A DIARY OF THE GREAT WARR (E BOOKS FOR ANTIQUARIANS)

A Diary of the Great Warr (Robert Massie) Available on the Internet Archive

 

Greetings fellow shut-ins!  As we round into a full year under COVID limitations, I find myself rediscovering and re-reading some of my favorite books, particularly those that can provide some light diversion.  A perfect example, and one with interest to those who dabble in military history, is the Diary of the Great Warr (pictured above)--publicly available online at the above URL.  The conceit of the book is ingenious: it is written in the persona of a descendant of the 17th Century diarist Samuel Pepys--and the writing is also in the same 17th Century style, which is quite an achievement. Our narrator is a 50-something fellow of the upper middle class, late of Her Majesty's Naval Office, who documents the day to day life in the United Kingdom during the Great War.  

Actually written during the war years (the first was published in 1917), eventually, there would be three volumes. I stumbled across them I forgot where, but I am fortunate to have acquired them all.  As you can see in the above illustration, these originally came with dust jacket, of which I only have one (for the second diary).  You can tell something of a book by its cover, and I think the dust jacket captures the tone and approach of the books very well.  As usual, you may clix pix to get BIG PIX in this post (and hopefully to expand the passages for ease of reading). By assuming the persona of a somewhat self important--but earnest--fellow of a certain age on the home front during the Great War, the author is able to good-naturedly poke fun at the attitudes and events of the day, as well as to provide a light diversion in dark times.  In this post, I only drew upon bits from the first diary, but they are all equally rich.

     CAPTURING A SPY AND THE DOGS OF SCARBOROUGH

As any patriotic Briton, our narrator is on the lookout for saboteurs and infiltrators, and quite willing to do his part to thwart them (sometimes with unforseen consequences)...  

...and he carefully evaluates the many rumors of the day.  Here's an example of a popular rumor dealt with in the book, one of many (this one from the bombardment of Scarborough):

DOMESTIC BLISS

We are treated to various and sundry trials and tribulations of his married life...

...of particular fun are the sticky situations that arise from his dalliance with the hilariously named Polish "Countess Xczwpqmyssl" (as he calls her), none more entertaining than when he is out with her in a hat shop and runs into his wife...

LETTERS TO THE PAPERS AND SUPPORT FOR THE WAR EFFORT 

Our narrator is not shy about forwarding ideas to help the war effort, such as the family recipe for the making of toe plasters...but it seems that his efforts go strangely unappreciated...

 

HARPOONS, GIANT LOBSTER POTS, AND ELECTRIC LIGHTS

Our narrator regularly encounters a cast of characters at his club, Gen (retired) Pirpleton, Admiral (retired) Topper, and old running mate Squillinger, among others, all of whom are eager to share opinions and ideas for winning the war.  Although the proposed bomb-proof "umbrelloes" to ward off zeppelin raids deserve honorable mention, among the most brilliant are the several and sundry "cunnning, feasabile" proposals for dealing with the German submarine menace...

REAL EVENTS AND THE REALITY OF WAR

It is easy to forget that this book was written by someone living in a combatant country while events were unfolding and not after the fact from histories and other references. As such, the reader sees key events reflected in the text as told from the contemporary perspective, and I would add done with rather remarkable accuracy.  The accounts deftly walk the line between conveying the soberness warranted given the events and audience while still delivering a redeeming light touch...

The Naval Battle of the Falklands

The Battle of the Marne

The Failure of the Neuve Chappelle Offensive

The Dardanelles Naval Campaign (Anticipating the Gallipoli Landings)

...

The Human Cost Brought Home

 Highly Recommended

These are just a few snippets. There is so much more to be found in these books. I am thoroughly enjoying my second read-through (as if you couldn't guess). Not only are they highly amusing and distracting, but they are a remarkable literary performance--not only is the content diverting, but the deft handling of the distinctive linguistic register provides a level of amusement all its own (then again, perhaps I am just easily amused, being something of a "fond, silly, fellowe").  Highly recommended, certainly worth checking out given that it is an open resource text available online. For another diversion, I would also highly recommend the audio version of the actual Diary of Samuel Pepys: read by Kenneth Branaugh: his reading is a revelation and really brings the text to life, particularly good to listen to if you're painting pike and shot.

Excelsior!

E BOOKS FOR ANTIQUARIANS VII: THE CANNONEERS HAVE HAIRY EARS: A DIARY OF THE FRONT LINES (WWI)

In this post, dear readers, we take a diversion (a meander) into the the seventh installment of my e-book for antiquarians.  In these, I share passages and commentary on open access e-books of interest that have been scanned and are available in their original form on the interwebs, rendering as close to an authentic reading experience as possible. If you click the "e-book" link in the blog labels to the right, you can find the other e-book posts.  In this case, we visit the American Experience in the Great War...

Scan of the Meander's Copy

Above is the Publication information (clix pix for BIG PIX): the "Anonymus" author was actually Robert J Casey who would go on to become an adventure writer, journalist and War Correspondent (WWII) for the Chicago Daily News (a bit more on his later career and publications will follow at the conclusion of this post). This turn to professional writing by our anonymous artillery officer comes as no surprise once one begins to read this text: to say that it is a page turner is an understatement.

