Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #218089 in Books
• Published on: 1991-12-12
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 216 pages

Synopsis
A study of the Western Front in 1915, this book is a stinging indictment of incompetent generalship. The author explores the truth of the observation that British troops were "lions led by donkeys" and shows how appalling losses almost completely destroyed the old professional army.

Customer Reviews

Always astounds me
Alan Clark (loathed) writes this piece and is the last person you would think of criticising the generals .
But this is what you get and it is as good an indictment you will get .

It is not written by some anti war revisionist but somebody who sees it for what it is.

The arguement that the archives are now open does not wash with me ,there is far to much evidence.

Read a genuine letter recently after the Battle of Loos and the quote was ''our artillery failed to break the wire ,same old problem as before''

So why was the same tactic used at the Somme .

This book is a triumph.

Use By Date Reached !
1915 appears to be the forgotten year as far as the Western Front is concerned, with a limited number of books available which focus on events in that year.

Seeking to go beyond the coverage of the more general histories of the Great War, I picked up a copy of the "The Donkeys" and settled in for an entertaining read......and yes it is entertaining, but regretably that entertainment comes from the exaggerated writing style, value judgements, and hearsay that has been injected into the narrative. It's a polemic made palatable by a racy journalistic style.

As a "history", the book has been made redundant by the opening of the archives since the book was written at the beginning of the '60s. The subsequent outpourings of newer histories, even where 1915 and the British attacks are covered as part of a general review of the war, have much more to add to an understanding of the conflict in that year than this book.

It's "Use By Date" has clearly been reached!

Compare with another
Fluently written as ever with Alan Clark. Very powerful...but how much is real and how much more building on the sterotypical view? I suggest looking at another view such as that in the much more recent and excellent "Forgotten Victory" by Gary Sheffield would help balance the picture.