|
[ACTIVISME]. RUDIGER — Pour
la Belgique. Bruxelles, [ca 1925]. In-4° broché,
139 p., illustrations, exemplaire signé et nominatif.
25 euros (code de commande
: 375/73).
AFFICHES PUBLIÉES PENDANT
LA PREMIÈRE GUERRE MONDIALE.
  [AISNE
- CARTES POSTALES]. L'Aisne après le départ
des boches. Arrondissement de Soissons. [Paris], [Neurdein], [ca 1920]. Canet de 24
cartes postales (157 x 88 mm.), (collection « X phot. -
ND phot. »), légendes des photographies en
français et en anglais, bon exemplaire malgré quelques
rousseurs à la couverture sur laquelle a été
collé le médaillon doré de la Papeterie
du Nord - E. Laurent-Weinand, à Bruxelles.
Table des cartes :
1.
Clamecy - La rue principale en ruines.
2. Clamecy - Ruines du village.
3. Clamecy - Aspect du village après
le recul des Allemands.
4. Clamecy - Les ruines de l'église.
5. Juvigny - Un coin de maison, rue principale,
route de Leuilly.
6. Juvigny - Ruines.
7. Épagny - Ruines du village.
8. Épagny - Ruines.
9. Vailly - Quartier en ruines.
10. Vailly - Ruines de l'église.
11. Vailly - Ruines au bord de l'Aisne.
12. Vailly - Près du Chemin des Dames
- Ruines du village.
13. Chavonne - Ruines.
14. Chavonne - Ruines.
15. Chavonne - Autos militaires contre avions.
16. Chavonne - Ruines de l'église.
17. Chavonne - Le cimetière en ruines.
18. Soupir - Le château en ruines.
19. Soupir - Une rue en ruines.
20. Soupir - L'église en ruines.
21. Soupir - Le château en ruines.
22. Soupir - L'église en ruines.
23. Soupir - Le château en ruines.
24. Ostel - La mairie en ruines.
25 euros (code de commande
: 30187).
 [ANTHOLOGIE
POÉTIQUE]. The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry.
Edited and with an Introduction
by Jon Silkin. Second Edition. London, Penguin Books,
1981. In-8° collé, 291 p., (collection « Penguin
Twentieth-Century Classics »), quelques soulignements
et notes aux pp. 30 et 34.
En quatrième
de couverture :
More
than photographs or eyewitness reports, it is the poetry of the
First World War that has embedded the horror of that time in
our consciousness, producing some of the most outstanding and
poignant poems of this century.
This fine collection brings together a comprehensive
selection, and in his informative introduction Jon Silkin traces
the changing mood of the poets – from
patriotism through anger and compassion to an active desire for
social change.
The work of Sassoon, Owen, Blunden and Rosenberg
is well represented, but also included are less familiar war
poets, such as Hardy and Lawrence, and translations of verse
from Germany, France, Italy and Russia.
The shattering, ironic realism, tenderness
and regret reflected in these poems encompass the waste and violence
of war.
« A brave anthology and one which
deserves much praise » (Daily Telegraph).
8 euros (code de commande
: 28011).
 Army General and Commercial College Cologne.
Notes, Past and Present.
Cologne, Army General and
Commercial College, 1920. In-4° agrafé, 47 p.,
illustrations, exemplaire défraîchi mais bien complet.
Foreword :
« Notes, Past and Present »
was originally intended to be in the nature of an interesting
« souvenir » for those members of the British
Army of the Rhine who had, at some tirne or other, been connected
with the Army General and Commercial College, either as Students,
Instructors, or in administrative posts.
As the original idea developed, it became increasingly
clear that such a publication might also be of value to others,
who, up to the present had no knowledge of the existence of the
College or its activities.
It is confidently hoped that this little brochure
will fulfil the above aims and will rneet with the approval of
both categories of readers. To all who have assisted in its compilation,
the Editor offers his most grateful thanks.
Sommaire :
- Introduction, par E.C. Heath.
- The College Staff.
- The General Wing, par A.W.
Anscombe.
- The Commercial Wing, par B.D.G.
Ball.
- The Agricultural Wing, par A.
Campbell.
- Art, par W.B. Jemmett.
- Music, par L.W. Adcock.
- Social Amenities, par H. Groves.
- « My Term at the Army
General and Commercial College. »
- The University of Democracy,
par A.G. Clarke.
- Business Law, par E.E. Holland.
- « Two Men »
(poème).
- Les pp. 31 à 47 sont consacrées
aux publicités des activités commerciales britanniques
à Cologne.
12 euros (code de commande
: 28812).
 [BALL
(Albert)]. BOWYER (Chaz) — Albert Ball, vc. Wrexham, Bridge Books, 1994. In-8° sous
reliure et jaquette d'éditeur, 197 p., illustrations.
Sur la jaquette :
Albert
Ball was Britain's first universally recognised air hero. Born
in Nottingham and educated at Trent College, he joined the army
on the outbreak of war in 1914 and transferred to the Royal Flying
Corps in 1915. On completion of his flying training he joined
No 13 Squadron, a recon-naissance unit serving in France. Transferring
to No 11 Squadron he quickly began to establish a reputation
as an aggressive combat pilot. He spent a short 'resf period
with No 8 Squadron before rejoining No 11, then served with No
60 Squadron.
Despite being only a junior officer, he was
the first man in the British army to be decorated with the DSO
and two bars.
After a period of service on the Home Establishment, he returned
to France as a senior pilot with the newly formed No 56 Squadron,
equipped with the SE5 Scout. By the time of his death, in mysterious
circumstances, Ball had been credited with at least 44 combat
victories in a period of only 15 months active service.
This revised edition of the definitive biography
of Ball includes a greatly enhanced collection of photographs.
Written with the full co-operation of the Ball family and many
of his contemporary pilots, this book is essential reading for
anyone interested in the history of military flying.
15 euros (code de commande
: 21207).
 BARNETT
(Correlli) — The Swordbearers. Supreme Command in the First World War. London, Cassel Military Paperback, 2001. In-8°
collé, XV, 392 p., illustrations in et hors texte.
En quatrième
de couverture :
The
Swordbearers is an account of four leading commanders of
the First World War and the momentous battles they fought.
Colonel-General von Moltke was the man who
masterminded Germany's initial attack on France in 1914 ;
Admiral Sir John Jellicoe led the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet in
the Battle of Jutland in 1916 ; General Philippe Retain
was the French leader who halted the German advances at Verdun
in 1916 ; and General Erich Ludendorff was the last great
German commander of the war, who led the final German offensives
in the summer of 1918.
In this book, distinguished military historian
and commentator Correlli Barnett describes how these men struggled
with events greater than themselves, and shows their moments
of clarity and prophecy, of optimistic self-delusion, of uncertainty
and despair. The period of their command together spans the war
years, and gives a continuous history of the war on the Western
Front.
4 euros (code de commande
: PGM087).
 La
bataille de Verdun (1914-1918). Clermont-Ferrand,
Michelin & Cie, 1925. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette
(un peu défraîchie) d'éditeur, 111 p.,
nombreuses illustrations, deux cartes hors texte, (collection
« Guides Illustrés Michelin des Champs de Bataille »).
Table des matières
:
- Origine
et grands faits historiques.
- La guerre de 1914-1918.
- L'offensive allemande.
- Le dégagement de Verdun.
- Visite de la ville.
- Visite du champ de bataille.
1er itinéraire : la
rive droite.
I. De Verdun
au fort de Tavannes.
II. Du
fort de Tavannes au fort de Vaux.
III. Du
fort de Vaux au fort de Souville.
IV. Du
fort de Souville au village de Vaux.
V. De Vaux
au fort de Douaumont.
VI. Du
fort de Douaumont à Bras et à Samogneux.
VII. De
Bras à Verdun.
2e itinéraire : la
rive gauehe.
I. De Verdun
à Charny.
II. De
Charny à Cumières.
III. De
Cumières à Chattancourt et au .Mort-Homme.
IV. Du
Mort-Homme à Esnes.
V. D'Esnes
à Montfaucon par la cote 304.
VI. De
Montfaucon à Avocourt.
VII et
VIII. D'Avocourt à Aubréville et à Verdun.
35 euros (code de commande
: PGM096).
 BIARD
D'AUNET (Georges) — Après la guerre. La politique
et les affaires. Paris,
Payot, 1918. In-8° broché, 250 p., bon exemplaire.
Table des matières
:
I.
Les données du problème.
II. Les conditions nouvelles du commerce international.
- L'Évolution
du commerce international indépendamment de la guerre.
- Conditions nouvelles
résultant de la guerre.
III. Les conférences économiques
des alliés.
IV. De l'organisation du travail national.
V. De la représentation des intérêts
nationaux dans les chambres législatives.
12 euros (code de commande
: 22878).
 BLUNDEN
(Edmund) — Undertones of War. London,
Penguin Books, 1982. In-8° collé, 280 p., (collection
« Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics »),
trace de mouillure.
En quatrième
de couverture :
Here
is one of the finest autobiographies to come out of the First
World War. In it the distinguished poet Edmund Blunden records
his experiences as an infantry subaltern in France and Flanders.
Enlisting at the age of twenty, in 1916, he took part in the
disastrous battles of the Somme, Ypres and Passchendaele, describing
the latter as « murder, not only to the troops but
to their singing faiths and hopes ». In his compassionate
yet unsentimental prose, he tells of the many evidences of endurance,
heroism – and despair – found among the officers
and men of his battalion.
This volume, which also contains a selection
of his war poems, reveals the close affinity which Blunden felt
with the natural world. While he laments the loss of optimism,
the betrayal of promise and the futility wrought by the war,
Blunden finds hope in the natural landscape: it is the only thing
which survives the terrible betrayal enacted in the Flanders
fields.
5 euros (code de commande
: 21727).
