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Covenant With Death
Novel About A Voluntary City Battalion in WW1 .UK Printing.Mass Market Paperback.
512 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
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1098 people want to read
About the author
John Harris
66 books21 followersJohn^^Harris
Pseudonyms: Max Hennessy; Mark Hebden
Image is a self caricature from the late 1970s.
From Wikipedia:
John Harris was a British author. He published a series of crime novels featuring the character Inspector Pel, and war books. He wrote with his own name, and also with the pseudonym of Mark Hebden. His 1953 novel The Sea Shall Not Have Them was the basis for a feature film of the same name in 1954. He was the father of Juliet Harris, who published more Inspector Pel books under the name of Juliet Hebden.
Pseudonyms: Max Hennessy; Mark Hebden
Image is a self caricature from the late 1970s.
From Wikipedia:
John Harris was a British author. He published a series of crime novels featuring the character Inspector Pel, and war books. He wrote with his own name, and also with the pseudonym of Mark Hebden. His 1953 novel The Sea Shall Not Have Them was the basis for a feature film of the same name in 1954. He was the father of Juliet Harris, who published more Inspector Pel books under the name of Juliet Hebden.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
December 1, 2016
I've read a great many novels about WW1 and this is right up there among the best.
The language and the style takes a little getting used to - it was written in 1960 I think - but this is the first novel I have read that seems to truly capture the initial passions, the excitement and the sheer optimism of the volunteer Pal's Battalions, an array of feelings that are to be subsequently quashed by the reality of war.
The final chapters are utterly gut wrenching. They encompass just one day of the massacre on the Somme and then the scenes of the night that followed as hideously wounded men tried to crawl back to the perceived safety of their home trenches. As the bodies, alive and dead were piled up, I was very much reminded of scenes from Dante's Inferno. Just stunningly, painful and descriptive writing.
The language and the style takes a little getting used to - it was written in 1960 I think - but this is the first novel I have read that seems to truly capture the initial passions, the excitement and the sheer optimism of the volunteer Pal's Battalions, an array of feelings that are to be subsequently quashed by the reality of war.
The final chapters are utterly gut wrenching. They encompass just one day of the massacre on the Somme and then the scenes of the night that followed as hideously wounded men tried to crawl back to the perceived safety of their home trenches. As the bodies, alive and dead were piled up, I was very much reminded of scenes from Dante's Inferno. Just stunningly, painful and descriptive writing.
July 4, 2016
John Harris was a Sheffield based crime writer who grew up listening to the veteran's stories he heard around the city. Among these were the stories of the survivors of the 12th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment; the Sheffield Pals. This book is based on those stories.
The Sheffield Pals (which included my great grandfather) were formed on the outbreak of war in August 1914. Richard A. Sparling, a veteran who became a sports journalist and wrote a history of the battalion, described the “£500 a year business men, stockbrokers, engineers, chemists, metallurgical experts, University and public school men, medical students, journalists, schoolmasters, craftsmen, shop assistants, secretaries, and all sorts of clerks” who joined up.
They went into action for the first time at the Somme on July 1st 1916, detailed to attack the village of Serre. At 7.20am the first wave of the battalion climbed out of the trenches, moved 100 yards into No Man's Land and lay flat on the ground. There they waited for the brigade mortar battery and divisional artillery to unleash a final hurricane bombardment of the German lines. A few minutes later, with the British front line coming under an intense German counter-barrage, the second wave took up position 30 yards behind the first. At 7.30am the bombardment lifted from the German front line. All four waves rose, straightened themselves, then advanced steadily towards the German lines.
Disaster struck almost immediately. Their smoke screen was ineffective and the battalion came under machine gun and artillery fire from the left flank and front. Half of the third and fourth waves had fallen before making it a few yards from their trenches. On the left, the bombardment had failed to cut the German barbed wire and the Sheffield Pals were trapped. On the right, a few men managed to force their way into the German trenches and, heavily outnumbered, engaged in vicious hand to hand fighting with the defenders. Some managed to return to the British lines. Most were never heard of again. By lunchtime, 513 of the Sheffield Pals had been killed or wounded.
Harris' book is, quite simply, the best novel written about the First World War by a non combatant. Thinly veiled - the battalion train at the ground of a football club called Rovers and a place out of town called Blackmires while the Sheffield Pals trained at Sheffield United's ground and Redmires to the west of the city - he tells the story of the 12th Yorks & Lancs. The characters are well developed, steering well clear of the cliches this genre is all too prone to, and the action, when it comes, is stomach turning.
So good is Covenant With Death that the novel's closing line is often quoted as the words of a veteran; “Two years in the making. Ten minutes in the destroying. That was our history”
The true story behind the novel is told in Sheffield City Battalion: The 12th (Service) Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment.
The Sheffield Pals (which included my great grandfather) were formed on the outbreak of war in August 1914. Richard A. Sparling, a veteran who became a sports journalist and wrote a history of the battalion, described the “£500 a year business men, stockbrokers, engineers, chemists, metallurgical experts, University and public school men, medical students, journalists, schoolmasters, craftsmen, shop assistants, secretaries, and all sorts of clerks” who joined up.
They went into action for the first time at the Somme on July 1st 1916, detailed to attack the village of Serre. At 7.20am the first wave of the battalion climbed out of the trenches, moved 100 yards into No Man's Land and lay flat on the ground. There they waited for the brigade mortar battery and divisional artillery to unleash a final hurricane bombardment of the German lines. A few minutes later, with the British front line coming under an intense German counter-barrage, the second wave took up position 30 yards behind the first. At 7.30am the bombardment lifted from the German front line. All four waves rose, straightened themselves, then advanced steadily towards the German lines.
