First World War: 1918

Nov 7, 2024 1:42 PM

Author:Sarah Kilgarriff,Jonathan Keeble

A unique collection of historic recordings in which the last brutal encounters of the war and the mixed emotions of the armistice are remembered by troops from both sides.

By the end of March 1918, Germany’s Spring Offensive had thrown British forces back over the old Somme battlefields. But this last push failed and with the stalemate of trench warfare broken, the Allies swept from near-defeat to victory. However, their joy was tempered by sorrow. Too many would not come home. For the Germans, the mood was despairing as their ‘endless columns rolled eastward’, the November fog and rain adding to their melancholy.

Memorable reminiscences include an evocative portrait of the poet Wilfred Owen by his brother Harold, American troops on their initiation into the horrors of battle and reflections on the controversial Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig by his contemporaries.

The war ended on 11 November 1918, but the Treaty of Versailles was not signed until 28 June 1919. By then, the German fleet had decided its own fate in one final act of defiance witnessed by a group of school children on an outing in Scapa Flow.

Reviews

Fascinating biography ... Hemming has done a superb job

—— Ben Macintyre , The Times, 'Book of the Week'

Excellent biography… The author has done a terrific job of unscrambling Knight’s muddled life

—— The Sunday Times

Jaw-droppingly revelatory biography. *****

—— Mail on Sunday

‘Compelling new biography… Hemming has done a wonderful espionage job of his own, scouring obscure files to bring long-hidden agents and their exploits to light. It is also a gripping portrait of an era, now long gone, when the establishment could accommodate such extravagant oddness.

—— Daily Telegraph

Henry Hemming has found a peach of a subject... Full of new material, fresh interpretations and uncompromising integrity... He has managed the great feat of producing a rattling good read that is also a major piece of revisionist history

—— Richard Davenport-Hines , Wall Street Journal

Hemming has written a very readable, thoughtful and comprehensive account

—— Alan Judd , Literary Review

I raced through Henry Hemming's book, constantly having to remind myself that it wasn't a work of fiction. It really has everything you'd want from a great espionage story: incredible agents risking their lives; the highest possible stakes, with the safety of the world hanging in the balance; and at its heart a complicated, mercurial spy master in Maxwell Knight spinning an ever more intricate web.

—— Matt Charman, Oscar-nominated screenwriter of 'Bridge of Spies'

A major new biography

—— Mail on Sunday

Engaging and suspenseful

—— Financial Times

Lively contribution to a maverick literature

—— The Observer

Crammed with cracking stories and founded on sound research, Henry Hemming’s biography of Maxwell Knight – ‘M’ – stands comparison with the bestselling books of Ben Macintyre.

—— Adam Sisman (Author of John Le Carré)

Absolute proof that assiduous digging in the archives can produce scoops. This is intelligence research at its best, especially in the identification of hitherto anonymous agents. Definitely a great contribution to the literature.

—— Nigel West (Author of MI5)

A fascinating portrait of a complex man. Espionage writing at its best.

—— Charles Cumming (Author of A Divided Spy)

A cracking read, which both informs and entertains in equal measure.

—— Robin Handbury-Tenison , Country Life

Henry Hemming's excellent new life of Maxwell Knight [...] the most convincing, balanced and intricate biography of this extraordinary figure.

—— Alex Bughart , The Spectator

‘A terrific life of the brilliant and eccentric spymaster’

—— The Sunday Times

A jaw-droppingly revelatory biography

—— EVENT magazine, Mail on Sunday

The odd chap is brought to life

—— The Times

This is a terrific book, well researched and superbly written

—— The Guardian

a fascinating biography

—— Keith Simpson MP’s Summer Reading List

Hemming tells a story of great interest, bringing to light the exploits of an eccentric and magnetic personality, a man able to keep his professional and private lives rigorously separate and who fully justifies his posthumous reputation

—— Catholic Herald

Hemming gives an engrossing account of the remarkable life of a great eccentric

—— Daily Mail

Lauren Elkin is one of our most valuable critical thinkers – the Susan Sontag of her generation

—— Deborah Levy

The acclaimed historian of Russia sweeps the brittle high society of pre-Revolutionary St Petersburg, the terror-chilled jails of Stalin's purges and the secrets of 1990s Moscow archives into a tragic panorama.'

—— INDEPENDENT, TEN OF THE HOTTEST BOOKS THIS SUMMER

A seamlessly written and moving portrait of the soviet Union in miniature from the Revolution to the age of Yeltsin.

—— MAIL ON SUNDAY

What is striking is how he has thrown himself heart and soul into the romance and emotion of his drama. The novel throbs with sex, maternal feeling, revolutionary fervour and terror ... Terrific stuff

—— SUNDAY TIMES

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