Customer Reviews

First Ypres 1914: The Graveyard of the Old Contemptibles (Campaign)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Perhaps my expectations have been raised too high by the many excellent Osprey campaign books I have read recently, but this book fell short for me. It is told almost entirely from the British point of view and can be easily summarized: the gallant Tommies hold off the German hordes despite terrible casualties. There is very little discussion of the German point of view and even less about the French, who played a key role in the battle. I give it three stars because the story is told competently, but that is all. Being a relatively early book in the series (they are now up to about 150), it does not meet the standard of the later books.

The book also suffers from having to devote a section to wargaming the battle (something dropped in the later books). The author wastes six pages on this -- wastes, as his ideas on wargaming are useless. He would have done much better to keep this section to a minimum and use the pages elsewhere -- either in more descriptions of small unit actions or to flesh out the sections on leaders and the opposing forces, which are terse to the point of being virtually useless. He does include a very detailed order of battle -- for the British. The orders of battle for the French and Germans are skimpy by comparison. In particular, the German heavy artillery, which he repeatedly mentions as having a big impact on actions, is left out completely.

The occasional detailed description of small unit actions are the high point of the book; the rest of the battle is told at such a high level (and in such a dry style) that I was not engaged. I would have happily given up some of the high level narrative for more small unit 'vignettes'. I was particularly intrigued by the author's mention of some of the more experienced German units using 'infiltration'. Since infiltration tactics are not normally considered to have been used until 1917, I would have liked to learn just what these units were doing. But to do that would have detracted from the relentlessly British focus of the book and so, apparently, would not do.

I did gain some interesting insights into this period. Although the standard image of World War 1 is the generals living in chateaus far from the front line, which they never visited, that was not true at this point. In fact, one divisional commander and most of two division's staffs were killed by a single German shell. Haig, in particular, comes across as a hero -- visiting the front lines, scraping together reserves to meet each German breakthrough and generally performing just as a good commander should. Although the author does not make this point, it is obvious that the Germans giving up the attack just when the British line was on the verge of collapse made a strong impression on him. Haig's determination to keep up attacks at (for instance) the Somme was probably based on his intention not to make this mistake; to 'out last' the Germans in the attack, as he had on the defense at First Ypres.

First Ypres 1914, David Lomas' sequel to his earlier Mons 1914, is a decent summary of the relatively neglected period of October-November 1914 in Belgium. During this period after the Battle of the Marne, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fought the Germans to a standstill over a fairly small patch of Belgian mud, thereby denying the Germans access to the Channel ports. However in the process, the old pre-war British regular army was virtually destroyed. The BEF of 1914 was an elite force, but not designed for the grinding attrition warfare that was quickly developing on the Western Front.

The weakest part of this volume is the early sections on opposing commanders, opposing armies and opposing leaders. David Lomas seems to feel that he has done his duty in regard to this vital introductory sections by jotting down a few paragraphs and moving on. For example, the section on leaders barely amounts to one page of text and only comments on army-level commanders like Sir John French. Similarly, the section on opposing armies is far too brief. The Indian Corps that was dispatched to the Western Front was significantly different in training from the remainder of the BEF and this should have been highlighted in this section. Although the extensive order of battle partly covers up the deficiencies of this section, it is skimpy on the French. Opposing plans are also covered in far too brief a section.

Clearly the author has put all his effort into the campaign narrative itself, and as in his earlier Mons 1914, the operational summary is quite good. Excellent maps and photos add value to this account of First Ypres.

First Ypres 1914, David Lomas' sequel to his earlier Mons 1914, is a decent summary of the relatively neglected period of October-November 1914 in Belgium. During this period after the Battle of the Marne, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fought the Germans to a standstill over a fairly small patch of Belgian mud, thereby denying the Germans access to the Channel ports. However in the process, the old pre-war British regular army was virtually destroyed. The BEF of 1914 was an elite force, but not designed for the grinding attrition warfare that was quickly developing on the Western Front.

