Sidney Rogerson

This memoir was written in 1933 by a former company commander on the western front in the First World War. He served there at the end of the Somme campaign in November 1916, so avoided the terrible first day (which many people take to be the whole battle, but it was a four months campaign). It is very well written and gives a full and well balanced picture of life in the trenches, depicting the camaraderie and sheer boredom and frustration of long periods of inactivity, as well as the horrors (not that many of these given the stage of the campaign covered). The author explicitly positions his memoir in opposition to the "war is unremitting hell" narrative that by this time had come to dominate discourse about the Great War, and indeed has done so until recent years. Worth a read in this year of the Somme centenary.… (mere)

If you have any interest in World War I, this book is a must read. Most folks tend to read the novels centering around The Great War like ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN, and JOURNEY'S END. What sets this book apart from these novels is this is the diary of British officer Sidney Rogerson and the twelve days he spent on The Somme during the Winter of 1916. Although Rogerson was not in the trenches of The Somme that fateful day in July, 1916, he gives us a vivid portrayal of what the conditions were like during the time he was on the front line and near the front.… (mere)