 BORASTON
(J. H.) et BAX (Cyril E. O.) — The Eighth Division. 1914-1918.
With a Foreword by Field-Marshall Earl Haig. [Uckfield],
The Naval & Military Press, [2001]. In-8° collé,
XV, 359 p., quelques illustrations, exemplaire en très
bel état.
Il s'agit
de la réimpression de l'édition de 1926.
Présentation de l'éditeur :
The story of the 8th Division began in
Southampton when its HQ was set up in the Polygon Hotel on 19th
September 1914. Apart from the Northamptonshire Yeomanry, Wessex
(Territorial) Field Ambulance and the Signal Company, it was
an all-regular division, the infantry battalions coming from
overseas garrisons. Its first commander was Major-General F.J.
Davies, a Grenadier, who had come from the post of Director of
Staff Duties at the War Office. Prior to that he had been Haig's
Chief of Staff when the latter was GOC Aldershot Command. In
his foreword Earl Haig highlights the fact that despite its unfailing
gallantry in all its efforts, the division was signally unfortunate
in its lack of success in the major offensives in which it took
part. This is reflected in the appalling total casualty figure
of just under 64,000 and the fifty pages of honours and awards,
including Mention in Despatches, that constitute one of the appendices.
Twelve VCs were won.It is a very good history, well written and
supported by excellent maps. It strikes a balance between detailed
descriptions of the operations in which the division took part
and anecdotes and personal experience. Each major action described
is preceded by a review of the situation thus providing a background
to the part played by the division. Appendices include, most
usefully, complete order of battle with names of commanders down
to unit level, staffs down to grade three, and all changes; a
table showing sectors occupied with dates of periods spent in
the line, actions and casualties sustained on each occasion.
By some strange oversight, the division's first VC, Lt Neame,
is omitted from the list of honours and awards.
15 euros (code de commande
: PGM052).
 BORG (Alan) — War Memorials from Antiquity
to the Present. London,
Leo Cooper, 1991. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette d'éditeur,
XIV, 153 p., nombreuses illustrations.
Sur la jaquette :
Most
people daily pass by at least one War Memorial; they are to be
found in every town and almost every village in the country,
while in great cities such as London they exist in profusion.
But who ever pauses to look at them ? Who ever asks who
designed them or why they look the way they do ? The answer
is probably very, very few. Yet, as Alan Borg, the Director-General
of the Imperial War Museum, explains in this fascinating study,
the war memorial is a distinctive art form with a history of
its own.
The custom of building monuments to commemorate
battles goes back to the earliest days of recorded history ;
indeed, such memorials are often the only records of that
history. Over the ages the memorials of battles and the monuments
to victorious commanders took many forms, but it was the unprecedented
slaughter of the First World War that led to the greatest period
of memorial building in Britain. Many architects and sculptors
of the first rank turned their talents to the creation of the
splendid memorials which we now ignore, or at best take for granted.
Dr Alan Borg's scholarly yet highly readable
text, enhanced by over 200 photographs mostly taken by himself,
should awaken in the dullest spirit an awareness of this unique
part of our heritage, so easily explored yet so regularly bypassed,
and add a new dimension even to the day's journey to the office.
How-many commuters realize that when they walk out of Waterloo
Station each morning they are actually walking through
a War Memorial ? How many can tell you why there
is an unclad and shapely young lady holding a sword aloft in
Finchley ?
It is no exaggeration to say that this book
is the key to unlocking a world of art and symbolism for far
too long ignored and unexplored.
20 euros (code de commande
: 23051).
 BOURDON (Yves) — Le premier choc. La
Bataille de Mons. 23-24 août 1914. Mere, De Krijger, 2014. In-8° collé,
364 p., illustrations, exemplaire en parfait état.
En quatrième
de couverture :
Le
4 août 1914, l'armée allemande pénètre
en Belgique. Un temps arrêtée par l'action des forts
de Liège, elle poursuit sa marche inexorable vers l'ouest.
La position fortifiée de Namur tombe ; puis ce sera
la désastreuse bataille de Charleroi qui entraîne
une retraite française généralisée.
Le 22 août, le BEF (corps expéditionnaire
britannique), partiellement rassemblé après son
débarquement sur le continent, est envoyé vers
Maubeuge. Pensant soutenir l'avance de l'allié français,
il est dirigé vers l'ouest de la Belgique (Binche-Mons-Borinage)
sans avoir été mis au courant ni de l'importance
des forces qui lui seront opposées ni de la désastreuse
situation militaire sur le terrain. C'est dans le secteur minier
de Mons-Borinage que le choc se produira entre envahisseurs allemands
et défenseurs britanniques. La disproportion des forces
est importante mais, confronté à la toute puissance
allemande, le BEF tiendra sur place et freinera l'avance des
troupes impériales. Aucun des deux belligérants
n'avait pourtant désiré combattre en ces lieux
difficiles à attaquer mais encore plus malaisés
à défendre. Seul le hasard fit que cet engagement
d'importance, qui deviendra la « Bataille de Mons »
(23-24 août 1914), eut lieu en milieu urbain, causant de
nombreuses destructions dans des agglomérations surpeuplées
et semant la misère dans les cités ouvrières.
Mais, malgré ce coup du sort, le fait d'armes britannique
de Mons entrera dans la légende en Grande-Bretagne. Et
même plus puisque beaucoup y verront une influence divine
lors de l'apparition des fameux « Anges de Mons »...
Dans cet ouvrage original fort bien documenté,
l'auteur décrit avec une parfaite précision et
un grand sérieux le déroulement complet des engagements
de tous les bataillons du BEF tout en soulignant le courage,
l'abnégation et les souffrances des combattants des deux
camps et en sortant de l'oubli de superbes actions d'éclats
– comme la charge de cavalerie des 9th lancers et 4th
Royal irish dragoon Guards, action issue en droite ligne d'un
autre âge (et illustrant la couverture du présent
ouvrage).
30 euros (code de commande
: 29310).
 BROWN (Malcolm) — The Imperial War Museum
Book of the Western Front. London,
Sidgwick & Jackson, 1993. In-8° broché, XIII,
274 p., illustrations en noir et en couleurs, quelques annotations
et soulignements.
En quatrième
de couverture :
It
was on the Western Front that the First World War was lost and
won – in France and Belgium, where the horrific nature of
trench warfare scarred not only the landscape but also the imagination
of succeeding generations.
Covering the whole war, from the guns of August
1914 to the sudden silence of the November 1918 Armistice, The
Imperial War Museum Book of the Western Front reveals what
life was really like for the men – and women –
who took part. From off-duty entertainments and the strange cult
of trench fatalism to the experience of going « over
the top », it weaves a compelling narrative from the
accounts of over a hundred participants.
Drawing largely on material never before published,
and including many new photographs, Malcolm Brown has written
an important contribution to the history of the First World War.
12 euros (code de commande
: 21102/F).
 [BYRNE
(Charlie)]. I Survived, Didn't I ? The Great War Reminiscences of Private « Ginger »
Byrne. Edited by Joy B. Cave.
London, Leo Cooper, 1993. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette
d'éditeur, 143 p., illustrations hors texte, mouillures
et soulignements à l'encre rouge.
Sur la jaquette :
4124
Private Byrne, C., 2nd Battalion the Hampshire Regiment, latterly
transferred to the Machine Gun Corps ; served Egypt, 1915 ;
France and Belgium, 1916-18 ; Germany, 1918-19 ; honourably
discharged, 1919.
Behind that bald statement lies a remarkable
account of an infantryman's service on the Western Front during
the Great War. Charlie « Ginger » Byrne
was a typical young volunteer soldier of 1914, a soldier's son
seeking a part in what seemed a great adventure. If his experiences
may be said to mirror those of thousands of others, his account
stands out from so many because it is set down in the authentic
voice of the old soldier. Unlike hundreds of thousands of his
contemporaries, Charlie Byrne survived into old age. Sound in
body and mind, and blessed with almost total recall, he was persuaded
to tell his tale to an interested, informed, and acute listener.
Now Joy Cave has triumphantly made the transition into print
of Charlie's war. It is not a tale of high strategy, a recital
of epic heroism, but a trench's-eye view of the great tragedy.
In that, it perhaps conveys a truth that may sometimes elude
the literary memoirists, the heroes and commanders, even the
ever-rising tide of Great War historians. All have had their
say, and more; Charlie Byrne speaks for the lost thousands who,
for whatever reason, never had a voice.
In the often searing descriptions – of
going into action with the Newfoundland Regiment on the Somme
on 1 July 1916 (and he was one of the very few survivors of that
doomed advance near Beaumont-Hamel) ; of a catastrophic
gas attack in the Ypres Salient ; of raids, wiring- and
ration-parties ; of work details and transport duties ;
of front-line and reserve trenches, and life in billets behind
the lines ; of the endless incomprehensible moves, and the
shattered landscapes of France and Flanders ; of the ever-present
dangers and the ghastly evidence of their effects – there
shines through the chaos the good humour and forbearance of the
soldier who fought and survived. There is much to be learned
from Private Byrne about tolerance and the virtue of simple humanity.
He adds to the cataract of words about the Great War his own
drop of impish comprehension; in doing so, his narrative forms
an excellent counterpoint to the reminiscences and other writings
that form the litany of the First World War. Gallant, proud,
humorous, and enduring, Charlie Byrne reminds us that wars are
fought by ordinary people, but that in each of them there is
always something extraordinary.
5 euros (code de commande
: PGM091).
 [CIMETIÈRES
MILITAIRES]. The War Graves of the British Empire. The Register of the names of those who
fell in the Great War and are buried in Cemeteries and Churchyards
in the Administrative County of Gloucester (including the whole
of the County Borough of Bristol). London, Imperial War Graves
Commission, 1930. In-4° broché, 90 p., quelques
annotations à l'encre.
