LEADER 04554nam 2200637 450 001 9910790432803321 005 20230126203420.0 010 $a0-300-19856-6 024 7 $a10.12987/9780300198560 035 $a(CKB)2550000001115079 035 $a(EBL)3421273 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000984656 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)12448991 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000984656 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)11016223 035 $a(PQKB)10187881 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3421273 035 $a(DE-B1597)486120 035 $a(OCoLC)857769597 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780300198560 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3421273 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10756467 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL515381 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000001115079 100 $a20130318h20132013 uy| 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|nu---|u||u 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aLife, death and growing up on the western front /$fAnthony Fletcher 210 1$aNew Haven :$cYale University Press,$d[2013] 210 4$dİ2013 215 $a1 online resource (363 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 0 $a0-300-19553-2 311 0 $a1-299-84130-9 327 $tFront matter --$tContents --$tList of Main Characters --$tIllustrations and Maps --$tPreface and Acknowledgements --$tPrologue --$tCHAPTER 1. 'Quiet Earnest Faces' The National Cause --$tCHAPTER 2. 'Glad to Go' Patriotic Idealism --$tCHAPTER 3. 'Ready to Go' Training --$tCHAPTER 4. 'Write as Often as You Can' Letters and Parcels --$tCHAPTER 5. 'Sticking it Out' Fear and Shell Shock --$tCHAPTER 6. 'A Certain Sense of Safety with Him' Leadership --$tCHAPTER 7. 'Such a Helpless Lot of Babes' Care for the Men --$tCHAPTER 8. 'Drops of his Blood on my Hand' Horror and Endurance --$tCHAPTER 9. 'I Merely Did my Duty' Discipline and Morale --$tCHAPTER 10. 'Very Gallant in Every Way' Early Losses --$tCHAPTER 11. 'Blighty, oh Blighty in about a Week' Leave --$tCHAPTER 12. 'I Am Serene, Unafraid' The Somme --$tCHAPTER 13. 'Capable of Finishing the Job' Battles of 1917-1918 --$tCHAPTER 14. 'The Men Cannot Grasp It' Armistice --$tCHAPTER 15. 'We Will Remember Them' Remembrance and Commemoration --$tCHAPTER 16. 'All the Best and Choicest and Unblemished' War Heroes --$tCHAPTER 17. 'Among the Happiest Years I Have Ever Spent' Survivors --$tEpilogue The Great War in Perspective --$tNotes --$tBibliography --$tIndex 330 $aThis book was inspired by the author?s discovery of an extraordinary cache of letters from a soldier who was killed on the Western Front during the First World War. The soldier was his grandfather, and the letters had been tucked away, unread and unmentioned for many decades. Intrigued by the heartbreak and history of these family letters, Fletcher sought out the correspondence of other British soldiers who had volunteered for the fight against Germany. This resulting volume offers a vivid account of the physical and emotional experiences of seventeen British soldiers whose letters survive. Drawn from different regiments, social backgrounds, and areas of England and Scotland, they include twelve officers and five ordinary ?Tommies.?   The book explores the training, journey to France, fear, shellshock, and life in the trenches as well as the leisure, love, and home leave the soldiers dreamed of. Fletcher discusses the psychological responses of 17- and 18-year-old men facing appalling realities and considers the particular pressures on those who survived their fallen comrades. While acknowledging the horror and futility the soldiers of the Great War experienced, the author shows another side to the story, focusing new attention on the loyal comradeship, robust humor, and strong morale that uplifted the men at the Front and created a powerful bond among them. 606 $aWorld War, 1914-1918$xSocial aspects$zGreat Britain 606 $aWorld War, 1914-1918$xSocial aspects$zEurope, Western 606 $aWorld War, 1914-1918$vPersonal narratives, British 606 $aSoldiers$zGreat Britain$vCorrespondence 615 0$aWorld War, 1914-1918$xSocial aspects 615 0$aWorld War, 1914-1918$xSocial aspects 615 0$aWorld War, 1914-1918 615 0$aSoldiers 676 $a940.4/8141 700 $aFletcher$b Anthony$0322238 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910790432803321 996 $aLife, death and growing up on the western front$93701113 997 $aUNINA