Disaster struck almost immediately. Their smoke screen was ineffective and the battalion came under machine gun and artillery fire from the left flank and front. Half of the third and fourth waves had fallen before making it a few yards from their trenches. On the left, the bombardment had failed to cut the German barbed wire and the Sheffield Pals were trapped. On the right, a few men managed to force their way into the German trenches and, heavily outnumbered, engaged in vicious hand to hand fighting with the defenders. Some managed to return to the British lines. Most were never heard of again. By lunchtime, 513 of the Sheffield Pals had been killed or wounded.
Harris' book is, quite simply, the best novel written about the First World War by a non combatant. Thinly veiled - the battalion train at the ground of a football club called Rovers and a place out of town called Blackmires while the Sheffield Pals trained at Sheffield United's ground and Redmires to the west of the city - he tells the story of the 12th Yorks & Lancs. The characters are well developed, steering well clear of the cliches this genre is all too prone to, and the action, when it comes, is stomach turning.
So good is Covenant With Death that the novel's closing line is often quoted as the words of a veteran; “Two years in the making. Ten minutes in the destroying. That was our history”
The true story behind the novel is told in Sheffield City Battalion: The 12th (Service) Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment.
September 28, 2014
My grandmother was born in Sheffield. I can remember my great grandmother and grandmother telling me stories of what happened to the City of Sheffield after the battle of the Somme in World War I. My maternal great uncle was a member of the Sheffield City Battalion (12th Battalion) York Regiment 94th Brigade, 31 Division and died at the Somme. I have his regimental patch with the white rose on it. I grabbed this book “Covenant with Death” by John Harris because it was a historical novel about the Sheffield City Battalion. The book was first published in 1961 and has been reprinted several times since then. The audio book I read was released on September 4, 2014.
The book is a novel about Mark Fenner, a reporter from the Sheffield newspaper, some of his friends from work and other men of the city of Sheffield. The first half of the book is about signing up with great glee and anticipation when War was declared in 1914. Then the waiting to be called, while life went on normally, at last call came, the training, and finally the issuing of summer uniforms and being sent to defend the Suez Canal. Finally they are sent to Senne, France in April 1916. The story continues with the daily routine of the men who by now we have gotten to know well. The last half of the book deals with the battle of the Somme. The book shows us with unbearable actuality what happened to the Sheffield City battalion on that horrible day. In the Somme offensive they were on the extreme left of the 15 mile British front. At 7:20 a.m. they moved into No Man’s Land at 7:30 a.m. bombardment stopped and four waves of the battalion rose and advanced into a devastating hail of machine gun and artillery fire. After 10 minutes all of the 1131 officers of men of the battalion were dead. In the story our hero Mark Fenner is the only one alive. But in the real battle only Corporal Outram, a Signaler was the only one left alive. This was repeated up and down the line and at the end of the ten minutes over 70,000 British was dead. This was the deadliest ten minutes in the history of the British Army; at the end of the battle one million men were dead. The battle of the Somme was the costliest battle in British history. The minute by minute description as told by Fenner is gripping. It puts you right into the battle with him. There is a big difference in reading a story from a personal viewpoint of the battle of the Somme than the history book description.
My great grandmother told me that most of the young men of Sheffield died in that battle and it took a long time for the city to recover. Every house was in mourning. The book gave us the contrast between the years of preparation and the moment of destruction of a single generation of a cities’ population on 1 July 1916. If you can picture this scene in many towns and cities throughout England and the British Empire with all their young men dead or wounded you will then understand why they changed the rules and never again allow regiments of men from the same city.
This is a great book that personalized the Great War. I am sure there are many people that would not be able to read this book. But if you are able, you will learn in great detail what it was like to be an ordinary soldier in the Great War. Mike Rogers did an excellent job narrating the book.
The book is a novel about Mark Fenner, a reporter from the Sheffield newspaper, some of his friends from work and other men of the city of Sheffield. The first half of the book is about signing up with great glee and anticipation when War was declared in 1914. Then the waiting to be called, while life went on normally, at last call came, the training, and finally the issuing of summer uniforms and being sent to defend the Suez Canal. Finally they are sent to Senne, France in April 1916. The story continues with the daily routine of the men who by now we have gotten to know well. The last half of the book deals with the battle of the Somme. The book shows us with unbearable actuality what happened to the Sheffield City battalion on that horrible day. In the Somme offensive they were on the extreme left of the 15 mile British front. At 7:20 a.m. they moved into No Man’s Land at 7:30 a.m. bombardment stopped and four waves of the battalion rose and advanced into a devastating hail of machine gun and artillery fire. After 10 minutes all of the 1131 officers of men of the battalion were dead. In the story our hero Mark Fenner is the only one alive. But in the real battle only Corporal Outram, a Signaler was the only one left alive. This was repeated up and down the line and at the end of the ten minutes over 70,000 British was dead. This was the deadliest ten minutes in the history of the British Army; at the end of the battle one million men were dead. The battle of the Somme was the costliest battle in British history. The minute by minute description as told by Fenner is gripping. It puts you right into the battle with him. There is a big difference in reading a story from a personal viewpoint of the battle of the Somme than the history book description.
My great grandmother told me that most of the young men of Sheffield died in that battle and it took a long time for the city to recover. Every house was in mourning. The book gave us the contrast between the years of preparation and the moment of destruction of a single generation of a cities’ population on 1 July 1916. If you can picture this scene in many towns and cities throughout England and the British Empire with all their young men dead or wounded you will then understand why they changed the rules and never again allow regiments of men from the same city.
This is a great book that personalized the Great War. I am sure there are many people that would not be able to read this book. But if you are able, you will learn in great detail what it was like to be an ordinary soldier in the Great War. Mike Rogers did an excellent job narrating the book.
