In The Footsteps of Private Lynch

Oct 11, 2024 6:28 PM

Author:Will Davies

When Will Davies discovered the manuscript for Somme Mud he knew he had found a lost treasure. Private Lynch's powerful, personal story of his time in the trenches of the Somme has become a classic.

In this new book, Will Davies meticulously follows in the footsteps of Lynch and his battalion, the 45th - from their long route marches to lice ridden billets, into the frontline and seeing action at such infamous battles as Messines, Dernancourt, Stormy Trench and Villers Bretonneux, and on the last great push to final victory after August 1918.

The author assesses the impact Lynch and those like him had both on the battlefield and in the greater context of the war on the Western Front. Written in a lively and accessible style, it sheds light on the campaigns and offensives, the weapons and the equipment, the food, the living conditions and the neglected minutiae of war and in so doing brings to life the young men who sacrificed their youth over 90 years ago.

Reviews

As an objective reassessment of this most critical of struggles, cogently argued and concisely written, The Battle of Britain is hard to beat

—— Saul David , Sunday Telegraph

A captivating and readable analysis of the fragile circumstances of Britain's victory

—— Observer

Succeeds brilliantly ... puts the battle in context, and along the way a lot of myths bite the dust

—— Robin Knight , Time

Brilliant

—— The Economist

He [Phillips] has a real gift for highlighting the picturesque and for bringing the past alive." "With its crisp management, accessible style and deft characterisation, this book stakes a strong claim to be the most appealing narrative account of the Crusades for a general audience.

—— BBC History Magazine

With a dramatist's panache, Jonathan Phillips brings the leading characters and most suspenseful episodes of the Crusades to riveting life, even rendering figures such as Richard the Lionheart and Saladin fresh again...the violence, insanity, courage and belief here make for irresistible reading

—— Benjamin Evans , Sunday Telegraph

Concise, character-driven and draws modern parallels

—— Telegraph

Children are history's forgotten people; amidst the sound and fury of battle, as commanders decide the fate of empires, they are never seen. Yet as Nicholas Stargardt reveals in his heart-rending account of children's lives under the Nazis, to ignore them is to leave history half-written. This is an excellent book and it tells a terrible story... As Stargardt so eloquently reminds us, the tragedy is that children were part of the equation and suffered accordingly

—— Trevor Royle , Sunday Herald

'Nicholas Stargardt evokes the individual voices of children under Nazi rule. In re-creating their wartime experiences, he has produced a challenging new historical interpretation of the Second World War

—— History Today

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