With a Machine Gun to Cambrai (Cassell Military Paperbacks) [Paperback]

George Coppard (Author)

Book Description

Series: Cassell Military Paperbacks | Publication Date: November 4, 1999

As a First World War memoir this is almost unique, in that it was written by a private soldier Continuing interest in the First World War

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

George Coppard served as a private soldier from 1914 until he was wounded at the end of 1917. After the war he worked as a civil servant until retiring to Tenterden in Kent in 1962.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Cassell Military (November 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0304352586
• ISBN-13: 978-0304352586
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,698,026 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In the trenches with a Tommy machine gunner, May 9, 2004

By 

K Scheffler (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: With a Machine Gun to Cambrai (Cassell Military Paperbacks) (Paperback)

Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, 16 year-old George Coppard (a nephew of the short story writer A. E. Coppard) enlists with the 6th Battalion, Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment. By early 1915, he is in France, where, after becoming a member of a machine gun crew, he participates in a number of significant battles, until he finally receives his Blighty near the end of the war.

Using journals that he kept at the time, the author worked on the book following his retirement; the manuscript was then sent to the Imperial War Museum, which was endeavouring to collect such memoirs for posterity. The Imperial War Museum subsequently published the book in 1969, and has ever since been recognized as a lucid testament to the experiences of the common British soldier during the war. It is truly an excellent read, filled with interesting and harrowing details of trench warfare.

A must read for anyone interested in the First World War.