April 1, 2020
If you can call a book excellent that breaks your heart, shows the folly of man as he lusts for war and power and immerses you in the human tragedy of combat, both for the military and civilians, then “Covenant With Death” is unbelievably excellent. Author Harris writes such a compelling story of ordinary English young men, going through normal military training and life to be put into the most extraordinary circumstances of the first day of the Somme battle, July 1, 1916. One day, 60,000 casualties with 20,000 - 25,000 killed. One day. That’s just the British. I am reminded of General Pickett’s answer to General Lee after the failure of his division’s infamous charge on the third day of *Gettysburg. Lee told him that he and his men had “covered themselves with glory”. Pickett responded, “Not all the glory in the world, General Lee, can atone for the widows and orphans made this day”. Harris sums it up, what took two years to build took ten minutes to destroy. Such is the heart of man.
Outstanding read, highly recommend.
Outstanding read, highly recommend.
March 10, 2016
A very enjoyable book, bringing home the clamour for war, followed by the expectation of glory that didn't survive it's encounter with reality before quickly turning to disillusionment and finally the grinding resignation that blighted a generation of young men during the First World War. The fact based story of an imaginary set of characters from a Sheffield regiment as they join up and eventually face the horror of the battle of the Somme. At times it was jaw droppingly real.
August 21, 2020
Sensational story, based closely on real events of a battalion from Sheffield who fought and died on the opening day of the Somme, July 1916. Another gripping wartime tragedy as eventually hundreds of thousands of lives were lost on both sides in this incredibly pointless battle. An incredibly realistic portrayal, as noted by the late great Christopher Hitchens. A must-robin.
November 28, 2018
Fen's story is haunting and important. Having stood in the trenches in France, even eroded for a hundred years, Covenant with Death took me back there to the mud filled holes with artillery exploding overhead and it was powerful. May we never forget those who fought for our freedoms.
November 22, 2024
This is a fictionalized account of one of the chums brigades in the First World War based initially somewhere that we assume is Sheffield.. Men who volunteered together, chums who trained together and stayed together, often dying together. Based on interviews with survivors. Unlike much war fiction this reads absolutely true. We see the bonds forged between seemingly unlikely comrades and the tensions of institutional life, the horrors of class and of military mismanagement, the strength of the bonds of friendships and the imperturbability of the natural world despite man-made chaos.
The account of the first day of the battle of the Somme is harrowing, compelling and leaves one in no doubt as to the true nature of warfare.
In the context of continuing trench-warfare in the war in Ukraine, more than sixty years from publication this is a book that needs to be read again.
The account of the first day of the battle of the Somme is harrowing, compelling and leaves one in no doubt as to the true nature of warfare.
In the context of continuing trench-warfare in the war in Ukraine, more than sixty years from publication this is a book that needs to be read again.
August 10, 2019
Firstly, I Picked This Up From The Library Because Of My Love Of Historical Fiction, Even Though I Prefer The WWII Era. Something Told Me I Should Read This Book. The 500 Pages Was Deterring Me A Bit But Once I Started, I Finished It In Two Sittings.
I Feel Like This Book Should Be Up There With The Best Of The Books About WWI In Fiction, Although, By The Descriptions, It’s Almost Possible To Believe This Book As Fact.
I Found Part 3 Of The Book Just Heartbreaking; Thinking What Those Men Went Through And Seeing Their Friends Being Picked Off Around Them, Just Reaffirms How Precious Life Is, Even When We’re Not Having To Fight For It.
I Found The Last Chapter Strange As It Was Like Two In One. It Seemed To Fast-Forward Without Warning And Ended Abruptly With Me Still Having Questions
I Feel Like This Book Should Be Up There With The Best Of The Books About WWI In Fiction, Although, By The Descriptions, It’s Almost Possible To Believe This Book As Fact.
I Found Part 3 Of The Book Just Heartbreaking; Thinking What Those Men Went Through And Seeing Their Friends Being Picked Off Around Them, Just Reaffirms How Precious Life Is, Even When We’re Not Having To Fight For It.
I Found The Last Chapter Strange As It Was Like Two In One. It Seemed To Fast-Forward Without Warning And Ended Abruptly With Me Still Having Questions
February 4, 2018
a raw and gritty book, it follows a young mans journey into WW1 , from the excitement of enlisting , to the boredom of the holding camps and the hell of being under fire
a great read and a real slice of history
a great read and a real slice of history
September 10, 2016
I love finding a great book I’ve never heard of: it’s like finding buried treasure. This was such a book: flagged up to me by someone on Sheffield Forum. It was first published in 1961 – in a way thirty years too early. Had it appeared in the 1990s, after the renewed interest in the First World War, it might have been more celebrated. It is different from the later ‘vogue’ books like Birdsong, Regeneration or the Michael Morpugo books – it doesn’t have that same filter of knowingness. Covenant with Death has a more natural, less forced, feel to it. It tells the story and doesn’t in anyway try to manipulate the reader. You don’t detect the cleverness of the author making an emotional judgement from the safety of the late 20th century self-assuredness or wittingly building tension in order to slap you later; there is no middle-class intellectual sentimentality.
Harris says in is brief forward that he used first-hand accounts from surviving survivors – that combined with his impeccable research means you get the feeling that all of it is based on real anecdote. That clearly can’t be the case. It is a fictional account after all – but you can’t tell which is anecdote and which is made up. That makes this book unique – no one else can tell the story of the City Battalion using such strong evidence. It feels very authentic.
Harris was born in Rotherham, had first hand experience of the Second World War, and worked for the Sheffield Telegraph until the 1950s when he made enough money from his novels to pursue it full time.