Introduction :
This
group of Registers covers the Administrative County of Gloucester
and those parts of the County Borough of Bristol which are in
Somerset. They deal with 217 Cemeteries and Churchyards, containing
1,593 War Graves ; and these graves may be classified as
follows :
- Soldiers of United Kingdom units : 1,241.
- Royal Navy : 108.
- Royal Air Force : 59.
- Overseas Military Forces of Canada :
49.
- Australian Imperial Force : 46.
- Australian Flying Corps : 25.
- Royal Marines : 20.
- German Army : 15.
- Belgian Army : 11.
- South African Expeditionary Force :
4.
- Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps :
3.
- Indian Army (British soldiers) : 2.
- Merchant Navy : 2.
- South African Native Labour Corps :
2.
- German interned civilians : 2.
- Territorial Force Nursing Service :
1.
- New Zealand Expeditionary Force : 1.
- Royal Newfoundland Regiment : 1.
- Women's Royal Air Force : 1.
Of the British soldiers, 294 belonged to the
Gloucestershire Regiment and eleven to the Royal Gloucestershire
Hussars. The Gloucestershire Regiment sent sixteen Battalions
to service overseas. The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars served
on Gallipoli and in Egypt and Palestine.
The Registers are arranged under the names
of the Boroughs and Urban and Rural Districts in which the Cemeteries
and Churchyards are situated. In the Rural Districts, the name
of the Civil Parish is added where it differs materially from
that of the burial ground.
The Registers record particulars of 1,565 War
Graves.
15 euros (code de commande
: 26854).
 COOKSON
(Catherine) — The Cinder Path. London,
Book Club Associates, 1978. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette
d'éditeur, 255 p.
En quatrième
de couverture :
« You're
a loser; you were born a loser. »
Was that the whole truth about Charlie Mac
Fell ? Was he just the kind of nice chap who always takes
the dirty end of the stick, lacking the inner strength to take
a firm stand in life or love alike ?
In one of the most powerful and distinctive
novels that this author has yet written, Catherine Cookson brilliantly
portrays a man in search of himself and tells a story of exceptional
dramatic force which carries the reader from the rural Northumberland
of Edwardian times into the holocaust of the Western Front in
the First World War. And at the root of the matter is the cinder
path of Charlie's boyhood home ; a place of harsh associations
that would come to symbolise the struggle with destiny itself.
8 euros (code de commande
: PGM073).
 COOMBS (Rose E. B.) — Before Endeavours
Fade. A Guide to the
Battlefields of the First World War.
London, Battle of Britain Prints International, 1976. In-4°
collé, 136 p., illustrations, couverture défraîchie.
Table des matières
:
- Introduction.
- The Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
- Demarcation Stones.
- The Poppy Legend.
- Battlefield Debris.
- Accomodation.
- Calais-Ypres. Route I via Bergues.
- Calais-Ypres. Route II via Cassel.
- Calais-Ypres. Route III via St Omer.
- Zeebrugge-Ypres.
- Battles of Ypres Salient 1914-1918.
- Ypres Salient Battlefield Tour (Routes
I, II, III, IV & V).
- The Road South.
- Arras.
- Arras-Cambrai (Royutes I & II).
- Five Routes to Mons.
- Mons.
- Mons Battlefield Tour.
- Mons to Le Cateau.
- La Cateau to Amiens.
- Amiens to Calais (vias Abbeville - via
St. Pol-sur-Ternoise).
- St Quentin to Reims.
- The Verdun Battlefield (Route I. The
French Battlefields - Route II. The American Battlefields).
- Reims to Compeigne.
- Index.
18 euros (code de commande
: 23789).
 CORRIGAN
(Gordon) — Mud, Blood and Poppycock. Britain and the First World War. London, Cassel, 2003. In-8° collé,
441 p., illustrations hors texte.
En quatrième
de couverture :
Gordon
Corrigan, a regular officer of the Royal Gurkha Rifles before
retiring in 1998, and now a noted military historian, re-examines
the old myths of incompetence and unnecessary slaughter that
for fifty years have coloured the popular view of the First World
War. In so doing, he may well shatter precious libertarian illusions,
but in explaining what war is really about, how an army does
its work, and examining the facts, he overturns the myths and
legends to get to the truth. « The evidence does not
support the popular view of the First World War as being unnecessary,
or ineptly conducted by the British, » he writes.
Casualty rates were high, but less than those of France and Germany,
and there was no « lost generation ».
Closely argued and convincing throughout, this
is a book to overturn everything you thought you knew about Britain
and the First World War.
6 euros (code de commande
: PGM045).
 CORRIGAN (Gordon) — Sepoys in the Trenches.
The Indian Corps on the
Western Front 1914-1915. Staplehusrt,
Spellmount, 1999. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette d'éditeur,
XIV, 274 p., illustrations hors texte.
Sur la jaquette :
Professionally
excellent though it was, the British Expeditionary Force of August
1914 was tiny compared with the mass conscript armies of the
other European powers. At this stage of the war the only possible
reinforcement by trained regular manpower was the Indian Army.
Four days after declaration of war, an Indian
corps of two infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade was ordered
to mobilise and embark for the Western Front. Commanded by their
British officers, the men of many Indian races began to arrive
in Marseilles in September 1914. They were to endure one of the
bitterest winters Europe had known, clad only in tropical uniforms,
and they remained in France and Belgium until being re-deployed
to Mesopotamia in November 1915.
In a country which they had never seen, against
an enemy of which they knew little and in a cause which was not
their own, the men of the Indian Army fought in all the major
battles of 1914 and 1915. True to their salt, they fought for
the honour of their race and the name of their regiments. They
have rarely been given the credit they deserved.
This book, drawing on a mass of hitherto unpublished
sources and extensive interviews by the author in India and Nepal,
tells the story of that Indian Corps. It describes and explains
their battles, their trials and tribulations and how they dealt
with the many difficulties which, as an army trained and equipped
for skirmishes on the Indian frontiers, they faced in their first
experience of high intensity warfare against a first-class enemy.
This is the first modern history of the Indian
Corps and as such will become the definitive work on its contribution
to the early years of the war on the Western Front.
13 euros (code de commande
: 21157).
 CUNNINGHAM (Terry) — 14-18. The Final
Word. [London], Terry Cunningham,
1993. In-8° collé, 173 p., illustrations, notes
manuscrites à la page de titre.
Avant-propos :
As
each day we slip further into the future, very soon the 1914-18
War will be beyond living memory. It will be part of that huge
dream we call the past. It will be as far away as The Battles
of Trafalgar or Waterloo, and as obscure as the Battle of Hastings
in 1066. Anything written then about the years 1914-18 will be
pure conjecture and second-hand guess work, probably well informed
and carefully researched, but still the work of people who were
not even born until decades after the event and who will unconsciously
put their own slant or personal interpretation on those years
and times. In fact, so much for truthful history.
This book, dear reader, is then unique because
it's a last look at that War, fought by men now near the end
of their long lives, who were there. They are talking with the
perspective that time always brings. But they are speaking from
the heart. The usual war book written by military historians
can tell you the exact time abattle started and the correct reason
we won or lost that battle. But they cannot tell you about being
petrified, cold, wet and starving, or indeed, desperately homesick.
But the men you are about to meet can and do tell of those things.
I have written their stories exactly as they were told to me,
in their own words. If they made a grammatical mistake then it's
been left in. I was shocked and saddened by what these foot soldiers
told me of their conditions and suffering. I grew up in the air
raids of the 1939-45 War, and later was in the Army myself. But
even this experience of war and army life could never equip me
to write with any real insight into what they called « The
Great War ». I travelled far and wide to meet these
men, all of them between ninety and one-hundred-years old. I
interviewed well over twice this number but their story will
not appear in this book. Sadly, old age had taken its toll. Many
were too deaf to conduct a proper interview. In others the memory
was now too unreliable and times, dates and places had all become
blurred. Therefore, the men in this book are like rare gems.
They were all in good mental shape and could hold what was at
times spellbinding conversation. Their tale has a constant theme
of extreme hardship, in every way, fear of being killed, not
months but years spent in cold wet rat-infested filthy conditions.
Constant hunger and thirst, and the unburied dead for company.
These recollections are living proof of how much the human spirit
can endure and still come through with dignity.
As I look back on my meetings with these men
I realise they all had something in common. They did not know
each other and they came from different walks of life. Was it
a certain style ? So many words come to mind but one word
that can describe them all is integrity. That's the impression
I am left with after getting to know these last few remaining
survivors. It's the last time they will talk to anyone face to
face about their part in one of the world's greatest tragedies.
I feel proud that they were willing to share their experiences
with me so that, long after they and us have left the battlefield,
others yet to come will know what it was like to be there in
1914-18.
8 euros (code de commande
: PGM024).
 DEVEREUX
(Joseph) et SACKER (Graham) — Leaving All That Was Dear.
Cheltenham and tje Great
War. Cheltenham, Promenade Publications,
1997. In-4° sous reliure et jaquette d'éditeur, XXXVII,
668 p., illustrations, ouvrage épuisé au catalogue
de l'éditeur.
Sur la jaquette :
This
is the story of an English provincial town during the years 1914
to 1918 and how the Great War, as it came to be known, affected
its inhabitants, how they came to be involved, what happened
to them and what this meant to those left behind. It is both
a tribute to Cheltenham's lost generation and a commentary upon
the influences which shaped the town in the twentieth century.
On the 28th June 1914, in Sarajevo, a Serbian
student shot and killed the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary.
That distant event triggered a disaster which brought sorrow
and misery to every city, town and village in the British Isles.
It changed the old social order for ever. Eight million of Europe's
fittest and ablest men were killed – millions more
were damaged physically or mentally.
Great Britain entered the conflict with an
efficient but very small army trained to sustain a global colonial
empire, not to fight a continental war on their own doorstep.
