President’s Quarterly Update—April 2024
Dear Members and Friends,
I’m extremely pleased with the level of WW1HA’s activities, some of which may be unseen by you.
Our Journal, “World War One Illustrated,” is now published three times a year with an average length of 48 pages. Each issue is filled with high-quality articles covering a variety of topics, including the popular “My Kin in the Great War” series.
Our electronic newsletter, “Here and There with the WW1HA” is published monthly, with an assortment of Association events and articles covering WW1 topics.
Sal Compagno’s San Francisco Bay Area Chapter continues to hold monthly meetings via Zoom, while Mark Benbow’s Eastern Chapter is holding quarterly meetings.
As President, I am also hosting a quarterly “Fireside Chat” online. The last one emphasized WW1 poetry. The next one will emphasize WW1-era music.
If you’re already a member, I thank you for your membership and encourage you to take part in these activities. If you’re not a member, I ask you to join and participate in these activities. Participate in the events and consider submitting an article for the journal or newsletter.
Reach out to me with your comments: lavarennes@meuse-argonne.com.
Regards,
Randy Gaulke
Tag Archives: New Books on WWI 2011-2014
The Real German War Plan, 1904-1914
The Real German War Plan, 1904-1914 by Terence Zuber ISBN: 9780752456645
Published by History Press on June 1 2011
Genres: History, Europe, Germany, Military, Strategy, World War I
Pages: 190
Len's Summary: The author argues, as he has in several articles published in prestigious scholarly journals and at WFA seminars, that the Schlieffen Plan never existed.
Militia Myths: Ideas of the Canadian Citizen Soldier, 1896-1921
Militia Myths: Ideas of the Canadian Citizen Soldier, 1896-1921 by James Wood ISBN: 9780774817660
on January 28th 2011
Genres: History, Canada, Post-Confederation (1867-), Military, World War I
Pages: 350
Len's Summary: A social and military history of popular Canadian military culture. // For all its faults, Canada’s militia system arguably made Canada better prepared for WWI than either America or England.
Fishermen in Wartime: The Struggle at Sea During the First World War
Fishermen in Wartime: The Struggle at Sea During the First World War by Walter Wood ISBN: 0857067478
on December 11th 2011
Pages: 164
Len's Summary: A recounting of North Sea fishermen and their ships employed as mine sweepers and anti-submarine patrol vessels.
Media, Memory and the First World War
Media, Memory and the First World War by David Williams ISBN: 0773539077
Published by McGill-Queen's University Press on September 2nd 2011
Pages: 336
Len's Summary: How the dominant means of communication in popular culture, whether it be oral, written or digital, shapes the structure of memory within that culture. // An interdisciplinary look at how The Great War was depicted at the time, over time and is depicted now.
Tumult in the Clouds – The Aviation Art of Russell Smith
Tumult in the Clouds – The Aviation Art of Russell Smith by Jim Wilberg, Jack Herris ISBN: 1935881027
Published by Aeronaut Books on December 31st 2011
Pages: 172
Len's Summary: Forty four of award-winning aviation artist Russell Smith WWI paintings and 20 drawings including Eddie Rickenbacker’s SPAD XIII.
The Illustrated History of the Weapons of World War One
The Illustrated History of the Weapons of World War One by Ian Westwell ISBN: 9781844769568
Published by Southwater on February 1st 2011
Pages: 96
Len's Summary: Naval and land weapons of The Great War cataloged.
Bolo Pacha: A Forgotten Story About Men & Women Who Made History in WWI
Bolo Pacha: A Forgotten Story About Men & Women Who Made History in WWI by Shelby F. Westbrook ISBN: 9781426921759
Published by AuthorHouse on January 20th 2010
Pages: 108
Len's Summary: Frenchman Paul Marie Bolo was a war profiteer at the heart of a German effort to control French newspapers during WWI.
First Over the Front
First Over the Front by Stanley Walsh ISBN: 1467026417
Published by AuthorHouse on November 18th 2011
Pages: 316
Len's Summary: The letters and diary (with commentary) of a pilot with the AEF’s 90th Aero Squadron.