Covenant with Death is far from a perfect work, but it still must remain one of the best First World War novels. It is not as polished as the other novels referred to. For example, it is almost pure story – missing some of the other elements of the modern novel. For example, some people lament the lack of the depth of character; personally I would have preferred a little more to make the characters more rounded. I found that for much of the book they were just names – you start to care about them as individuals more towards the end but you have to work your imagination quite hard at the start to breathe life into them. My other slight criticism is that some of the punctuation is erratic: I noticed this more, early on, before the story really got going, but as I got dragged into the story it either improved or I got used to it. The book tells the story of the City Battalion (for a factual history see: Sheffield City Battalion: the 12th (Service) Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment, by Ralph Gibson and Paul Oldfield) from recruitment through to the Battle of the Somme (spoiler alert: it is not a happy ending). I was also irritated by all the place names being fictionalised: Cotterside Common/Attercliffe Common, Blackmires/Redmires etc. I don’t know why authors feel the need to do this. If you are writing about a real place, unless you are Thomas Hardy, don’t bother.
47 other Sheffield novels reviewed at : http://stevek1889.blogspot.co.uk/2014...
Harris says in is brief forward that he used first-hand accounts from surviving survivors – that combined with his impeccable research means you get the feeling that all of it is based on real anecdote. That clearly can’t be the case. It is a fictional account after all – but you can’t tell which is anecdote and which is made up. That makes this book unique – no one else can tell the story of the City Battalion using such strong evidence. It feels very authentic.
Harris was born in Rotherham, had first hand experience of the Second World War, and worked for the Sheffield Telegraph until the 1950s when he made enough money from his novels to pursue it full time.
Covenant with Death is far from a perfect work, but it still must remain one of the best First World War novels. It is not as polished as the other novels referred to. For example, it is almost pure story – missing some of the other elements of the modern novel. For example, some people lament the lack of the depth of character; personally I would have preferred a little more to make the characters more rounded. I found that for much of the book they were just names – you start to care about them as individuals more towards the end but you have to work your imagination quite hard at the start to breathe life into them. My other slight criticism is that some of the punctuation is erratic: I noticed this more, early on, before the story really got going, but as I got dragged into the story it either improved or I got used to it. The book tells the story of the City Battalion (for a factual history see: Sheffield City Battalion: the 12th (Service) Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment, by Ralph Gibson and Paul Oldfield) from recruitment through to the Battle of the Somme (spoiler alert: it is not a happy ending). I was also irritated by all the place names being fictionalised: Cotterside Common/Attercliffe Common, Blackmires/Redmires etc. I don’t know why authors feel the need to do this. If you are writing about a real place, unless you are Thomas Hardy, don’t bother.
47 other Sheffield novels reviewed at : http://stevek1889.blogspot.co.uk/2014...
July 4, 2019
I bought this in a second hand bookshop in Bangkok of all places and it's spent the last thirty years travelling around the world with me. Superficially, it's a straight forward tale of Kitchener's Army (a thinly disguised version of the Sheffield Pals) from formation in 1914 to destruction on the Somme in 1916.
This has been widely reviewed already but its a far more subtle and nuanced tale than the 'Lions led by Donkeys' account some of those suggest. Harris wrote over 80 novels (perhaps the most famous being The Sea Shall Not Have Them) but this is probably his best. Based on interviews with people Harris worked with at the Sheffield Telegraph in the 1930s, it is the small details that resonate and prevent this from sliding into sentimentality.
There's a very telling insight where Mark Fenner, the main protagonist, admits he didn't think 'Your Country Needs You' meant people like him who weren't from the aristocracy that supplied the officers or the working class rank and file. Unlike most of Europe, there was no conscription in Britain and you get a real sense of what was different about the 'New Army', as Kitchener's recruits were officially known.
The anti-climax of being sent home after enlistment to await uniforms, much to the annoyance of the landlords who'd already rented out their rooms, the bad food, chaotic conditions, the boredom etc; the classic analysis of war being 95% boredom and 5% terror. Any ex-soldier will recognise it.
Despite the slaughter and waste, many were proud of their service; books published between the wars by actual veterans (eg Her Privates We) reveal pride is poignantly inter mixed with the grief of loss. Anyone (particularly Americans) who wonder why people were so reluctant to go back to war in 1939 should read this; it was the feeling their sacrifice had been for nothing and communicating that is why this book stands out.
This has been widely reviewed already but its a far more subtle and nuanced tale than the 'Lions led by Donkeys' account some of those suggest. Harris wrote over 80 novels (perhaps the most famous being The Sea Shall Not Have Them) but this is probably his best. Based on interviews with people Harris worked with at the Sheffield Telegraph in the 1930s, it is the small details that resonate and prevent this from sliding into sentimentality.
There's a very telling insight where Mark Fenner, the main protagonist, admits he didn't think 'Your Country Needs You' meant people like him who weren't from the aristocracy that supplied the officers or the working class rank and file. Unlike most of Europe, there was no conscription in Britain and you get a real sense of what was different about the 'New Army', as Kitchener's recruits were officially known.
The anti-climax of being sent home after enlistment to await uniforms, much to the annoyance of the landlords who'd already rented out their rooms, the bad food, chaotic conditions, the boredom etc; the classic analysis of war being 95% boredom and 5% terror. Any ex-soldier will recognise it.
Despite the slaughter and waste, many were proud of their service; books published between the wars by actual veterans (eg Her Privates We) reveal pride is poignantly inter mixed with the grief of loss. Anyone (particularly Americans) who wonder why people were so reluctant to go back to war in 1939 should read this; it was the feeling their sacrifice had been for nothing and communicating that is why this book stands out.
December 1, 2018
Once in a while I read a brilliant book and it adds to the short list of those authors I am in awe of. I had never heard of John Harris. If I had paid more attention to the film credits of those old war movies I watched as a child, I might have picked his name out as author of The Sea Shall Not Have Them, but otherwise he seems to have faded into obscurity, and never crossed my radar.