The weakest part of this volume is the early sections on opposing commanders, opposing armies and opposing leaders. David Lomas seems to feel that he has done his duty in regard to this vital introductory sections by jotting down a few paragraphs and moving on. For example, the section on leaders barely amounts to one page of text and only comments on army-level commanders like Sir John French. Similarly, the section on opposing armies is far too brief. The Indian Corps that was dispatched to the Western Front was significantly different in training from the remainder of the BEF and this should have been highlighted in this section. Although the extensive order of battle partly covers up the deficiencies of this section, it is skimpy on the French. Opposing plans are also covered in far too brief a section.

Clearly the author has put all his effort into the campaign narrative itself, and as in his earlier Mons 1914, the operational summary is quite good. Excellent maps and photos add value to this account of First Ypres.

In First Ypres 1914, David Lomas describes how in 1914 as both the British and German armies desperately tried to keep the Great War a war of maneuver and avoid stagnation made a mad rush of troops towards the north in an attempt to get around the flank of the other army before a line of trenches stretched from the alps to the North Sea. In what is now known as "The Race to the Sea," These forces, the masses of newly called up Germans and the small, highly professional British army both met at the Belgian town of Ypres in a battle known to the Germans as "the Slaughter of the Innocents" and to the British as "1st Ypres."

Lomas addresses the strategies by the generals and the responses to them by divisional commanders who had to enact them. He covers in detail the fighting but it does have a very British slant as we are given far more insight into the views of the British Generals madly scrambling to close the gaps in their lines as their all too few troops are worn down, than of the German commanders trying to beat the lines open with masses of enthusiastic but un-blooded volunteers.

There is a good mix of illustrations, posed shots, newspaper art and the rare authentic battle photo which support the story without falling into the all too common trap of showing virtually the same image each time.

If there is a flaw, I think it is rather the limitation Osprey put on the size of the book rather than the author's lack of skill. He mentions that the French were very much involved in the fighting and so were the Indian soldiers, hopelessly out of their element but bravely struggling on but still these do not get much detail. Lomas mentioning them shows his scholarship, that he knows they were a part of the battle, but he is limited by the Osprey constraints in size.

I would have liked a couple more maps showing more detail of the woods and towns being fought over in the final climax. Names that would become infamous in the years that followed.

Ultimately this book covers not the German `slaughter of innocents' of barely trained youths sent into the guns of hardened regular, but the death of the pre-war, Regular, British Army. Of how regiments 1,000 strong in August, made up of career soldiers and long serving reservists, were in some cases reduced to 30 men and 1 officer by December.

More than anything, Lomas views 1st Ypres as most people do. He recounts how the professional British army of the Victorian age went stubbornly, tenaciously and ,ultimately, indomitably to its death in the mud of Flanders fields.

As AE Housman later wrote of them "What God Abandoned, these defended and saved the sum of things for pay."

In the usual 96-page format, with excellent 3D maps showing different moments of the battle, and plenty of black and white period photos as well as color drawings of the soldiers and equipment, this book gives a nice overview of the first Ypres battle. If you want detail, check the four pages long "Order of Battle"!

You could also get Osprey's "THE OLD CONTEMPTIBLES" for more information on the BEF.

This book provides a good introduction for those seeking to get up to speed on the battle in an hour to an hour and a half. The book, written in the typical Osprey format, covers opposing commanders, the opposing armies, the opposing side's plans and goals and how the battle fitted into the overall strategic picture on the Western front, how the battle evolved and consequences. With respect to its coverage of how the battle evolved and each side's plans and goals the book is quite good (four stars here). Unfortunately the other sections (i.e., commanders, opposing armies and consequences of the battle) are weak. The main reason for this, in this reviewer's opinion, is that these particular sections are far too short (only about 2 pages, if even that). These are short by even the standards of the Osprey Campaign series. This problem could have been overcome if more pages (or even a few more paragraphs) were dedicated to these topics. This could very easily have been done by reducing the coverage pages dedicated to the Order of Battle (which provides a detailed breakdown of the specific divisions and corps involved) and the section dedicated to "war gaming" the battle. These two sections used 15 valuable pages (out of about 100). Not that these topics are not interesting but for a short book serving as a survey (about 100 pages, a good third to half of which consisted of maps, illustrations and photographs) this is overkill. The pages could have been far better used to expand on the sections covering the armies, for example. That section, only about 2 pages long, does not even go into officer and troop quality or weapons.