The professional army – the British Expeditionary Force,
was destroyed in the first four months of the war. It was succeeded
by a citizen army, a greatly expanded force composed largely
of civilians in uniform. Hundreds of them look out at us from
the pages of this book. None of them lived to see the « land
fit for heroes » promised by their leaders.
Leaving all that was dear shows how
a quiet, prosperous community was caught up in the emotions of
the period. Researched over a four year period, it presents a
compelling record drawn from a variety of sources. Incorporating
over 1000 photographs, many previously unpublished, it will appeal
to every family having its roots in Cheltenham and to genealogists
and to social and military historians everywhere.
50 euros (code de commande
: PGM085).
  [DIXMUDE
- CARTES POSTALES]. Dixmude - Dixmuide - Dixmude. Boyau de
la Mort - De Doodengang - The « Trench of Death ».
[Bruxelles], Nels, [ca 1920].
Canet de 10 cartes postales (150 x 92 mm.), (collection O.N.I.G.
- N.W.O.I. - Sites de Guerre - War Sites - Oorlogsoorden »),
bon exemplaire bien complet des dix cartes avec leurs serpentes.
Table des cartes :
1.
Panorama du Boyau de la Mort.
2. L'Yser et les abris allemands.
3. Le Cavalier avec ses postes de guetteurs.
4. Pendant la remise en état.
5. Lieu dit « La Souricière ».
6. Boyau de la Mort à Dixmude.
7. Intérieur de la tranchée
avec abri bétonné.
8. Entrée d'un abri-galerie - Les deux
abris pour guetteurs.
9. L'entrée de la galerie vers le « Cavalier ».
10. Tranchée du tir.
25 euros (code de commande
: 30124).
 DUNGAN
(Myles) — Irish Voices from the Great War. Dublin, Irish Academic Press, 1995. In-8°
sous reliure et jaquette d'éditeur, 219 p., épuisé
au catalogue de l'éditeur.
Sur la jaquette :
Up
to half a million Irishmen and women participated in the Great
War. Until very recently only the sacrifices made by roughly
a third of their number, the men of Ulster, have been remembered
and commemorated with any pride or regret, while the participation
of over 300,000 men and women from the Irish nationalist tradition
has been virtually written out of the history of modern Ireland.
This book addresses that omission. Drawing
on the diaries, letters, literary works and oral accounts of
soldiers, it tells some of the personal stories of what Irishmen,
unionist and nationalist, went through during the Great War and
how, ironically, many of them drew closer together during that
horror, than at any time since. This volume deals with a selection
of the most important battles and campaigns in which the three
Irish Divisions (and other Irish regiments ot the old Regular
Army) participated.
10 euros (code de commande
: PGM090).
 [ÉLISABETH DE BELGIQUE]. Hommage à
sa Majesté La reine Élisabeth. La guerre 1914-1918.
La Panne, Résidence royale. L'Océan, l'hôpital
de la Reine. Avant-propos
par Jean Bailleul. La Panne, Éditions S.I.T, 1964.
In-4° broché, 99 p., nombreuses reproductions photographiques,
édition originale numérotée (n° 1318),
texte bilingue (français - néerlandais), une petite
tache sur la couverture, sinon très bon exemplaire, peu
courant.
Table des matières
:
- Avant-propos.
1ere partie.
- La Princesse Élisabeth.
- La guerre 1914-1918.
2me partie.
- 1914 - L'invasion.
- Le gouvernement belge
se réfugie en France.
- La Panne 1914-1918.
- La Panne, résidence
royale.
- L'Océan, « l'Ambulance
de la Reine ».
- 1918 - La victoire.
3me partie.
- « L'Hôpital
l'Océan », journal d'une infirmière,
par Jane de Launay.
- Bibliographie.
20 euros (code de commande
: 31564).
 Fifty Amazing Stories of the Great War. London, Odhams Press, 1936. In-8° sous cartonnage
(défraîchi) d'éditeur, 767 p., illustrations.
Tables des matières
:
1. Wilfrid
Ewart. A First Visit to the Trenches.
A vivid picture of « everyday
life » in the trenches during the first winter of
the War.
2. Philip Gibbs. The Last Stand
of the Belgians.
Swept from their country,
their homes ruined, their land despoiled, who can know the bitterness
of the men who made their last unavailing stand against the invader?
3. George Brame. On the Belgian
Coast.
Life is cheap during a Big
Push. George Brame endured the horror of war during such an advance,
helping his wounded comrades and falling stricken into engulfing
mud. Almost submerged and at his last gasp, a young soldier pulled
him clear.
4. F. Mitchell. The Only Way
at Cambrai.
Fighting against prejudice
and apparent defeat, the gallant commander of the Tank Corps
flung his despised machines into the battle front. Their victory
turned the tide of war and established the Corps for all time.
5. Marthe McKenna. A Journey to Brussels.
A desperate plot to assassinate
the Kaiser was being hatched. Marthe McKenna, one of the most
famous spies of the War, was ordered to investigate and assist.
6. Esmee Sartorius. August, 1914.
What of the women ? The part
played by the nursing profession during the War cannot be minimised.
7. Anthony R. Hossack. The First
Gas Attack.
Unknown, unheralded, the
first waves of gas swept over unprotected men as they stared
in wonder at the advancing horror.
8. Walter Wood. How Trooper Potts
Won the V.C. on Burnt Hill.
Twenty-two years old, wounded,
yet brave enough to encourage his companion. Suffering incredible
tortures for three ghastly days and nights, he saved his comrade's
life by an extraordinary method.
9. J. E. B. Seely. With the Canadian
Brigade.
An account of the heroic
efforts of the Canadian Brigade during the terrible battles of
the Somme. A story of the attack from the point of view of the
men who directed it.
10. A. O. Pollard. I Charge
!
A grim vignette, breathlessly
told, of an infantry charge on a German trench.
11. Geoffrey Malins. Filming the
War : The Battle of St. Eloi.
The cameraman risks his life
for official records. He makes his « scoop »
though shells burst over and round him; grim death is trapped
by his lens for all time.
12. Ex Private X. At Passchendaele.
A bitter story of the hell
endured by the men who bled and died in the shambles of Passchendaele.
13. Compton Mackenzie. The Battle
of the Fourth of June.
A famous novelist describes
his experiences during an attack on the Helles front.
14. Mark Severn. Festubert 1915.
A faithful picture of the
days of early warfare and of the bitter hardships endured during
the black days of 1914-1915. Only grim determination saved the
Allied front during those vital months.
15. Arthur Lambert. On the Ypres
Salient.
A vignette of the War from the
infantryman's point of view.
16. David Phillips. At a Sap-Head.
With nerves strained to breaking-point
men guarded the danger zone-but the relieving party brought safety
too late for one tired brain.
17. E. Keble Chatterton. An Historic
Duel.
Battered and shell torn,
the two great ships struggled for victory. Taken by surprise
the German ship had no chance to escape, and after an hour and
a half of gruelling gunfire she capsized and sank.
18. Harry Beaumont. Trapped in Belgium.
A dramatic story of an escaping
prisoner. During his flight he was helped by Nurse Cavell and
spent a few days in her hospital.
19. « Aquila »
Under Fire.
A vivid account of a young
officer's first introduction to trench warfare, and a moving
picture of what was to become an everyday experience.
20. « Étienne »
[Stephen King-Hall]. The Battle of Jutland.
The detailed and authoritative
account of one of the most dramatic combats in the War.
21. Wallace Ellison. My First Escape
from Ruhleben.
The name of Germany's most
famous prison camp will bring memories of the hardships endured
by the prisoners of War.
22. F. Mitchell. A Battle of Monsters.
Through a barrage of pounding
shells crawled an ugly squat-looking monster. « For
the first time in history tank was encountering tank. »
23. Guy Chapman. Storm Over Albert.
A grim picture of the tension
endured by an officer and his men. Here is no epic heroism but
a stern execution of duty, though minds may crack beneath the
strain.
24. Harold Auten. A Fight to a Finish.
Inviting death, the Commander
lured the German submarine to close quarters. The enemy sank
to her grave and her shell-torn opponent limped home only to
founder a few miles from port.
25. Philip Gosse. Rats.
Of the many queer duties
of the War, surely none can be so curious as Rat Officer to the
Second Army.
26. H. P. Muhlhauser. Q-Ship Result.
Secret ships of the Navy
swept the seas with never-ending vigilance. Here you may read
of the superhuman bravery of those who waged war upon the submarine
menace.
27. Edwint T. Woodhall. Secret Service
Days.
Spies and counter-spies,
disguises and adventure are the material from which is derived
this yarn of the Intelligence Service during the earlier part
of the War.
28. Duncan Grinnell-Milne. Wings
of Wrath.
A saga of prison-breaking
and the early days of war-time flying, culminating in the unique
experience of a nose-dive on No-Man's-Land.
29. George P. Clark. The Sinking
of the « Audacious ».
An eye-witness's account
of what has been described as the greatest secret of the War.
30. L.A. Strange. The Second Battle
of Ypres.
After hanging by his hands
from an inverted plane out of control in a spin, the author managed
to survive to tell the story.
31. Bruce Bainsfather. Christmas
in the Trenches.
An account of an unofficial
truce on Christmas Day.
32. Francis Brett Young. In the African
Bush.
The author brings a vivid
scene to life in this account of his medical duties during the
War.
33. A.F.B. Carpenter. The Attack
on the Mole-and After.
The Commander of the Vindictive
tells the story of one of the most outstanding episodes in the
history of Naval heroism.
34. W.J. Blackledge. The Battle of
Kut.
This story enhances the brilliance
of General Townshend's leadership and the indomitable courage
of his men.
35. A.P.G. Vivian. General for a
Day.
The « General »
and his men were determined to reach their own line, but within
reach of safety, machine-gun fire wounded the author almost to
death.