I stumbled across Covenant With Death because I was searching for a hidden gem and found this extraordinary novel. It tells the story of the Sheffield Pals Battalion during the first world war, from 1914 until the first day of the battle of the Somme. Told from the point of view of Mark Fenner, a young man who worked on a Sheffield newspaper, it follows the experience of the young men who joined up out of a sense of duty and patriotism and their experience of life and death in Kitchener’s Army, serving in one of the Pals Battalions created to support the war effort.
The first person narrative is masterly, the research meticulous. Harris has the ability to make you believe that you are there with these young men, facing what they face, sharing their thoughts, fears and feelings. Never sentimental it is heart-breakingly sad in places, devastating in its assessment of the war and a testimony to that lost generation who gave everything. There are many famous novels of the first world war; Goodbye to All That, Testament of Youth, All Quiet on the Western Front and many others, fine books all, but Covenant With Death stands head and shoulders above them. If you read this novel, you will come the closest you can to sharing the experience of the 1st July 1916 and what it was to fight in the battle of the Somme. A masterpiece.
I stumbled across Covenant With Death because I was searching for a hidden gem and found this extraordinary novel. It tells the story of the Sheffield Pals Battalion during the first world war, from 1914 until the first day of the battle of the Somme. Told from the point of view of Mark Fenner, a young man who worked on a Sheffield newspaper, it follows the experience of the young men who joined up out of a sense of duty and patriotism and their experience of life and death in Kitchener’s Army, serving in one of the Pals Battalions created to support the war effort.
The first person narrative is masterly, the research meticulous. Harris has the ability to make you believe that you are there with these young men, facing what they face, sharing their thoughts, fears and feelings. Never sentimental it is heart-breakingly sad in places, devastating in its assessment of the war and a testimony to that lost generation who gave everything. There are many famous novels of the first world war; Goodbye to All That, Testament of Youth, All Quiet on the Western Front and many others, fine books all, but Covenant With Death stands head and shoulders above them. If you read this novel, you will come the closest you can to sharing the experience of the 1st July 1916 and what it was to fight in the battle of the Somme. A masterpiece.
September 9, 2011
I was loaned this book and it was described to me as 'The best book on World War I ever written'. I may take issue with that as I thought both Birdsong and The Last Casualty were excellent books dealing with WWI.
However.
However, as it was written about 50 years ago, the style took a little getting used to and the writing, phrases etc were very dated. The storyline - friends joining up, going through training, building up a camaraderie with others in their battalion etc took rather a long time to get to the point.
The last chapter, though, was the best CHAPTER I have read on WWI and the Battle of the Somme in particular. Not just the battle, the skirmishes that this particular group of friends were involved in and the horrific aftermath, but the excellent summing up of the whole stupidity of the campaign - the crass leadership and the fiasco that this episode became obviously came from the authors heart. This chapter alone will remain with me for a very long time.
However.
However, as it was written about 50 years ago, the style took a little getting used to and the writing, phrases etc were very dated. The storyline - friends joining up, going through training, building up a camaraderie with others in their battalion etc took rather a long time to get to the point.
The last chapter, though, was the best CHAPTER I have read on WWI and the Battle of the Somme in particular. Not just the battle, the skirmishes that this particular group of friends were involved in and the horrific aftermath, but the excellent summing up of the whole stupidity of the campaign - the crass leadership and the fiasco that this episode became obviously came from the authors heart. This chapter alone will remain with me for a very long time.
February 20, 2019
This was a very good book to read. Well worth the time. I was intrigued right from page one.
June 20, 2021
I read this immediately after 'Her Privates We' by Frederic Manning. It's insightful to compare them. Both concern the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Both are closely aligned with historical fact. And both devote the first 90 percent of their lengths to describing the lives of ordinary men doing routine things in the army, but under the shadow of a coming battle, followed by the tragic finale.
There are contrasts between them too. 'Covenant with Death' describes the death of a battalion; 'Her Privates We' is half as long and focuses on the deaths of two men. 'Her Privates We' is a work of literature, generally regarded as the greatest British novel of World War I; 'Covenant with Death' has no literary pretensions, being a documentary novel. And perhaps the key difference: while Harris was born in the year of the Battle of the Somme, Manning actually fought in it.
'Covenant with Death' is a great book to read if you want to understand the mythic stature of 'The First Day on the Somme' in British history. In fact, this was Harris's intention. It was written when the youngest World War I veterans were still in their early sixties, and Harris interviewed many of them as well as reading published and unpublished accounts, and he methodically puts all the culled anecdotes and remembered details of life in Britain and the Western Front into this book. It's basically a history book, but with drama, and you learn a lot. His characters are not deeply drawn but you get to know them well enough to be concerned whether they live or die, although the real sense of tragedy lies in the useless deaths of so many of Britain's finest young men.
Manning is not doing any of that. The war was still a recent memory when he wrote his book, thirty years before Harris wrote his, and he sticks with what he experienced. While Harris is doing a kind of Hollywood big-budget spectacular, throwing everything at you to try and get you to feel the tragedy of it, Manning tells an intimate tale of just a small number of men. Harris feels calculated and superficial next to Manning, who makes you quietly and deeply feel what it actually was like to be a human being waiting to launch an attack that would most likely lead to your death or maiming. Harris gets the same effect but only by laying it on thickly.
Don't take this as criticism of 'Covenant with Death'; it thoroughly deserves its 5-star rating and a lot of readers will prefer it, especially those who don't know much about the war, in the way that movie audiences tend to prefer Hollywood spectaculars to European art films. My comparison actually ended up giving me an enhanced appreciation for both books (I'd read both before). Maybe read Harris first and Manning second.
