Tommies: The British Army in the Trenches

John Sadler · Rosie Serdiville

ago 2017 · Casemate

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“Everything you need to know to get you started on the subject of the men of the British Army who found themselves in the trenches in WWI. Superb.” —Books Monthly
 
British soldiers have been known as Tommies for centuries, but the nickname is particularly associated with the British infantryman in the trenches of World War I.
 
In August 1914, a small professional force of British soldiers crossed the Channel to aid the French and Belgians as the German army advanced. As it became apparent that the war would not, in fact, be over by Christmas, a vast drive for volunteer soldiers began.
 
As enthusiasm for enlistment tailed off, eventually conscription was introduced in order to replenish the forces weakened by years of bloodshed. By 1918 the British army was transformed, fielding 5.5 million men on the western front alone. These Tommies fought an entirely new type of war, living in vast trench systems, threatened by death from the air and gas attack as well as by bullet, bomb, or bayonet.
 
This introduction explores the experience of Tommies on the western front, explaining how their war evolved and changed from the mobile battles of August 1914 to the final days of the war, and discussing daily life as an infantryman on the front line using firsthand accounts, contemporary poems, and songs.
 
The Casemate Short History Series “would be excellent for someone with an early interest in military history or for someone talking history at school. Very readable and easy to understand with some good illustrations” (Army Rumour Service).

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John Sadler is a military historian living in Northumberland. He is extensively published on a range of periods and lectures on military history at Newcastle University’s Centre for Lifelong Learning. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, a member of the Battlefield Trust and Guild of Battlefield Tour Guides. Rosie Serdiville is a social historian and re-enactor with a particular interest in the wider impact of war on civilian populations. She delights in spending time in archives: some of the most interesting characters in this volume have emerged from archival materials.