talked and laughed among them selves, even when they were showered with soil. Then we began to suffer our first losses...

Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Childrens, Diary

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2004

About the author

Bryan Perrett was born in 1934 and educated at Liverpool College. He served in the Royal Armoured Corps, the 17th/21st Lancers, Westminster Dragoons, and the Royal Tank Regiment, and was awarded the Territorial Decoration.A professional military historian for many years, his books include "A History of the Blitzkrieg" and "Knights of the Black Cross - Hitler's Panzerwaffe and its Leaders". His treatise Desert Warfare was widely consulted during the Gulf War. His most recent works, including "Last Stand, At All Costs" and "Against all Odds" examine aspects of motivation. During the Falklands and Gulf Wars Bryan Perrett served as Defense Correspondent to the Liverpool Echo. His books are widely read on both sides of the Atlantic and have been translated into several languages.

Reviews

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone whose familiarity with the Crimean War stems from its impact on medicine and nursing, I wish that the historical note touched more on that aspect. There was a little more about Florence Nightingale in the story part, but just a passing mention afterwards, and not even a picture. It would have also been interesting to have an excerpt from “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” as that poem also served to preserve the memory of the war.

[Chiara · Rating 4 out of 5]

i started to read this book because i have read alot of books to do with a diary form of text in which there telling the experiences they went through.
the category i put this book in was that it is written by a male author , whoms name is Bryan Perrett.
the things i liked about this book was that it related to another part of history in which was true in those days in how boys use to sgree on going to the war on a differnt promise and didnt know what they were getting themselves into. at first the main character Michael Pope had thought everything in war was not as bad as he said the men he was with would laugh and talk amongest themselves like no was ever happening but it all changed when they began to suffer there first losses. that was a favourite of mine because it had a great climax in the emotion that it was written in.
i things i didnt like in this book was all the difficult names there were because it was hard for me to read and pronounce the names correctly and i didnt know if i was.
i would recommend this book for people who are intrested in the times that men and boys had gone through the war and there prespectives because this book tells the experiences they had gone through in those days to be a soldier and what they were known as and what they should have been known as.

[Molly]

This entire series is a wonderful way to learn history or teach it to adolescents. I find today's generations seem to recall more when they learn through other people (pop songs, celebrity gossip, etc.), so what better way to teach history than through someone else's perspective? Yes, "authentic" diaries would be "better", but would the language really hold the modern student's attention? Did the diary writer know what WOULD be important in the context of history? Probably not.