There are contrasts between them too. 'Covenant with Death' describes the death of a battalion; 'Her Privates We' is half as long and focuses on the deaths of two men. 'Her Privates We' is a work of literature, generally regarded as the greatest British novel of World War I; 'Covenant with Death' has no literary pretensions, being a documentary novel. And perhaps the key difference: while Harris was born in the year of the Battle of the Somme, Manning actually fought in it.
'Covenant with Death' is a great book to read if you want to understand the mythic stature of 'The First Day on the Somme' in British history. In fact, this was Harris's intention. It was written when the youngest World War I veterans were still in their early sixties, and Harris interviewed many of them as well as reading published and unpublished accounts, and he methodically puts all the culled anecdotes and remembered details of life in Britain and the Western Front into this book. It's basically a history book, but with drama, and you learn a lot. His characters are not deeply drawn but you get to know them well enough to be concerned whether they live or die, although the real sense of tragedy lies in the useless deaths of so many of Britain's finest young men.
Manning is not doing any of that. The war was still a recent memory when he wrote his book, thirty years before Harris wrote his, and he sticks with what he experienced. While Harris is doing a kind of Hollywood big-budget spectacular, throwing everything at you to try and get you to feel the tragedy of it, Manning tells an intimate tale of just a small number of men. Harris feels calculated and superficial next to Manning, who makes you quietly and deeply feel what it actually was like to be a human being waiting to launch an attack that would most likely lead to your death or maiming. Harris gets the same effect but only by laying it on thickly.
Don't take this as criticism of 'Covenant with Death'; it thoroughly deserves its 5-star rating and a lot of readers will prefer it, especially those who don't know much about the war, in the way that movie audiences tend to prefer Hollywood spectaculars to European art films. My comparison actually ended up giving me an enhanced appreciation for both books (I'd read both before). Maybe read Harris first and Manning second.
June 13, 2022
Isaiah chapter 28 verse 15 We have made a covenant with death and with hell we are at agreement................ Thus begins this amazing novel of WWI. "Covenant with Death is acclaimed as one of the greatest novels about war ever written." Having read the book I concur. There is absolutely nothing glorious about the experiences of Mark Fenner and his friends when they enlist in 1914 to fight in the Great War - the war to end all wars. They are a group of young menwith varied natures - intellectual - criminal - innocent - brash - impetuous - all the features of male youth in any era who are 17 to 24. The book made me think of The Red Badge of Courage from the American Civil War. Britain was in no way prepared to fight in 1914. Thee young men endure two years of tedium, lack of housing, poor to non-existent food, no weapons with which to learn the business of war. You know that the book is leading to an horrendous battle and the suspense increases page by page. The reader comes to understand, love, hate, respect the characters. The culmination is what is called the First Battle of the Somme. **** The First Battle of the Somme, which took place from July 1 to November 1916, began as an Allied offensive against German forces. British forces suffered more than 57,000 casualties—including more than 19,000 soldiers killed—on the first day of the battle alone, making it the single most disastrous day in that nation’s military history. By the time the First Battle of the Somme ended nearly five months later, more than 3 million soldiers on both sides had fought in the battle, and more than 1 million had been killed or wounded.****** This is the story of July 1, 1916 for Fen and his battalion. It breaks your heart. Please read this book. Kristi & Abby Tabby
August 19, 2021
Even for people of my generation The Battle of the Somme resounds with great significance. In my case it is because one of my grandfathers fought in it and won the Military Medal: I am so grateful that he survived, holed up in a shell crater with a Lewis gun holding off a German counter attack for a day and night with all his comrades around him dead. For those who lived through the times it was devastating.
Harris had a father and father-in-law who fought in the battle and survived without injury, a brother-in-law and uncle who were gassed (as was my grand-dad), two uncles who lost legs, with a fourth killed. It is based on their remembrances and is very true to what happened- my Grand-dad Bunce said so.
The Somme did have some positives: it forced the Germans to pull troops away from Verdun; it convinced the Germans that the Western Front could only be a defensive war; it compelled the British to change their battle tactics to ones that were less costly in lives. But at what cost?
The novel is very evocative. I suggest you also read Andrew Roberts “Elegy – The First Day on the Somme”.
Harris had a father and father-in-law who fought in the battle and survived without injury, a brother-in-law and uncle who were gassed (as was my grand-dad), two uncles who lost legs, with a fourth killed. It is based on their remembrances and is very true to what happened- my Grand-dad Bunce said so.
The Somme did have some positives: it forced the Germans to pull troops away from Verdun; it convinced the Germans that the Western Front could only be a defensive war; it compelled the British to change their battle tactics to ones that were less costly in lives. But at what cost?
The novel is very evocative. I suggest you also read Andrew Roberts “Elegy – The First Day on the Somme”.
September 9, 2023
I was loaned this book and it was described to me as 'The best book on World War I ever written'. I may take issue with that as I thought both Birdsong and The Last Casualty were excellent books dealing with WWI.
However.
However, as it was written about 50 years ago, the style took a little getting used to and the writing, phrases etc were very dated. The storyline - friends joining up, going through training, building up a camaraderie with others in their battalion etc took rather a long time to get to the point.
The last chapter, though, was the best CHAPTER I have read on WWI and the Battle of the Somme in particular. Not just the battle, the skirmishes that this particular group of friends were involved in and the horrific aftermath, but the excellent summing up of the whole stupidity of the campaign - the crass leadership and the fiasco that this episode became obviously came from the authors heart. This chapter alone will remain with me for a very long time.
However.
However, as it was written about 50 years ago, the style took a little getting used to and the writing, phrases etc were very dated. The storyline - friends joining up, going through training, building up a camaraderie with others in their battalion etc took rather a long time to get to the point.
The last chapter, though, was the best CHAPTER I have read on WWI and the Battle of the Somme in particular. Not just the battle, the skirmishes that this particular group of friends were involved in and the horrific aftermath, but the excellent summing up of the whole stupidity of the campaign - the crass leadership and the fiasco that this episode became obviously came from the authors heart. This chapter alone will remain with me for a very long time.
