The First Day on the Somme [Paperback]

Martin Middlebrook (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001 | Series: Penguin Classic Military

A thorough and detailed survey of the events of the first of July 1916 including not only official records and information gleaned from regimental histories but also using first hand accounts from both German and British survivors.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A particularly vivid and personal narrative.” -- The Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher

On the morning of July 1, 1916, a continuous line of British soldiers climbed out of their trenches and began to walk slowly towards the German lines. Many of them believed that the enemy positions had already been destroyed in the previous artillery bombardment. By the end of the day, the British had suffered 60,000 casualties—one for every eighteen inches of the front. Eminent military historian Martin Middlebrook has drawn on official sources, local newspapers, autobiographies, novels, and poems to write this book and, above all, on the recollections of hundreds of survivors who contribute to a brilliant, horrifying, and intensely moving portrait of war on the front line.

Product Details

• Paperback: 365 pages
• Publisher: Penguin UK (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141390719
• ISBN-13: 978-0141390710
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #993,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars May be the best book of it's kind., March 15, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: First Day on the Somme (Hardcover)

I first read this book in the mid 70's and it still is one of the best books of it's kind ever written.The story tells of just one day in the first world war from both the British and German point of view.Individual personal stories are described which give a human dimension to the conflict that is often missing in
histories of the period.This book is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the Battle of the Somme or the wider conflict.Both the before and after events are described so one is able to see the whole picture.A terrible picture emerges from
these pages as would be expected but also an extraordinary story of endurance and fortitude asserts itself by the time you have finished the book.You cannot but be in awe of those who passed through this battle and survived to tell their story here.
There are no good guys or bad guys in this story just ordinary men from all walks of life who found themselves in truly dire circumstances.Almost one million casualties-on both sides-were incurred during the whole period of the Somme from July to November 1916-sixty thousand in just this one day.
Many of the soldiers have no known grave-seventy thousand of whom are remembered at the Thiepval memorial to the missing.
As long as books like this are written the fallen are remembered from this battle and all others-indeed as Kipling wrote ...Their name liveth for evermore...

Please note that I am 51 not 13 who prefers to remain anomynous.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How battle histories ought to be done, October 29, 2006

By 

Harry Eagar (Maui) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First Day on the Somme (Hardcover)

One problem with battle histories is that writers tend to overstate the horror and the gore. Martin Middlebrook did not face this temptation in 'The First Day on the Somme.' It could hardly be overstated.

This book was written in 1969-71, when Middlebrook was able to interview about 200 veterans of the battle. He follows the paths of 10 of them -- all Britons -- whose experiences were, even for that bloody day, extraordinary. He frankly ignores the French part of the assault, and quotes sparingly from the German defenders.

Fair enough. This is British history written for Britons, and, in 1971, still a vivid social and even political memory in the U.K. For my taste, he is far too lenient on the generals. The famous postwar description of the British Army -- 'lions led by donkeys' -- was cruel but entirely just.
Middlebrook does not mention it.

He is somewhat tougher on the politicians in London, though they get little attention.

Reading 'First Day' now, 90 years afterward, inspires other reflections: how deep class and religious divisions were in Britain, and how damaging.

Class affected how much a boy ate. The British fielded a 'Bantam Division' of men all under 5-foot-3. They fought well, to defend a society that didn't think they deserved to eat regularly.

In 1916 (and for a generation after), most people could not drive automobiles, or were unable to master the art if they tried. The technology was too unfamiliar to people who grew up with horses. It was a blunder with the darkest consequences to fight a mechanized war with leaders from the Horse Age.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Middlebrook the master!, January 5, 2004

By 

Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The First Day on the Somme: 1st July, 1916 (Paperback)

The Somme saw 60,000 casualties in its first days. An entire generation of English youth was whipped out as they charged into a hail of led. This definitive account of the first day of the battle gives a wonderful introduction into the horrors of trench warefare in World War One and will make you understand why the war created so many pacisifists since the battles were full of meaningless slaughter. A very scholaraly account which includes much military detail and many maps and figures that makes one feel like they are an arm chair general at the Somme. A wonderful account of the epic battle.