SEPPL – A Step Ahead of Politics
Seppl by Klaus Veltjens ISBN: 9781442145825
Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform on July 8th 2009
Pages: 264
Len's Summary: Biography of WWI 35-victory air ace Johann Veltjens, whose career extended into World War II; written by this son.
Letters from a War Bird: The World War I Correspondence of Elliot White Springs
Letters from a War Bird: The World War I Correspondence of Elliot White Springs ISBN: 9781611170405 Published by University of South Carolina Press on January 1st 2012
Pages: 358
Len's Summary: Reprint of a famous memoir written by an AEF pursuit pilot.
The Quick and the Dead: Fallen Soldiers and Their Families in The Great War
The Quick and the Dead: Fallen Soldiers and Their Families in The Great War by Richard Van Emden ISBN: 9780747597797
Published by A&C Black on October 3rd 2011
Pages: 344
Len's Summary: A compilation of more than 50 private diaries, interviews and letters written by British soldiers.
Tommy’s Ark: Soldiers and Their Animals in the Great War
Tommy's Ark: Soldiers and Their Animals in the Great War by Richard Van Emden ISBN: 9781408810071
Published by Bloomsbury Publishing on June 6th 2011
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Modern, 19th Century
Pages: 352
Len's Summary: British soldiers and their pets at the front.
German Soldiers in the Great War: Letters and Eyewitness Accounts
German Soldiers in the Great War: Letters and Eyewitness Accounts by Bernd Ulrich, Benjamin Ziemann ISBN: 1848841418
on March 1st 2011
Genres: History, Europe, Germany, Military, World War I, Veterans
Pages: 212
Len's Summary: Primary source material on the perceptions of German front line soldiers. // A look at the lives of German front-line soldiers based on their own writings.
Ace of the Black Cross: The Memoirs of Ernst Udet
Ace of the Black Cross: The Memoirs of Ernst Udet by Ernst Udet ISBN: 9781848327085
Published by Frontline Books on October 2013
Pages: 202
Len's Summary: With an introductory essay placing Udet’s career in the context of his time. // Autobiography of Germany’s second leading WWI ace first published in 1936.
British & Allied Aircraft Manufacturers of the First World War
British & Allied Aircraft Manufacturers of the First World War by Terry C. Treadwell ISBN: 144560101X
Published by Amberley Publishing on February 1st 2011
Pages: 252
Desert Hell: the British Invasion of Mesopotamia
Desert Hell: the British Invasion of Mesopotamia by Charles Townshend ISBN: 9780674059993
Published by Harvard University Press on February 22nd 2011
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Europe, Great Britain, Middle East, General
Pages: 623
Len's Summary: A cautionary tale of imperial overreach.
The Lys 1918: Estaires and Givenchy: German Spring Offensives
The Lys 1918: Estaires and Givenchy: German Spring Offensives by Phil Tomaselli ISBN: 9781844159116
on January 1st 2011
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 173
Len's Summary: A brief look at one of the last major battles of WWI.
Conscience: Two Soldiers, Two Pacifists, One Family – A Test of Will and Faith in World War I
Conscience: Two Soldiers, Two Pacifists, One Family – A Test of Will and Faith in World War I by Louisa Thomas ISBN: 9780143120995
Published by Penguin Books on May 29th 2012
Genres: History, Military, World War I, United States, 20th Century, Political Science, Peace
Pages: 320
Len's Summary: A look at the tumultuous years of the early 20th century through the eyes of the Thomas brothers.
The Horse in War: Horses & Mules in the Allied Armies During the First World War, 1914-18
The Horse in War: Horses & Mules in the Allied Armies During the First World War, 1914-18 by D.S. Tamblyn ISBN: 0857067869
on December 12th 2011
Pages: 136
Len's Summary: The Great War was last big war where equine locomotion predominated.