November 2, 2025
Utterly absorbing and utterly devastating
Covenant with Death is a work of fiction, yet it could well be a factual first hand account of the formation of, training and participation in battle of the Sheffield City 'pals' Battalion in WWI.
It is a long, detailed book, but is the better for it. For many who signed up in 1914, the war was a long way off. Months and months of interminable training, poorly equipped, boredom, frustration. John Harris skillfully conveys the initial fervour, the growing comradeship, the transition to a fighting force, but offset against the feeling of inertia. None more so than the frustration of being shipped not to the Western Front, but to Alexandria, Egypt to protect the Suez Canal.
The build up to the Battle of the Somme captures the fear, tension, excitement, bravado, as well as the futile preparations and exercises the thousands of men undertook.
The battle itself is gut wrenching, visceral, and devastating. An extraordinary account of a terrible episode in British military history.
Covenant with Death is a work of fiction, yet it could well be a factual first hand account of the formation of, training and participation in battle of the Sheffield City 'pals' Battalion in WWI.
It is a long, detailed book, but is the better for it. For many who signed up in 1914, the war was a long way off. Months and months of interminable training, poorly equipped, boredom, frustration. John Harris skillfully conveys the initial fervour, the growing comradeship, the transition to a fighting force, but offset against the feeling of inertia. None more so than the frustration of being shipped not to the Western Front, but to Alexandria, Egypt to protect the Suez Canal.
The build up to the Battle of the Somme captures the fear, tension, excitement, bravado, as well as the futile preparations and exercises the thousands of men undertook.
The battle itself is gut wrenching, visceral, and devastating. An extraordinary account of a terrible episode in British military history.
December 29, 2025
I’m always drawn to novels set during the First and Second World War, so the cover of Convent with Death immediately caught my attention. While I didn’t love the book, I did enjoy parts of it and appreciated the story it was telling.
For me the strongest aspect was the timeline and events of the pre, current and post war rather than the characters themselves. I never fully connected with them, but I was interested in reading how ordinary people were gradually shaped into soldiers and how war intruded on what had once been normal lives. The link to Sheffield was particularly effective, grounding the story in a real place and showing the local impact of the conflict.
The novel clearly conveys that the true horror is war itself and in that way the book did succeeds. However, it is a very long book and I do think it could have benefited from being shorter. Some chapters were extremely long and the pacing suffered as a result. I often found myself putting it down rather than feeling compelled to keep reading, as the writing style never quite hooked me.
For me the strongest aspect was the timeline and events of the pre, current and post war rather than the characters themselves. I never fully connected with them, but I was interested in reading how ordinary people were gradually shaped into soldiers and how war intruded on what had once been normal lives. The link to Sheffield was particularly effective, grounding the story in a real place and showing the local impact of the conflict.
The novel clearly conveys that the true horror is war itself and in that way the book did succeeds. However, it is a very long book and I do think it could have benefited from being shorter. Some chapters were extremely long and the pacing suffered as a result. I often found myself putting it down rather than feeling compelled to keep reading, as the writing style never quite hooked me.
October 28, 2017
"İki yıl hazırlandık. 10 dakikada yok edildik. İşte bizim tarihimiz."
John Harris'in 1961 tarihli olağanüstü romanı "Covenant with Death" (Türkçe'ye çevrildi mi bilmiyorun), bu çarpıcı cümlelerle son buluyor. Roman, Birinci Dünya Savaşı'nın (ve tarihin) en kanlı çarpışmalarından biri olan Somme Savaşı'nın başladığı 1 Temmuz 1916 gününü ve o güne giden süreci, bir İngiliz askerinin gözünden anlatıyor. Hikaye, Çavuş Fenner'in gazeteciliği bırakıp orduya yazılmasına, askeri eğitimlere ve sonundaysa, o kanlı savaşa odaklanıyor.
10 dakika içinde 60 binden fazla İngiliz askerinin öldüğü o taarruz, tarihin en büyük askeri fiyaskoları arasında da sayılıyor. Yazar Harris, savaş alanında yaşanan katliamı, dakika dakika okuyuculara aktarıyor. Kullandığı yalın dil, tasvirleri, nefes kesici ve bir o kadar da üzücü.
Covenant with Death, savaşın anlamsızlığı üzerine yazılmış gelmiş geçmiş en iyi roman belki de.
Savaş çığırtkanlığı yapmadan okuyun derim 😎😎😎😎😎
John Harris'in 1961 tarihli olağanüstü romanı "Covenant with Death" (Türkçe'ye çevrildi mi bilmiyorun), bu çarpıcı cümlelerle son buluyor. Roman, Birinci Dünya Savaşı'nın (ve tarihin) en kanlı çarpışmalarından biri olan Somme Savaşı'nın başladığı 1 Temmuz 1916 gününü ve o güne giden süreci, bir İngiliz askerinin gözünden anlatıyor. Hikaye, Çavuş Fenner'in gazeteciliği bırakıp orduya yazılmasına, askeri eğitimlere ve sonundaysa, o kanlı savaşa odaklanıyor.
10 dakika içinde 60 binden fazla İngiliz askerinin öldüğü o taarruz, tarihin en büyük askeri fiyaskoları arasında da sayılıyor. Yazar Harris, savaş alanında yaşanan katliamı, dakika dakika okuyuculara aktarıyor. Kullandığı yalın dil, tasvirleri, nefes kesici ve bir o kadar da üzücü.
Covenant with Death, savaşın anlamsızlığı üzerine yazılmış gelmiş geçmiş en iyi roman belki de.