36. A.J. Evans. Exploits of the Escaping
Club.
Burying a living man to the
neck in freezing soil and then covering him with loose sods of
grass was only part of a carefully planned and successful coupe.
37. C. S. Peel. The Daylight Raid.
At home the Zeppelin raids
made night hideous, but suddenly in broad daylight appeared a
flight of black planes.
38. Henry C. Day. A Padre in Salonika.
Through the clamour of the
guns the church sent its ministers. Rank and creeds were forgotten,
the padre was a man among men, he shared their dangers.
39. Anselm Marchal. Hoodwinking the
Germans.
From the first moment when
the two officers walked out of Scharnhost disguised as German
officers and wearing wooden swords, to the last when they crawled
across the frontier, the story of this brilliant flight is packed
with breath-taking thrills.
40. Charles Douie. A City of the
Dead.
After the battle with the
ceasing of gunfire, what remains ? A shattered town, shell-torn
roads. The ruins lie in mute appeal, the ravished graves display
their dead.
41. A.R. Cooper. With the Foreign
Legion in Gallipoli.
Fierce fighting, such as
men reckless to the point of indifference can execute, fills
every page of this enthralling account.
42. Herbert Read. In Retreat.
Days of fighting, hunger,
desperation, loss of life, all thrown away for no gain - the
post is to be evacuated.
43. H.G. Durnford. Escape at the
First Attempt.
Only the determination of
desperate men made possible this dramatic escape.
44. Harold Ashton. A Human Document.
From the crashing weight
of horror there rises a moment which brings relief to an almost
overwhelming tension.
45. T.B. Clayton. They Shall Grow
Not Old.
To all the men who suffered
the years of 1914-1918, the name of Toe H. stands for peace and
sanity.
46. « Vigilant ».
The Death of Richthofen.
How the most famous and most
gallant of German « Aces » met his end.
47. Gordon Campbell. The Ship Wins
the First V.C.
Here is a first-hand account
of the masterly action by which the Mystery Ship Pargust won
the Victoria Cross.
48. « Contact » [Alan
Bott]. The Day's Work.
A light-hearted account of
early days in the Flying Corps.
49. R.H. Mottram. A Personal Record.
The author of one of the
most famous war books, The Spanish Farm Trilogy, tells his own
story of the War.
50. Mark Severn. The Advance - 1918.
This poignant description
of the end of the War serves as a fitting epilogue to the stories
in this book.
15 euros (code de commande
: 28281).
The First World War. Série de quatre tomes (complet). Oxford,
Osprey, 2002. Quatre volumes in-8° brochés, illustrations
en noir et en couleurs, (collection « Essential Histories »,
n° 1, 14, 22 et 23), exemplaire en très bon état.
Les quatre tomes se répartissent comme suit :
  1. JUKES (Geoffrey)
— The Eastern Front 1914-1918. 95 p.
En quatrième
de couverture :
This
book unravels the complicated and tragic events of the Eastern
Front in the First World War.
The author details Russia's sudden attack on
German forces, despite her inadequate resources. A crushing defeat
at Tannenburg was followed by Germany inflicting humiliation
after humiliation on desperate Russian troops. For a while, those
forces led by General Brusilov and facing Austria-Hungary fared
better but in the end this front too collapsed. Morale plummeted,
the army began to disintegrate, and the Tsar was forced to abdicate
– paving the way for the Bolshevik seizure of power
in 1917.
2. SIMKINS (Peter) — The
Western Front 1914-1916.
95 p.
En quatrième
de couverture :
More
than 80 years on, the Great War – and particularly
the great battles such as the Somme and Verdun – continues
to fascinate us and to cast long shadows over the world in which
we live.
For Britain, the effort and sacrifice involved
in creating and sustaining its first-ever and biggest-ever mass
citizen army, and in helping to defeat the main enemy in the
decisive theatre of operations, left deep emotional and psychological
scars that have influenced much of the nation's subsequent history
and that are still felt today.
In this volume Peter Simkins re-examines the
struggle and sheds an interesting new light on the nature, course
and effects of the fighting in France and Belgium from 1914 to
1916.
  3. SIMKINS (Peter) — The Eastern Front
1917-1918. 95 p.
En quatrième
de couverture :
In
this, the second volume covering the war on the Western Front,
Peter Simkins describes the last great battles of attrition at
Arras, on the Aisne and at Passchendaele in 1917.
Then he moves on to relate the successive offensives
launched by Germany in the spring and summer of 19 I 8 in an
effort to achieve victory or a favourable peace before American
manpower proved decisive.
Again, questioning and correcting several myths
and long-held assumptions about the nature and conduct of war
on the Western Front, the author also looks at the aftermath
and legacy of the « war to end wars ».
4. HICKEY (Michael) — The
Mediterranean Front 1914-1923.
95 p.
En quatrième
de couverture :
The
First World War in th Mediterranean represented more than just
a peripheral theatre to the war on the western front. This engaging
volume includes details of allied attempts to capture Constantinople ;
bloody campaigning in Northern Italy ; the defence of the
Suez Canal and the defeat of the Turkish army in Palestine. The
Arab revolt, skirmishes in North Africa and the entrapment of
a huge allied garrison in Greece – the « world's
biggest prison camp » as the Germans described it –
are also covered.
The result was the fall of the Ottoman and
Austro-Hungarian empires and the birth of nations unknown in
1914.
Les quatre volumes :
40 euros (code de commande : 29919).
 FODEN (Giles) — Mimi and Toutou Go Forth.
The Bizarre Battle of
Lake Tanganyika. London, Michael
Joseph, 2004. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette (un peu défraîchie)
d'éditeur, 319 p., illustrations.
Sur la jaquette :
At
the start of World War I, German warships controlled Lake Tanganyika
in Central Africa. The British had no naval craft at all upon
« Tanganjikasee », as the Germans called
it. This mattered : it was the longest lake in the world
and of great strategic advantage. In June 1915, a force of twenty-eight
men was despatched from Britain on a vast journey. Their orders
were to take control of the lake. To reach it, they had to haul
two motorboats with the unlikely names of Mimi and Toutou
through the wilds of the Congo.
The twenty-eight were a strange bunch – one
was addicted to Worcester sauce, another was a former racing
driver – but the strangest of all of them was their
skirt-wearing, tattoo-covered commander, Geoffrey Spicer-Simson.
Whatever it took, even if it meant becoming the god of a local
tribe, he was determined to cover himself in glory. But the Germans
had a surprise in store for Spicer-Simson, in the shape of their
secret « supership » the Graf von Götzen...
Unearthing new German and African records,
the prize-winning author of The Last King of Scotland
retells this most unlikely of true-life tales with his customary
narrative energy and style.
5 euros (code de commande
: PGM040).
 FREDERICKS
(Pierce G.) — The Yanks Are Coming. New York, Bantam Pathfinder Editions, 1966.
In-12 collé, 224 p., illustrations.
Note de l'éditeur
:
Immortal
moments of bravery, destruction and death relived in the great
photographs of the war, and in brilliant eyewitness descriptions
by outstanding writers and reporters including Winston Churchill,
John Dos Passes, Ernest Hemingway and dozens of others.
The famous battles – the Marne, Caporetto,
Verdun, the Somme, Ypres, Belleau Wood – gas attacks,
civilian panic, dogfights over the trenches, tank warfare, counterattacks
through fields of dead and wounded, bayonet fighting, naval battles
– the total experience of the Great War in words and
pictures.
2 euros (code de commande
: PGM097).
 GARRETT (Richard) — The Final Betrayal.
The Armistice 1918...
And Afterwards. Southampton,
Buchan & Enright, 1989. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette
d'éditeur, 260 p., illustrations hors texte, quelques
soulignements et annotations à l'encre rouge.
Sur la jaquette :
This
year [1989] marks two unhappy events in modern history :
the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War,
and the 75th anniversary of the First. On 11 November 1918, the
fighting on the Western Front stopped, producing a respite that
lasted for 21 years. The Allied statesmen congratulated themselves,
and in time the soldiers – or most of them –
came home to face the uncertainties of civilian life.
Peace was to prove no more than an interlude,
however. Germany had not been decisively defeated in the field ;
she had been destroyed by a sickness from within. The spark of
German militarism had not been extinguished, for it smouldered
on until, in the 1930s, it was fanned into flame by the Nazis.
In effect, the Armistice of 1918 came to an abrupt end on 3 September
1939. The intervening years were no more than a long truce, affording
time in which to develop the technology of destruction – tanks,
aircraft, submarines, munitions among them – innovations
from the Great War which, in 1918, had not yet reached maturity.
How and why, therefore, did the Great War end,
and what happened afterwards ? What was there to celebrate
in November 1918 ? At the time, there seemed to be much
cause for rejoicing – or so it appeared to many people.
In this remarkable new study, Richard Garrett examines the Armistice
itself and the events leading up to it, including the « false
Armistice » that, through a dreadful mistake, took
America by storm. He contrasts the attitudes of the troops at
the Front, mostly too exhausted to celebrate, with the wild and
sometimes even disgraceful scenes « at home »
or away from the fighting ; and details the Spanish 'Flu
epidemic – which killed more people than the war itself ;
the appalling wrangling over treaties as the Allies divided the
spoils ; and the scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet,
interned in Scapa Flow. Here also are the effects of the Great
War in Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, and the USA ;
the Victory Processions and the doling-out of honours ;
the huge task of identifying and commemorating the dead, and
the meagre assistance given to the injured or the bereaved ;
the mutinies, medals and monuments ; the instigation of
the Unknown Warrior ; the glorification of death ;
and the sheer humbug so often displayed.
The Great War appeared to end at the eleventh
hour of the eleventh day of a sepia November, but its effects
live on. The Final Betrayal provides a penetrating insight
into the times, based on modern research and contemporary accounts.