But before I get carried away with the contents, let me provide information on where you may access this book yourself.  It is available for reading online via the Haithi Trust through the University of California Library and University of Michigan Library.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS: INFLUENZA

The writing is splendidly colorful and engaging.  In addition to being the narrative of an officer in a US 75mm artillery battery in WWI, it provides excellent glimpses into the underside of history, an unvarnished look at "big events" from the perspective of those who lived them.  For instance, our hero begins the story, somehow appropriately, with the influenza, and we are colorfully introduced to Doc Duffy and his saving cure of raw eggs and cognac (and keeping our hero out of the clutches of the Army Hospital).  In this post, I have scanned the passages and pasted them into the blog in the hopes that they will expand sufficiently to allow visitors to read along.  So as usual, please clix pix for BIG PIX and further reading enjoyment...

PEOPLE'S GAS LIGHT & COKE CO

This book, like others coming from the US experience in the Great War, often has an "attitude"--an irreverent take on authority and a glibness towards potential (and real) dangers.  The below description of the wearing and handling of gas masks is one example of many (and is representative of the soldier's take on items of military equipment that persists to this day, however necessary they may be--I can attest to the fact that in the US Army  75 years later we held our gas masks in similar esteem)...

THE FRENCH WAY

After recounting the elaborate attention that his and other US Artillery batteries had paid to operating "by the book" as they went into their first action--keeping hidden in daylight, erecting camoflauge nets, proper handling and storage of shells, obliterating tracks and trails indicating occupation, deliberate laying of the guns, etc--the author shares a hilarious anecdote of the reaction of US gunners to seeing a veteran French battery of 75s pull into position next door...

THE GOOD GUYS AND GAS: ST MIHIEL

The narrative follows along with the trajectory of US operations in the Great War, with the battery going into combat in the St Mihiel Offensive.  Although I consider myself well read on the Great War, this narrative is the first that I have run across that openly discusses the extent to which the US used chemical warfare in the Great War, and it is an eye opener. By the end of this book, it is quite clear that chemicals were an integral component of US artillery preparations. It is also illuminating to see that the gunners were cognizant of the nature of gas warfare...

...following on from this, the author recounts the reaction of he and a fellow battery officer upon seeing a dispirited group of teen-aged German POWs being marched through their positions on the way to the rear at the conclusion of the operation...

SIGNAL SHOT, BARRAGE, AND MONT SEC AFLAME

The description of the opening barrage of the St Mihiel offensive is quite vivid and reminiscent of other memoirs that describe the thunderous barrages of the Great War...

...the primary target was Mont Sec...

Contemporary Image of Mont Sec, with the US Memorial visible on top 

(image from the Doughboy Center Website)

LIFE AND DEATH "BEHIND THE LINES" WITH THE ARTILLERY

Although one unacquainted with the reality of the Great War may imagine that artillerists, being technically "behind the lines," lived a protected life, this was far from the truth. In addition to active counter battery fire, which meant incoming large caliber rounds by definition, the tremendous amounts of artillery fire directed at harassing and interdicting areas behind the trenches meant that gunners were subjected to horrendous artillery fire, often without the benefit of being entrenched.  Although the author makes light of many otherwise dire incidents, his descriptions of being under artillery fire are unsparing...

A LACONIC FELLOW: TAKING CARE OF A CUSTOMER

The book is sprinkled with character studies, incidents, and observations. An amusingly characteristic one is when our hero was sent forward to do some liaison work.  He "discovers" a German machine gun position (the hard way), which leads to an encounter with a US infantry officer and his men...

  

EYEWITNESS TO EVENTS

Moving into the much larger and costlier later US Meuse-Argonne offensives, the narrator provides first hand witness to the casualties and costs...

...and the chaos of the operation--as well as a remarkable example of the bond between soldiers fighting for one another that motivates them to carry on...

Obviously, I was very taken with this book, both as a good read and a source of information.  I hope that this post has been of interest to others as well.

 LATER LIFE AND WRITING

Robert J Casey, would go on to author of other books, be something of an adventure writer between the wars, a war correspondent in WWII, and a journalist with the Chicago Daily News.

 

 Two of the author's books of war correspondence:  I Can't Forget: Personal recollections of a War Correspondent in France, Luxembourg, Germany, and England, 1941) and Torpedo Junction, With the Pacific Fleet from Peral Harbor to Midway, 1942.(My copy of I Can't Forget is on its way).

Here is a snippet of his WWII correspondence.  In this case, when he was in London and heard the motor of a V-2 rocket cut out, "I could have sworn that it was squarely above me, though it was probably two or three blocks to the north.  A few seconds later, fire squirted upward through the near distance...and the sky glowed red. The pavement trembled underfoot, a sudden concussion pressed against my stomach and a snarling roar came back to us" (from Ray Mosley's Reporting War: How Foreign Correspondents Risked Capture, Torture, and Death to Cover World War II. Yale University Press. 2017)

Another of his books, from 1949, is available free online on the Internet Archive: The Black Hills and Their Incredible Characters.  

When I think about the state of contemporary media and what I read and see today, I can't help but feel that we have lost much since Casey's days, when the written word was prime and we had journalists/authors who were capable of rendering such fine stories (both fiction and non fiction) so well told. 

Excelsior!