All and all, not a bad introduction but could have been far better had fewer pages been dedicated to the Order of Battle and to war gaming and more to the more important issues of the opposing armies, commanders and the resulting aftermath.

Given the obvious limitations imposed by the publisher, I think David Lomas has done a most competent job in this title. Anybody familiar with the Osprey Campaign series should realise that they get a basic primer - 'Look & Learn Famous Battles' as it were. Each book is less than 20000 words, has a set number of monochrome pix and an equally fixed number of colour plates. They are designed, I suspect, for a particular market and I don't doubt that the author(s) receive a specific brief - so many words on the commanders, so many words on this aspect, so many words on that angle.
Osprey's titles on some other WW1 campaigns are far worse. I don't name names but 19000 words to cover seven months bitter fighting, for instance, is a near impossibility.
Certainly I don't find Lomas' prose stilted, quite the reverse. It's a darned sight better than some of the turgid stuff that comes out of a few mid-Western universities I could name. It's clear and concise, the photographs are good and the artwork (Brits bashing Germans) is nothing to do with the author - at least if the jacket artwork of some of my books is anything by which to judge. It's the publisher's decision, dudes!
It's true the book concentrates on Ypres 1914 from the British angle. Again, I suggest editorial requirements and, in truth, there ain't the space to do much else. But it is a British publisher who turned this out, presumably for an essentially British market. I personally found the book a lot less one-sided than many similar publications penned by US authors.
Not that I get personal here but I wonder how many rejection slips some of your reviewers have received - if they've ever tried to write a book, that is. I'm not referring to this particular review but across the board. I sometimes think, psrticularly with non-fiction, that every single-issue fanatic in the world sounds off about what a lousy job the author has done. Of course, there are turkeys out there - mostly from graduates of CA Writing seminars - but no book makes it to print without editorial input. In theory, if the damned thing is unreadablr, it gets bounced. Unless, I suppose, your godfather happens to own the publisher but I don't think that is the case with Lomas.

Perhaps there should be a rule that critics should mention their own achievments. I've written 12 published books, as it happens, under a nom-de-plume and cheap fiction granted, so I do know something about what it takes.

i noted that this book focuses mainly on the heroism of the British units at first ypres.In the artwork ,the Germans sort of have the look of a "foreign horde"(hunnish)look like they're not too bright.When you see the German casualty lists it seems like just so many ants,anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 according to the author,British casualties at 60,000.The British soldiers portrayed in the illustrations are notably in heroic poses bayonetting,machine gunning, or taking the Huns prisoner.At first Ypers the German stategic Vonschliffen plan officially ended and the western front settled pretty much into trench warfare.Britains professional army was decimated and the German high command was forced to accept the prospect of an unwinnable war.The opponents were just too evenly matched from the descriptions in this book.You will also note from the pictures that although the Germans are wearing wearing stahlhelms,the British are still wearing the softcaps,more useful for policing a soccer game but of no use in war,with flying bullets and shrapnel.This just reinforces how unprepared most countries were for this war,and this chaos and lack of organization are discussed in the book.It seemed from a study of the maps in the book, like the Germans were trying to find the British flanks,but too often found themselves enfiladed instead.There are also pictures and a discussion of some of Britains foreign troops mainly the Indian Sepoys which were vital and are too often overlooked.