It is the tragic history of nations that came to believe, quite
wrongly, that their work had been completed; above all, it is
a lament for folly, and the story of a dawning sense of betrayal
among those who survived « the war that will end wars ».
12 euros (code de commande
: 27431).
 GIBB
(Harold) — Record of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards
in the Great War 1914-1918. Uckflield,
The Naval & Military Press, [2009]. In-8° collé,
VIII, 75 p., exemplaire en bel état.
Présentation
par l'éditeur :
On
the declaration of war the 4th Dragoon Guards were at Tidworth,
part of 2nd Cavalry Brigade under command of Brig Gen H. de B.
de Lisle. The regiment crossed to France on 15th August and a
week later, the day before Mons, made the first contact with
the enemy, a cavalry patrol. Corporal Thomas of « C »
Squadron fired the first shot by the BEF and Capt Hornby led
the first charge, scattering the Germans, sabring several and
taking others prisoner. The regiment remained on the Western
Front throughout the war. This volume gives a concise account
of the regiment's experiences without much of the personal reminiscence.
There is a useful appendix which gives the service details of
every officer with any awards and noting casualties, and another
contains the Roll of Honour in which the names are listed alphabetically
regardless of rank, and on a year by year basis; the total amounted
to 16 officers and 175 other ranks.
10 euros (code de commande
: 23181).
 GROOM
(W.H.A.) — Poor Bloody Infantry. The Truth Untold. A Memoir of the Great War. New Malden, Picardy, 1983. In-8° broché,
185 p., illustrations hors texte, exemplaire en bel état,
épuisé au catalogue de l'éditeur.
Table des matières
:
I. Why
P.B.I. ?
II. Patriotic Hysteria.
III. Joining the P.B.I.
IV. France.
V. The Breastworks.
VI. The Saga of the Front Line Posts.
VII. Arras, 1917.
VIII. Passchendaele, 1917.
IX. Cambrai, 1917.
X. Leave and Arras, 1918.
- Epilogue.
- The Pity of War.
13 euros (code de commande
: 25245).
 GUÉPRATTE
(P.-E.) — L'expédition des Dardanelles 1914-1915.
Avec une épigraphe
de M. François Piétri. Paris, Payot, 1935.
In-8° broché, 271 p., (« Collection
de Mémoires, Études et Documents pour servir à
l'Histoire de la Guerre Mondiale »).
Table des matières
:
Épigraphe.
Chapitre I. Jonction de la force navale française
avec la flotte britannique. Incident du « Gœben »,
1914-1915.
Chapitre II. Déclaration de guerre a
la sublime porte.
Chapitre III. Premières opérations
a l'ouvert des détroits.
Chapitre IV. L'amiral Hamilton Carden quitte
le commandement de la flotte britannique.
Chapitre V. Bataille navale du 18 mars 1915.
Chapitre VI. Action sous-marine.
Chapitre VII. Odyssée des sous-marins
britanniques.
Chapitre VIII. Opérations combinées
des armées de terre et de mer dans les détroits.
- Diversion pratiquée
sur les côtes d'Anatolie par les forces françaises
de terre et de mer.
Chapitre IX. Bataille des cinq plages.
- Diversion accomplie
dans le golfe de Saros par un officiel-isolé.
Chapitre X. L'armée est établie
en péninsule de Gallipoli. Suite des opérations.
- Au sujet des cavaliers
du train des équipages.
Chapitre XI. L'armée de mer médite
une nouvelle action de forcement des passes. Changement de commandement
des armées de terre et de mer françaises.
- Suvla. Manœuvre
d'aile et bataille acharnée. Visite au théâtre
de l'action.
Épilogue.
15 euros (code de commande
: PGM088).
 HANKEY
(Donald) — A Student in Arms. Seventh Edition.
London, Melrose, 1916. In-8° sous reliure d'éditeur,
302 p., un portrait en frontispice, ex-dono.
Avant-propos de l'auteur
:
The
articles which follow owe their existence mainly to two persons,
of whom one is the Editor of the Spectator, and the other
is – not myself, at any rate. It was the second who made
me write them in the beginning, and it was Mr. Strachey who,
by his constant encouragement and kindness, constrained me to
continue them. If there is, as he says, any freshness and originality
in them, it is the result, not of literary genius or care, but
of an unusual point of view, due to an unusual combination of
circumstances. So let them stand or fall – not as the whole
truth, but as an aspect of the truth. In them fact and fiction
are mingled ; but to the writer the fiction appears as true
as the fact, for it is typical of fact – at least in intention.
My thanks are due, not only to the Editor of
the Spectator, who is godfather to the whole collectively
and to nearly every article individually, but also to the proprietors
of the Westminster Gazette, to whose courtesy I am obliged
for permission to include « Kitchener's Army »
and « The Cockney Warrior ».
10 euros (code de commande
: 23547).
 HANSON (Neil) — The Unknown Soldier.
The Story of the Missing
of the Great War. London, Doubleday,
2005. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette d'éditeur, [XVI],
543 p., illustrations in et hors texte en noir et en couleurs,
ex-libris manuscrit à la page de faux-titre.
Sur la jaquette :
Of
all the million British dead of the First World War, only one
– the Unknown Soldier – was ever returned
to his native land. An anonymous symbol of all those lost without
trace in the carnage of the battlefields, he was laid to rest
in Westminster Abbey amid an outpouring of grief that brought
the whole nation to a standstill, far outweighing even the emotion
that was to greet the death of Princess Diana almost eighty years
later. Inspired by this example, nearly every combatant nation
buried its own Unknown Soldier and the graves became the focus
of a pilgrimage that still continues today.
Drawing on largely unpublished letters and
diaries, Neil Hanson has resurrected the lives and experiences
of three unknown soldiers – a Briton, a German and
an American. Nothing is invented or exaggerated; every word is
based on the testimony of those who fought, those who died and
those who mourned at home. Few books have ever shown the terrible
reality of warfare in such compelling, unforgettable detail,
or told such a moving story of human life and loss. The rare
insight into these three soldiers' lives reveals the Great War
in all its horror and tragedy.
Amid all their sufferings, the common humanity
of the men and their loved ones shines through. Each soldier
lives on in the memory of his family to this day. They stand
at the head of a ghost army three million strong, all of whom
have no known grave. Their story is the story of The Unknown
Soldier.
10 euros (code de commande
: 23215).
 HARRIS
(L. H.) — Signal Venture. Aldershot,
Gale & Polden, 1951. In-8° sous reliure d'éditeur,
278 p., illustrations hors texte.
Author's Note :
This
story was intended originally to cover the planning and execution
of the long-distance communications for the invasion of North-West
Europe, but it soon became obvious that the only way to avoid
formal research and to provide any sort of continuity was to
turn it into a record of personal experience with a « Signals »
theme.
This meant the exclusion of all but first-hand
material and many aspects of the work of Signals are therefore
conspicuously and regrettably absent. On the other hand, it meant
that the scope could be extended to include something of my own
experiences as a linesman in Australian Signals in World War I
and the contributory experiences of life between the wars as
a telecommunications engineer of the Post Office and a Signal
Officer of the Territorial Army, together with many digressions
not likely to be found in any formal narrative.
I apologize for the omissions and hope that
here and there I may strike a responsive note in the minds of
some of my old associates, British, Australian, French or American,
officers and men, amateurs and professionals, in or out of uniform,
with whom I have been fortunate enough to work and play from
the time when, as a recruit in 1915, I took the « two
paces forward » which, unknowingly, were an introduction
to thirty years of Signals and telecommunications.
15 euros (code de commande
: 25121).
 [HEDD WYN (pseudonyme de Ellis Humphrey Evans)].
DEHANDSCHUTTER (Lieven) —
Hedd Wyn. Een Welsche tragedie in Vlanderen.
Trasiedi Cymreig yn Fflandrys. A Welsh tragedy in Flanders.
Seconde édition revisée. Brussel, 1994.
In-8° agrafé, 52 p., illustrations, édition
trilingue (néerlandais - gallois - anglais), annotations
à l'encre rouge.
Table des matières
:
- Hedd
Wyn (treurdicht - galarnad - elegy R. Williams
Parry).
- Hedd Wyn, een Welshe tragedie in Vlaanderen
- Hedd Wyn, trasiedi Cymreig yn Fflandrys - Hedd Wyn, a Welsh
tragedy in Flanders.
- Gedichten - Cerddi - Poems.
- Rhyfel - Oorlog.
- Y Blotyn Du - De Zwarte
Vlek.
- Nid â'n Ango - Niet
Vergeten.
- Plant Trawsfynydd (1915)
- Kinderen van Trawsfynydd (1915).
- Capel y Ddôl (Carol
Nadolig 1916) - De Veldkapel (Kerstlied 1916).
- Yr Aberth Mawr - Met Grote
Offer.
- Atgo - Herinnering.
- Marw oddi Cartref - Sterven
ver van Huis.
- Bronnen - Ffynonellau - Sources.
- Dankaan - Cydnabyddiaeth - Acknowledgements.
8 euros (code de commande
: PGM004).
 HISCOCK
(Eric) — The Bells of Hell Go Ting-A-Ling-A-Ling. An autobiographical fragment without maps. London, Arlington Books, 1976. In-8° sous
reliure et jaquette d'éditeur, 149 p., annotations
à la page de garde.
Sur la jaquette :
The
author of this « autobiographical fragment without
maps » (his words) was a fourteen year-old schoolboy
in Oxford when The Great War broke out, and the Kaiser's hordes
invaded Belgium. A year later he was a fully fledged soldier
in the Royal Fusiliers, marching with men old enough to be his
father. He received his baptism of fire in the Ypres Salient
and suffered the full horror of the mud and blood of Passchendaele,
and the waterlogged, rat-infested trenches that were to bring
him two wounds, close friendships – and an enmity that
brought in its unhappy train a Field General Court Martial. The
author stayed a serving soldier after the Armistice and went
to Cologne with the Army of Occupation. There are no illusions
about war in this dramatic out-spoken narrative, and the mystique
expounded by young poets like Rupert Brooke soon evaporated into
the realism of the war-scarred poets Siegfried Sassoon, Robert
Nichols, Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves.