Year of the Locust: A Soldier’s Diary and the Erasure of Palestine’s Ottoman Past
Year of the Locust: A Soldier’s Diary and the Erasure of Palestine’s Ottoman Past by Salim Tamari, Ihsan Salih Turjman ISBN: 0520259556
Published by University of California Press on September 1st 2011
Pages: 214
Len's Summary: The diaries of an Ottoman soldier from Jerusalem trace the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire from a Palestinian point of view. The authors’ introduction places the events of 1914-1917 including Ottoman military defeats and expulsion from Palestine in a larger context of change accelerated by war.
The First World War: A Concise Global History
The First World War: A Concise Global History by William Kelleher Storey ISBN: 9780742541467
on September 16th 2010
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 193
Len's Summary: A narrative history emphasizing the role of the environment and of new and old technologies. // A new history concentrating on environmental and technical aspects of the conflict and how the war changed peoples’ perceptions of their surroundings and relations to machinery.
With Our Backs to the Wall: Victory and Defeat, 1918
With Our Backs to the Wall: Victory and Defeat, 1918 by David Stevenson ISBN: 9780674062269
Published by Harvard University Press on September 19th 2011
Genres: History, Europe, General, Military, World War I, United States, Political Science, International Relations
Pages: 688
Len's Summary: A broad, sagely crafted political-military analysis of the 1918 end game of WWI focusing on the basis for the Allies’ incomplete victory and implications for peace. The author also wrote the excellent Armaments and the Coming of War, 1904-1914 (Oxford, 1996).
At the Front in a Flivver
At the Front in a Flivver by William Yorke Stevenson ISBN: 9781103275922
Published by BiblioBazaar on 2009
Pages: 320
Len's Summary: First published in 1922, this is a scanned reproduction of the original work, a combination of his diary and letters home.by American Field Service ambulance driver Stevenson who served on the Somme, at Verdun and in the Argonne Forest.
Beute-Tanks: British Tanks in German Service (volumes 1 and 2)
Beute-Tanks: British Tanks in German Service (volumes 1 and 2) by Rainer Strasheim ISBN: 3936519242
on 2011
Pages: 96
Battle on the Seven Seas: German Cruiser Battles 1914-1918
Battle on the Seven Seas: German Cruiser Battles 1914-1918 by Gary Staff ISBN: 9781848841826
on 2011
Pages: 232
Len's Summary: Sagas of the Goeben, Königsberg, Emden and many more.
On Four Fronts With the Royal Naval Division During the First World War 1914-1918
On Four Fronts With the Royal Naval Division During the First World War 1914-1918 by Geoffrey Sparrow, J.N. Macbean Ross ISBN: 0857067168
Published by Leonaur on August 22nd 2011
Pages: 172
Len's Summary: It was Winston Churchill’s idea to make infantrymen out of surplus naval reservists and Royal Marines not assigned to ships in 1914. This division, the first of the new army divisions, saw action at Antwerp in 1914 and later fought at Gallipoli and again in Flanders finally becoming the 63rd Division as the numbers of naval personnel were depleted by battle casualties.
World War One: The Global Revolution
World War One: The Global Revolution by Lawrence Sondhaus ISBN: 9780521736268
Published by Cambridge University Press on March 31st 2011
Genres: History, Modern, 20th Century, Military, General, World War I
Pages: 560
Len's Summary: A new introduction and analysis of the causes and effects of The Great War.
Confusion of Command: The Memoirs of Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas D’Oyly ‘Snowball ‘Snow, 1914-1918
Confusion of Command: The Memoirs of Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas D'Oyly 'Snowball 'Snow, 1914-1918 by Thomas D'Oyly Snow ISBN: 1848325754
Published by Frontline Books on February 1st 2011
Pages: 228
Len's Summary: Western Front memoirs of a BEF general.
That’s War
That's War by William Arthur Sirmon ISBN: 1462880983
Published by Xlibris Corporation on June 27th 2011
Pages: 168
Len's Summary: The diary of a regular army officer, a veteran of the Philippine Constabulary and DSC-winner in the 82nd division in France.
