APRIL - WORLD WAR 1

PAMELA:  THE MIDDLE PARTS OF FORTUNE BY FREDRICK MANNING

It was about the battle of the Somme and life in the trenches.  She found it so depressing.
She also read:
OTHER PATHS TO GLORY BY ANTHONY PRICE

It is a thriller about something that happened after World War 1 but related to World War 1 and the Battle of the Somme in France.  60,000 British and allied soldiers were killed in one day.  People in other countries were not taking the war very seriously.  From England whole towns went together or all the miners from the village went together to fight overseas.  By 1916 the Germans had time to get dug into the Somme.  There were six levels down into the tunnels and none of the guns could reach it.  Germans stayed snug with comforts of home, heating, trucks etc.  A good book.

KRIS:  YOUNG DIGGER BY ANTHONY HILL

This is a true story of a French boy called Henri Hermene who wanders in the Australian airmen's mess in Germany on Christmas Day in 1918.  It is the end of World War 1 and the Allied forces are in Germany preparing to go home. It is based on family stories and archives with some artistic licence to fill in the gaps.  Henri's mother is killed at the beginning of the war when their house is bombed.  His father has also been killed fighting the war.  He is rescued by an Englishman from the Royal Field Artilllery who takes him away in his car but he is also killed in Ypres and Henri needs to find a new protector.  He attaches himself to various squadrons using his innocence and charm for survival. He is enticed into the Australian mess by the smell of chicken cooking and eventually becomes their mascot, affectionately known as the little Digger.  An English born Australian air mechanic, Tim Tovell takes the boy under his wing and against great odds smuggles him back to Australia to live with his family.  His brother Ted Tovell helps him.  It is a heart warming story.  The book is an easy read and I really enjoyed it.

ROSEMARIE: YOUNG DIGGER BY ANTHONY HILL

Rosemarie read this book as well and said it was a nice story.  It had a sad ending because Henri died in the end in a motor bike accident.  In the book no information is given to the adopted parents.  Although he had lived with the Tovells in North Queensland he had to move to Melbourne to live with another family when he was old enough to do an apprenticeship with the forces.  When he dies the Tovells did not have any input about his grave etc.  There was a plaque and monument but it was destroyed and the gravesite became derelict.   Rosemarie spoke about the new ending written since, where the gravesite has been restored and a particular verse Tim Tovell had hoped to have on the original gravestone was now possible. The verse was "Who plucked the flower, The Master, The Gardener held his peace."  It is also on his son Timmy's grave who had died while his father was in France.

JO:  THE GREAT WAR - ILLUSTRATED HISTORY - BY PHIL CARRADICE

Jo said it was a fantastic story.  She spoke about the stupid general.  The casualty list was enormous just to gain a couple of yards.  All the problems going into World War 11 were because of what happened in World War 1.  Wonderful photographs.

PAT:  SOLDIER BOY BY ANTHONY HILL

This is an earlier book by Anthony Hill who wrote the Young Digger.  Once again it is a true story about Jim Martin, the youngest Australian soldier, an Anzac.  The book is based on six surviving letters, family recollections and archives.  He was 14 but looked older and was tall for his age.  His father was rejected from joining the forces so Jim said he would go instead.  The family did not want him to go but he said if they didn't give written consent he would change his name and they wouldn't hear from him again.  If they did give their written consent he promised to write regularly.  They did not need a birth certificate.  Unfortunately he did not get any of his parents letters which saddened him.  He developed typhoid and only lasted four months.  He didn't go to the medic for help for fear of his age being discovered. Good book.

CLAURENE:  EMPIRES OF THE DEAD BY DAVID CRANE

The book is set in France at the beginning of World War 1  It is a true story about Fabian Ware who went to France with a motley lot of vehicles donated from the Red Cross and RACV to start a mobile ambulance unit.    He was horrified by the treatment of the dead and he started recording the identity of people who died, the position where they were buried etc.  He put in a cross with their details of rank and unit etc.  He established a war graves registry unit.  He became the war graves commissioner.  He had been in South Africa and was a very good organizer. He had lots of problems and red tape to get through to accomplish it but he battled to get it done. It is a true story.  Claurene loved it and said it was a beautiful book.