The author suffered bitter disillusion, witnessed
the death of most of his friends, but returned to his home town
determined to rid himself of the mental and physical scars received
while he was still under the age of descent into hell.
The Bells of Hell Go Ting-A-Ling-A-Ling
is a moving and deeply disturbing book, but one that is full
of truth and refreshing good humour. To read it is to live again
those terrible years, 1914-18, in the company of one whose power
of description leaves little to the imagination.
13 euros (code de commande
: 21243).
 [IRONSIDE
(Edmund)] — Archangel 1918-1919. Uckfield, The Naval & Military Press, 2007.
In-8° collé, 219 p., illustrations hors texte,
ex-libris manuscrit à la page de garde, bel exemplaire.
Il s'agit de la réimpression
de l'édition de Constable, en 1953.
Présentation de l'éditeur :
Sir Edmund ‘Tiny' Ironside's account
of his abortive expedition to Archangel in 1918-19 to stem the
Bolshevik revolution – a mission he was sadlly unable
to fulfil.
The Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917
threw her western allies into a panic : was the eastern
giant about to be overwhelmed by anarchic chaos and drop out
of the First World War – leaving the west to fight
a resurgent Germany ? Or, still worse, had Russia fallen
into the hands of ruthless revolutionaries who would export their
revolution to a war weary Europe ? Such fears led to the
despatches of allied military expeditoions to several points
on the coasts of north and south Russia. One such was the Archangel
expedition led by the huge general Sir Edmund « Tiny »
Ironside, later chief of the Imperial General Staff. This is
Ironside's account of his mission to the snowy northern wastes
of Russia, his co-operation with somewhat unreliable White Russian
allies ; his clashes with the Bolsheviks and his eventual
withdrawal.
13 euros (code de commande
: 21436).
 JOURET (Alain) — 1914-1918. Autour des
batailles de Mons. Stroud,
The History Press, 2012. In-8° collé, 128 p.,
très nombreuses illustrations.
En quatrième
de couverture :
Jusqu'à
présent, aucun ouvrage ne proposait une iconographie étoffée
à propos des « batailles de Mons ».
Soucieux de combler cette lacune, Alain Jouret a rassemblé
dans ce volume plus de deux cents gravures, cartes postales,
plans et photographies souvent inédites.
Outre de nombreuses anecdotes, le lecteur y
trouvera des explications claires. Il assistera à de féroces
combats. Il côtoiera soldats et civils. Il se plongera
dans leur quotidienneté. Il sillonnera la région
de Mons et poussera jusqu'à Charleroi, Tournai, Soignies,
Maubeuge, Landrecies... Enfin, il ressentira l'euphorie de la
victoire...
Sang, larmes, colère, courage, pitié,
voilà quelques-uns des principaux thèmes développés
dans ces pages.
19 euros (code de commande
: 19040).
 JOURET (Alain) — 14-18. Entre larmes
et espérances à Dour et aux alentours. Opérations militaires, approvisionnement,
aide sociale, enseignement, économie, maintien de l'ordre,
réquisitions, résistance, loisirs, libération
et bilan. Saint-Ghislain, Cercle
d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Saint-Ghislain et de la
Région, 2011. In-4° broché, XV, 404 p.,
illustrations, (collection « Publications Extraordinaires
du Cercle d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Saint-Ghislain
et de la Région », n° 12).
Table des matières
:
Préface.
Introduction.
1. Août 1914.
1. Le tocsin, la mobilisation
et quelques pas avec des soldats partis au front.
2. Un mois d'août mémorable.
3. Les opérations
militaires en bref.
4. Les événements
vus de Dour.
5. Un episode héroïque
oublié.
6. La fin des combats et
le début de l'occupation Ie 24 août.
7. Conclusion.
2. L'approvisionnement.
1. Le spectre de la famine
: des initiatives locales, régionales, nationales et internationales.
2. L'organisation du ravitaillement
à Dour.
3. Conclusion.
3. L'aide sociale.
1. Un bureau de bienfaisance
dépassé et des pouvoirs locaux a la rescousse.
2. Le Comité de secours
local.
3. La Ligue du coin de terre.
4. La Soupe populaire.
5. La Soupe scolaire.
6. La Goutte de Lait.
7. L'œuvre des Enfants
débiles.
8. Quelques autres initiatives
en faveur des enfants.
9. Le dispensaire communal.
10. La lutte contre l'alcoolisme.
11. Le Comité de Soutien
aux œuvres de Charité a Dour et quelques autres actions.
12. Conclusion.
4. L'enseignement.
1. Réorganisation,
pain d'épices, guerre scolaire et problèmes de
trésorerie.
2. Des résultats décevants,
des instituteurs et des édiles insatisfaits.
3. Les difficultés
de 1917-1918.
4. L'École industrielle.
5. Conclusion.
5. La vie économique.
1. Communications et moyens
de locomotion.
2. Les charbonnages.
3. Des entreprises «
protégées » par les Allemands ?
4. Les brasseries, des entreprises
sacrifiées par les Allemands.
5. Commerce, artisanat et
petites entreprises.
6. Conclusion.
6. Le maintien de l'ordre.
1. Forces de l'ordre et mesures
de police.
2. Faim, misère, pillages,
fraude, marché noir et maquignonnage.
3. Relations entre le capital
et le travail et conflits sociaux.
4. Conclusion.
7. L'utilisation des ressources matérielles
et humaines.
1. Les réquisitions
de 1914 a 1916, puis de 1917 a 1918.
2. Les déportations
: la « traite des blancs ».
3. Conclusion.
8. Résistance et represailles.
1. Un certain esprit de la
résistance.
2. L'aide aux combattants.
3. Sabotages et otages, propagande
et résistance psychologique.
4. Des agents de renseignements
au service des Alliés.
5. La volonté de continuer
la lutte de l'extérieur.
6. Conclusion.
9. La vie associative.
1. Compétitions, concours
et jeux.
2. Des bibliothèques,
des conférences, une exposition « cunicole »
et des lecons de musique.
3. Les spectacles.
4. La vie religieuse.
5. Conclusion.
10. De la zone d'étape à la
Libération.
1. Dour, ville de garnison.
2. La Libération :
combats et vie quotidienne.
3. Conclusion.
11. Après l'Armistice.
1. Dour, ville de garnison
: bis repetita placent ?
2. Justice et règlements
de comptes.
3. Commémorations
et souvenirs.
4. Le bilan démographique.
5. La voirie.
6. Les immeubles.
7. Des souvenirs bien encombrants.
8. Une dette... « à
donner Ie tournis ».
9. Conclusion.
12. Conclusion générale.
18 euros (code de commande
: 18148).
 JÜNGER
(Ernst) — Orages d'acier. Souvenirs
du front de France. Traduction
française par F. Grenier. Paris, Payot, 1930. In-8°
broché, 269 p., (« Collection de Mémoires,
Études et Documents pour servir à l'Histoire de
la Guerre Mondiale »), couverture défraîchie.
Table des matières
:
- Avant-propos
du traducteur.
- Préface de l'auteur.
- Orainville.
- De Bazancourt à Hattonchatel.
- Les Éparges.
- Douchy et Monchy.
- Le combat de chaque jour dans la guerre
de tranchées.
- Le prélude à la bataille
de la Somme.
- Guillemont.
- Au bois de Saint-Pierre-Vaast.
- La retraite de la Somme.
- Dans le village de Fresnoy.
- Contre les Hindous.
- Langemarck.
- Regniéville.
- Encore les Flandres.
- La bataille de Cambrai.
- Sur le ruisseau de Cojeul.
- La grande bataille.
- Les Anglais gagnent du terrain.
- Mon dernier assaut.
30 euros (code de commande
: PGM020).
 [KITCHENER
(Horatio Herbert)]. SMITHERS (A.J.) — The Fighting Nation.
Lord Kitchener and his Armies. London,
Leo Cooper, 1994. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette d'éditeur,
[16], 208 p., illustrations hors texte.
En quatrième
de couverture :
If
we in these islands and our kinsfolk in what was once the British
Empire still retain any freedom to decide how we shall be governed
and what manner of lives we shall lead it is because of the existence
of one man, above all others.
In the summer of 1914 France, by military incompetence,
came near to breaking after the first shock of war. Left to herself
she could never have managed the recovery that took place and
the war might indeed have been over by Christmas. She had no
friends, save only distant Russia, and the only army that could
be of even slight assistance was that of Britain. The British
Army, however, was not highly regarded, even by its own people.
The Kaiser was supposed to have called it « contemptible » ;
the French regarded it as a colonial police force with a sideline
in high-class ceremonial. It was absurdly weak in numbers, under-officered
and wholly without the means of expansion to anything that might
be reckoned formidable in a war between great powers.
Then, as an avatar from the East, appeared
the one man who had the ability to save the country from itself.
He was 64 years old, had had surprisingly little to do with the
British Army and yet appeared the only possible choice. He had
raised armies before, was untainted by politics, had fought great
sweeping campaigns and had always come back victorious.
Kitchener, having dutifully accepted the War
Ministry for a period of three years or the duration of the war,
made the unsurprising discovery that he had inherited neither
army nor the means of creating one. Yet having called, in the
first instance, for 100,000 volunteers, he got by the time of
his death over 3,000,000.
As fate removed him from the scene and the
waters closed over HMS Hampshire, the guns of England
began to speak on the Somme and an army of continental proportions,
well trained and well equipped, made ready for Armageddon.