Britain and World War One
Britain and World War One by Alan G. V. Simmonds ISBN: 9781136629976
Published by Routledge on March 1st 2013
Genres: History, General, History, Europe, Western, Great Britain, Military, World War I
Pages: 336
Len's Summary: Another of Sheldon’s works that draws on German regimental histories to trace the opening battles from the German perspective.
The German Army at Ypres 1914 and the Battle for Flanders
The German Army at Ypres 1914 and the Battle for Flanders by Jack Sheldon ISBN: 9781848841130
on June 2011
Genres: History, Europe, Germany, Military, World War I
Pages: 382
Len's Summary: Another of Sheldon’s works that draws on German regimental histories to trace the opening battles from the German perspective. // The author draws on regimental histories and memoirs in another of his series of studies of the German army on the Western Front.
The Chief: Douglas Haig and the British Army
The Chief: Douglas Haig and the British Army by Gary Sheffield ISBN: 9781845136918
Published by Aurum on May 1st 2012
Pages: 460
Len's Summary: Another in a long line of examinations of the generalship of Sir Douglas Haig by a premier British military historian. As usual, Sheffield’s work is particularly readable.
Aftermaths of War: Women’s Movements and Female Activists, 1918-1923
Aftermaths of War: Women’s Movements and Female Activists, 1918-1923 by Ingrid Sharp, Matthew Stibbe ISBN: 9789004191723
Published by Brill on February 14th 2011
Genres: Social Science, Women's Studies, Feminism & Feminist Theory, History, Europe, General
Pages: 428
Len's Summary: An interdisciplinary work of eighteen chapters covering the countries of Europe examining the importance of women and their causes in creating a post war agenda.
Warrior: The Amazing Story of a Real War Horse
Warrior: The Amazing Story of a Real War Horse by Jack Seely ISBN: 9781908216106
Published by Racing Post & Raceform on October 10th 2011
Pages: 176
Len's Summary: First published in 1934, this tells the tale of a horse which survived five years of service on the Western Front.
Guerrilla Leader: T. E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt
Guerrilla Leader ISBN: 9780553807646 Published by Bantam Books on November 8th 2011
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Historical, Military, History, Middle East, General, World War I
Pages: 328
Len's Summary: Puts aside Lawrence mythology to examine his influence on battlefield leadership.
Reinventing Warfare 1914-18: Novel Munitions and Tactics of Trench Warfare
by Anthony Saunders ISBN: 9781441123817
Published by A&C Black on February 9th 2012
Genres: History, Modern, 16th Century, Military, General, World War I
Pages: 376
Len's Summary: The complexity of invention and innovative tactics using new weaponry such as the rifle grenade, Mills Bomb and the Stokes mortar. By the same author: Trench Warfare 1850-1950 (Pen & Sword, 2010); Dominating the Enemy: War in the Trenches, 1914-1918 (Sutton, 2000); and, Weapons of the Trench War, 1914-18 (Sutton, 1999)
The Indian Army in the Two World Wars
The Indian Army in the Two World Wars by Kaushik Roy ISBN: 9789004185500
Published by Brill on October 14th 2011
Genres: History, Military, General, India
Pages: 553
Len's Summary: A series of essay (10 of them on WWI) reflecting original research by Dennis Showalter among others.
Landscapes of the Western Front: Materiality during the Great War
Landscapes of the Western Front: Materiality during the Great War by Ross J. Wilson ISBN: 9780415808057
Published by Routledge on October 24th 2012
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Military, World War I, Modern, 20th Century
Pages: 244
Len's Summary: Historical anthropology: A multidisciplinary study of how British soldiers responded to the war landscape building a sense of place in a hostile, unpredictable environment.
The Last of the Ebb: The Battle of the Aisne, 1918
The Last of the Ebb: The Battle of the Aisne, 1918 by Sidney Rogerson ISBN: 9781848326118
Published by Frontline Books on January 26th 2012
Genres: History, Military, General
Pages: 192
Len's Summary: The experiences of a young West Yorkshire officer in the spring of 1918.