ED:  MY DEAR I WANTED TO TELL YOU BY LOUISA YOUNG

It is a novel and Ed did enjoy it.   The title refers to a standard form letter sent to families of wounded soldiers to let them know they were in hospital.  The book is about the experience of the women left at home.  An interesting part of the book is about an actual person Dr Harold Gillies, originally  from New Zealand, who wrote a book called Plastic Surgery of the Face (1920). He operated on the wounded men.  There are photographs of some of the wounds and burns of the soldiers. It is a good book, not graphic and has a nice love story.

CONNIE:  ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT BY ERICH  REMARQUE

Connie knew she would be depressed and upset by the book.  She had to keep reminding herself that this was about German boys. The main character is Paul who writes in the first person.  It is fiction but based on a lot of experiences.  It is about a group of schoolmates, about 18 years old, who all go off to fight on the western front. Their schoolmaster practically forces them to go and most of the book is set in France.  It is depressing but has moments of such tenderness within the groups.  There is a little bit of comical relief in the humorous things they get up to and Connie is glad she read the book.

PAULINE: 

She also read All Quiet on the Western Front.  She had tried it two years ago and could not finish it.  She gave it a second go and finished it.  The author was banned by the Nazis and he moved to Switzerland, then to the United States and then back again to Switzerland.  Pauline said it was very unsettling but she did enjoy it. 

BEV:  SHOULDER THE SKY BY ANNE PERRY

It is a novel and the third of a set of books.  Bev has never read Anne Perry before.  She didn't realize it was part of a series.  It is the story of a family whose father had connections with someone in Germany.  He got wind of a plan that Germany wanted to form an alliance with England. The father has two sons, one a chaplain and one in the intelligence service.  They are trying to find out the identity of the peacemaker.  The secret service will deal with him but Bev was disappointed that his identity wasn't revealed.

ANNE:  ANGELS IN THE GLOOM BY ANNE PERRY

This is a part of the series of the previous book mentioned.  It is once again about the Reavley family.  The chaplain is the brother of Matthew Reavley who is in the Intelligence Service.   The sister is an ambulance driver at the front.  The peacemaker has had the chaplain's parents murdered.

JULIA:  WE SHALL NOT SLEEP BY ANNE PERRY

This is the fifth in the series with the two novels previously mentioned by Anne Perry.  Julia didn't really enjoy it although it is considered one of her best.  It is about the Reavley family.  As she had not read the earlier books she didn't know anything about the Reavley family.  It is about the Western front and the soldiers are abusing the German soldiers. The peacemaker is also in this book. Julia feels she is a versatile author but did not really enjoy this book.

DIANNE:  TO HELL AND BACK BY SYDNEY LOCH

Dianne said it was very graphic.  You get a personal involvement as it gives you a bit of Sydney Loch's background in Australia.  He goes to Gallipoli and he gets typhoid.  He is sent to hospital where he keeps journals which are eventually turned into a book.  He is horrified by war.  He couldn't get the book published so he turned it into a novel but still couldn't get it published.  He needed the money so he wanted to get it published back in Australia but the censors tried to stop it.  It gets right into the nitty gritty.  He later marries and he wants to help humanity.  Dame Murdoch gives him funds to help with his humanitarian activities.

ANNETTE:  BOY SOLDIERS OF THE GREAT WAR BY RICHARD VAN EMDEN

One of the youngest boys ever recorded going over the top was only 12.  They had boring, heavy, dirty jobs.  The young boys thought it was a great adventure.  They didn't need birth certificates to join up to fight and they often gave false names.  The book is first set in England. The recruitment officers got paid for the number who joined so they turned a blind eye.  Some of the boys became officers quickly and excelled.  They got medals for bravery.   Others got petrified by the death and the shooting. The information was put together from boys' diaries.  There was also an 18 year old female nurse who went out to the front.  It was horrific.