Savaş çığırtkanlığı yapmadan okuyun derim 😎😎😎😎😎
March 16, 2018
Written as a powerful anti-war polemic. You certainly get a feel for what the Sheffield City Battalion experienced. A story beyond tragic. I found Harris' writing style to be a bit lacking. But he certainly caught and seemed to deeply understand what happened, getting even the minutiae accurately.
Harris left out the intense religiosity of many of the troops, which radically alters the reality. This seems to clearly stem from his secular humanist world view. Harris even seems to subtly and at times not so subtly mock Christianity which I found tiresome. Too much time spent on the pre-war events; the book could have been 150-200 pages shorter. I'm sure most readers would want to know at least a little about his return, and Helen. 200 pages are spent on their home lives before going to war, but the book ends abruptly on the return.
Harris left out the intense religiosity of many of the troops, which radically alters the reality. This seems to clearly stem from his secular humanist world view. Harris even seems to subtly and at times not so subtly mock Christianity which I found tiresome. Too much time spent on the pre-war events; the book could have been 150-200 pages shorter. I'm sure most readers would want to know at least a little about his return, and Helen. 200 pages are spent on their home lives before going to war, but the book ends abruptly on the return.
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May 18, 2021I've read, widely, of war - both the first and the second world war, and they all have one yhing in common: a hero. He (for in fiction they predominantly are men) is dashing, troubled, bemedalled, and adored by his men, although sometimes this is postumously. 'Covenant With Death' is different in that there is not one hero, despite there being a main character in the story.
It follows a Pals Company - all from the same town or place of work - from the excitment and fervour of joining up, though the trials of training, and on to the battlefield. They were young, and ignorant of war abd all it's horrors, and their zeal carried them forward into a man-made hell on earth.
It is quite simply one of the best books of its genre.
It follows a Pals Company - all from the same town or place of work - from the excitment and fervour of joining up, though the trials of training, and on to the battlefield. They were young, and ignorant of war abd all it's horrors, and their zeal carried them forward into a man-made hell on earth.
It is quite simply one of the best books of its genre.
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June 17, 2022Audible version. One of the best novels of the First World War. A fictionalised history of the Sheffield Pals Battalion from their formation to destruction in front of Serre on the first day of the Somme. Written in the 1960s the author, a journalist in Sheffield, interviewed many veterans and the story has a great ring of authenticity. Perhaps unsurprisingly bitter it perhaps challenges the more recent revisionist histories with blame firmly on The Staff and generals. Well with a listen the Audible version is excellent.
I’d particularly recommend it for someone planning to visit the Somme. Although some locations have been changed Serre is real and you can visit The Sheffield Memorial Park and see where the battalion met it’s end.
I’d particularly recommend it for someone planning to visit the Somme. Although some locations have been changed Serre is real and you can visit The Sheffield Memorial Park and see where the battalion met it’s end.
May 2, 2020
A genuine classic of military fiction. Chronicling the story of Fen, Frank, Locky and Murray as they join up in the heady excitement of the summer of 1915 into the Sheffield city battalion, through the challenges of training with no uniform, equipment or barracks, to the Suez Canal, and then to the Western Front in the spring of 1916, culminating on the horrors of July 1st. The author takes the reader on the journey with the protagonists, allowing you to grow and identify with them, as they progress to the inevitable, brutal ending. The best fiction book I have read that captures the evolution of the Pals battalions.
February 20, 2018
Stunning
As I am an American veteran of Vietnam i thought only a vet could have written this. His portrayal of events from basic to battle are spot on. His criticism of general staff well founded as they are generally up to fighting the current war with new weaponry with the last wars tactics. In Vietnam they found American airpower, a key to victory in WWII and a save in Korea against superior Soviet armor, stalemated by asymmetrical warfare by a better general. A good and interesting read.
As I am an American veteran of Vietnam i thought only a vet could have written this. His portrayal of events from basic to battle are spot on. His criticism of general staff well founded as they are generally up to fighting the current war with new weaponry with the last wars tactics. In Vietnam they found American airpower, a key to victory in WWII and a save in Korea against superior Soviet armor, stalemated by asymmetrical warfare by a better general. A good and interesting read.
December 2, 2019
This book feels as though it perfectly captures the pre-war sentiment of the early 20th century in Britain—in many ways a world lost, but maintained through stories from grandparents. It's not giving anything away to say that the vast majority of the book depicts life outside of direct conflict, but rest assured, John Harris leaves no qualms when taking on the brutal imagery of the front line, it's truly horrific, and not just in terms of the bloodshed. This book has excellent character development, is thought-provoking and well worth anybody's time.
December 1, 2023
One of the most powerful war novels I have ever read. Easily equal to ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT in telling about a soldier's life in World War 1.
A fictional account of the Sheffield 'Pals' Battalion. The main character takes you from the enlistment by mostly educated professionals through the first day of the Somme. The description of the battle is one of the most powerful that I have read, including first-person accounts in part because Harris's characters are so well drawn out that you are drawn into their lives and deaths.
Excellent and should be on everyone's reading list.
A fictional account of the Sheffield 'Pals' Battalion. The main character takes you from the enlistment by mostly educated professionals through the first day of the Somme. The description of the battle is one of the most powerful that I have read, including first-person accounts in part because Harris's characters are so well drawn out that you are drawn into their lives and deaths.
Excellent and should be on everyone's reading list.
May 30, 2024
In my quest to read as many World War I novels as I can, it was Hitch, of course, that sent me to John Harris. Harris certainly has a gift for capturing gripping details, whether it be a lime-laden ditch with endless bodies, the brutality of basic training, and the naivete of those in power. But I think Harris just doesn't have the punch that one sees with completely mesmerizing war novelists like James Jones. He is not on the level of Remarque or even Richard Aldington's satirical masterpiece DEATH OF A HERO, but he is better than Blunden and Ford Madox Ford.
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