Product Description

As a First World War memoir this is almost unique, in that it was written by a private soldier Continuing interest in the First World War

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #247318 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

About the Author
George Coppard served as a private soldier from 1914 until he was wounded at the end of 1917. After the war he worked as a civil servant until retiring to Tenterden in Kent in 1962.

Customer Reviews

A must for all those interested in the Great War!
This book is highly recommended for all those who are enthusiasts of the Great War and especially for those whose interests focus on the soldier in the front line: the man in the mud. As a Machine gunner, George Coppard was at the cutting edge of operations and in the thick of the fighting; his descriptions of the conditions of battle leave little to the imagination and help to fill in those gaps left by sources which cannot draw on personal experience.
This book will be of special to those who are researching deatils concerning the battlefield experiences of relatives who fought on the Western Front who may have left very little to go on; my grandfather fought at Passchendaele as a machine gunner and never spoke about it. George Coppard's account of his experiences helped me to piece together the few threads of information I possess.
A must, therefore!

Simply brilliant
Having read most of the 'standard' texts on WWI such as those by Sassoon, Graves etc I stumbled upon this book almost by accident and having no knowledge of it wasn't sure what to expect.
I needn't have worried as this book is certainly the best I have read on the subject. Mr. Coppard describes in vivid detail what it was like to have fought in some of the worst localised conflicts on the Western Front. He does it with a rare flair and with humour. It's a story about comradeship and muddling through in great adversity and although I'd never wish to endure what they went through, I almost envy them the comradeship which comes from something I can never fully understand.
One part of the book that is interesting after the descriptions given earlier is the 'Epilogue' where Mr. Coppard travels back to Flanders and Picardy more than 50 years after fighting there. His descriptions of his travels visiting cemeteries (including those of his erstwhile German enemies) etc really make you think. His comment that:-

"Politicians would do well to tour all the cemeteries of France and Belgium and resolve never to act rashly, nor deliver ultimatums or threats of any kind, but to hold their hand, striving to their utmost to achieve harmonious relations with all peoples."

is now particularly apt I think coming from someone who experienced the firsthand results of politicians warmongering.
Mr. Coppard has produced a brilliant book; I wish I could have met him.

A SUPERB BOOK WRITTEN FROM THE HEART AND MIND
I only wish George was around today to talk to, I would shake his hand and thank him for leaving us such a record of the misery of man in the trenches. God bless his memory and of all the others that suffered this horror.