JAYNE:  STORIES OF LOVE AND WAR BY REBECCA BRITT

Rebecca is the curator of the War Memorial.  She used the archives to do a whole lot of short stories about courtships and marriages.  There are beautiful photographs and copies of love letters. etc.  It covers both the first and second world wars. A lot of men survived and came back. One of the stories with photos is about a soldier getting married to a nurse.  Jayne said it was not depressing and nice to read about love surviving.

LAURA:   TUG OF WAR BY BARBARA CLEVERLY

It is a fictional book set just after the war.  It is a mystery.  It is about a soldier shipped back from Germany to France.  It is set in France.  He has no I.D.  There is a photo put in the paper but they had thousands of replies claiming him. It shows how the families and villages were affected by the war. Many of the women just wanted a man in the house for physical help or to get a government pension.  France was devastated.  A British soldier is sent over to investigate as the soldier speaks in English when he has nightmares. Many of the Allied soldiers were billeted in France with a family, a week of normality before they were sent back. It was like a little bit of home for them.  The mystery is eventually solved and they find out where he should be but perhaps not where he belongs.

TAM:  A LONG LONG WAY BY SEBASTIAN BARRY

This is a novel. The main character is Willie Dunne, an Irish private.  He seems to be in a kind of a fog, a bit vague.  He goes off to fight with the allied troops in World War 1. In the meantime the Irish are rising up against the British.  When he goes home on leave his friends reject him.  His father also gives up on him when he helps a rebel.  His girlfriend gives up on him as well when she finds he has had his first sexual experience in France.  There are battles on all fronts.  He questions why he is alive when someone else is dead.  Tam will be thinking about all of these soldiers on Anzac Day.

LESLEY: GALLIPOLI: OUR LAST MAN STANDING BY JONATHAN KING

He is a journalist who was interested in the stories of the last ten surviving Anzacs.  This is the story of Alec, born in 1899.  He joined at 15.  He was an excellent shooter, excellent horseman, slight build and a poor student.  He had Scottish heritage and belonged to the Presbyterian church. He wanted to go to war and would have forged his signature if his parents did not sign.  He was not part of the landing group at Gallipoli.  He was in the front line but never got shot.  The fellow in front of him got shot and fell with his gun.  The gun hit him in the face and damaged his nerves.  He then got influenza and had to leave.  He was part of the withdrawal.  He was then going to France but developed Bell's Palsy and had to come home at sixteen and a half years old.  He became very political, joined the union movement.  He was 103 when he died.  Lesley enjoyed book.

JOAN:  BRAVE BESS AND THE ANZAC HORSES BY SUZANNE BROCCER

Bess was a horse born in 1910 in New Zealand.  The story is told through her eyes.  10,000 horses were sent to war from New Zealand and only one returned, Bess.  Loading was very difficult on the troop carriers.  There were brass bands, hooters etc. trying to get them up.  They had to stand up for seven weeks.  At the other end they had to put them in slings and haul them over.  At Cairo there were no green fields to graze on. One of the big problems was water. They didn't have to charge the enemy anymore.  One man was responsible for his own horse and three others and they were taken behind the lines. 8 million horses died during the war.  Bess got home and died in 1934.  Joan enjoyed the book.

JUDY:  WAR HORSE BY MICHAEL MORPURGO

This book was written as a children's book in 1983.  The horse, Joey is telling the story.  It is a very sweet story.  It is set in Devon where a poor farmer, who drinks too much, buys a horse.  His son, Albert takes care of him, teaches him and trains him.  There is a little bit of war thrown in but not too much.  Half the horses were killed but Joey survives.  He is captured by the Germans and used to transport cannons.  He runs off and ends up in No Man's Land.  He gets caught up in barb wire and a soldier from both sides help release him and talk to each other. In the meantime Albert has joined up and Joey finds him.  Joey has tetanus and Albert nurses him back to health.  They are not taking any horses back but Albert does get him back to Devon.  There are no gory details.

MARIE:  WORLD WAR 1 LAYMAN'S GUIDE

Marie said she had limited knowledge of World War 1 and wanted to learn more.  She treated this as a project.  It covered all the major battles. She learnt how they brought the soldiers up the wrong side at Gallipoli. She thoroughly enjoyed it and looked up all the places to give her an idea of where they were etc.