Ma j or A. J. Smithers, author of a number
of highly regarded works of military history, including biographies
of Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien and Sir John Monash, assesses with
his usual acute perception the remarkable contribution made by
Kitchener to the defence of his country, an aspect of his career
not often given its due weight in the numerous more conventional
biographies that have appeared over the years.
13 euros (code de commande
: 28689).
 LIDDLE
(Peter H.) — The Worst Ordeal. Britons at home and abroad 1914-1918. London, Leo Cooper, 1994. In-4° sous reliure
et jaquette d'éditeur, 230 p., nombreuses illustrations,
exemplaire défraîchi suite à une humidification.
Sur la jaquette :
Expertly
written and beautifully presented, this book of outstanding photographs,
documents and art work captures the spirit of the British people
as they faced and successfully came through the prolonged challenge
of the First World War. Using previously unpublished material
from the Liddle Collection in the University Library at Leeds
and supporting this with photographs from private and public
collections from many parts of the British Isles, The Worst
Odeal brings soldier, sailor and airman experience graphically
close. It is, however, not just the fighting fronts which are
so well represented : from the industrial, agricultural,
domestic, educational and war resistance scenes, the response
to war of workers, wives, sweethearts, students, children, rebels
and resisters is made clear. Fund raising, rationing, humour,
anxiety and grief are documented in this book in a way which
provides touching testimony of the spirit of the times. With
almost four hundred illustrations, the book spans the British
Isles and the most remote fighting fronts.
5 euros (code de commande
: PGM083).
 McCUDDEN
(James) — Flying Fury. Five Years in the Royal
Flying Corps. London - Mechanicsburg, Greenhill Books - Stackpole
Books, [2000]. In-8° collé, XIII, 274 p., illustrations
hors texte, (collection « Greenhill Military Paperback »),
ex-libris manuscrit à la seconde page de couverture, quelques
soulignements au verso de la page de titre et aux pp. XI et XIII.
En quatrième
de couverture :
- The
unique story of the RFC's greatest fighter ace.
- With a complete victory list, compiled
by Norman Franks.
- A gripping account of World War I aviation
from the pilot's seat.
James McCudden was an outstanding British fighter
ace of World War I, whose daring exploits earned him a tremendous
reputation and a vast amount of respect from friend and foe alike.
Here, in this unique and gripping first-hand account, he brings
to life some of aviation history's most dramatic episodes in
a memoir completed at the age of twenty-three, just days before
his tragic death.
During his time in France with the Royal Flying
Corps from 1914 to 1918, McCudden rose from mechanic to pilot
and flight commander. Following his first kill in September 1916,
McCudden excelled at shooting down enemy planes. A dashing patrol
leader, he combined courage, loyalty and judgement, studying
the habits and psychology of enemy reconnaissance pilots and
stalking them with patience and outstanding success.
Written with modesty and frankness, yet acutely
perceptive, Flying Fury is both a valuable insight into
the world of early aviation and a powerful account of courage
and survival above the mud and trenches of Flanders.
Flying Fury is now introduced by the
aviation expert Norman Franks, who provides an illuminating biographical
sketch of the World War I hero and a detailed list of McCudden's
victories.
Fighter ace James McCudden died in July 1918,
after engine failure caused his plane to crash just four months
before the end of World War I.
13 euros (code de commande
: 19020).
 MACDONALD (Lyn) — The Roses of No Man's
Land. London, Macmillan,
1984. In-8° broché, 318 p., illustrations hors texte.
En quatrième
de couverture :
The
Roses of No Man's Land provides a completely new perspective
on the First World War. For this is the history of the casualties
and medical services, when every battle had its mirror image
in the hospitals and every soldier carried from the field entered
a second war, against pain and death.
Through the experiences of survivors, Lyn Macdonald
has pieced together an extraordinary story of courage and endurance.
The story of men who suffered terrible wounds – both
physical and mental – of volunteer nurses transported
from their genteel drawing rooms into the midst of carnage, and
of doctors struggling to cope with the devastation of war.
5 euros (code de commande
: 23114).
 MACGILL
(Patrick) — The Great Push. An
Episode of the Great War. Dingle,
Brandon Book, 1984. In-8° collé, 254 p.
Introduction :
The
justice of the cause wich endeavours to achieve its object by
the murdering and maiming of mankind is apt to be doubted by
a man who has come through a bayonet charge. The dead lying on
the fields seem to ask, « Why has this been done to
us ? Why have you done it, brothers ? What purpose
has it served ? » The battle-line is a secret
world, a world of curses. The guilty secrecy of war is shrouded
in lies, and shielded by bloodstained swords ; to know it
you must be one of those who wage it, a party to dark and mysterious
orgies of carnage. War is the purge of repleted kingdoms, needing
a close place for its operations.
I have tried in this book to give, as far as
I am allowed, an account of an attack in which I took part. Practically
the whole book was written in the scene of action, and the chapter
dealing with our night at Les Brebis, prior to the Big Push,
was written in the trench between midnight and dawn of September
the 25th ; the concluding chapter in the hospital at Versailles
two days after I had been wounded at Loos.
6 euros (code de commande
: PGM010).
 MacGILL (Patrick) — The Red Horizon.
With a foreword by Viscount
Esher. Dingle, Brandon Book, 1984. In-8° collé,
306 p., dos insolé.
En quatrième
de couverture :
« I
have looked towards the horizon when the sky was red-rimmed with
the lingering sunset of midsummer and seen the artillery rip
the heavens with spears of flame, seen the star-shells burst
into fire and drop showers of slittering sparks to earth, seen
the pale mists of evening rise over black, mysterious villages,
woods, houses, gun-emplacements, and flat meadows, blue in the
evening haze. »
Patrick MacGill's famous trilogy – Children
of the Dead End, The Rat Pit and Moleskin Joe –
is unique in reflecting the experiences and life of the Irish
navvy in Britain. Similarly, The Red Horizon and its sequel,
The Great Push, reflect in a unique way the experiences
of the ordinary soldier.
Patrick MacGill, Rifleman N° 3008,
London Irish, was one of many thousands of Irishmen who fought
in the First World War, and he articulates the experience of
that tragic generation, conveying the horror of war but also
the resilence of the men.
« In the traverse where I was planted
I dropped into Ireland ; heaps of it. There was the brogue
that could be cut with a knife, and the humour that survived
Mons and the Marne, and the kindliness that sprang from the cabins
of Corrymeela and the moors of Derrynane. »
8 euros (code de commande
: 27766).
 [MANNOCK
(Edward)]. OUGHTON (Frederick) et SMYTH (Vernon) — Mannock,
VC. Ace with One Eye. Bristol, Cerberus, 2004. In-8° collé,
184 p., illustrations hors texte, (collection « Fortunes
of War »), exemplaire en très bel état.
En quatrième
de couverture :
Edward
« Mick » Mannock, VC, DSO (2 bars), MC
(& bar), officially shot down 73 enemy aircraft in the First
World War and, unofficially, nearly a hundred – yet
he was blind in one eye.
Mannock was not only an aristocrat of the air
he was also a real man of the people, a constant rebel against
authority and regimentation who, nonetheless, gained the respect
of superiors and subordinates alike.
A great and inspirational leader of men, a
master of air strategy and the innovator of aggressive formation
flying, Mannock was also one of the most mystifying enigmas of
the RFC. Until the day of his death, he never conquered his fear
of being burned alive in the cockpit and this recurrent horror
– encouraged by the fact that First World War pilots
were not permitted parachutes – coloured his career
considerably.
Here is the full story of that career, set against
a period when air power depended not upon remotely-controlled
missiles but on men of imagination, daring and outstanding personal
courage.
10 euros (code de commande
: 27343).
 MARIX EVANS (Martin) — 1918. The Year
of Victories. London, Arcturus
Publishing, 2002. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette d'éditeur,
240 p., quelques cartes, exemplaire en parfait état.
En quatrième
de couverture :
At
the outset of 1918 Germany faced certain defeat as a result of
Allied technical innovation in tanks and aircraft, and the American
entry into the war. Victory could only be gained by the immediate
application of overwhelming force in new tactical form ;
the « fire-waltz » artillery barrage and
the storm-trooper infantry attack.
1918 examines both the Germans' tactics
and the Allies' preferred solution to fighting this war, the
combination of artillery, tanks, infantry and aircraft, and argues
that this reached a level of sophistication in command and control
never before achieved.
The war of attrition was far from over, but
as more Americans arrived in France the ghastly cost became affordable.
For the Germans, it became a question of whether they could negotiate
an armistice before their armies were utterly destroyed.
10 euros (code de commande
: 21667).
 MARRION
(R.J.) and FOSTEN (D.S.V.) — The British Army 1914-18.
Colour plates by G.A.
Embleton. London, Osprey Publishing, 1978. In-4° broché,
40 p., illustrations en noir et en couleurs, (collection
« Men-at-Arms »).
Table des matières
:
- Introduction.
- Command Structure.
- Composition.
- Orders of Battle.
- The Plates.
- Notes sur les planches en couleurs -
Farbtafeln.
6 euros (code de commande
: 22193).
 MARTEAUX (Pierre) — Diables rouges diables
bleus à l'Hartmannswillerkopf. Préface
du général Weygand. Paris, Payot, 1937.
In-8° broché, 214 p., illustrations hors texte,
(« Collection de Mémoires, Études et
Documents pour servir à l'Histoire de la Guerre mondiale »),
ex-libris manuscrit à la page de titre, exemplaire en
bon état.
Préface :
Ce
livre est l'œuvre d'un soldat témoin et acteur dans
les événements dont il retrace l'histoire, ces
combats pour l'Hartmannswillerkopf où tant d'ardeur fut
dépensée, tant de sang répandu, et qui nous
coûtèrent l'un de nos plus beaux régiments
et l'un des jeunes chefs en qui l'armée mettait le plus
d'espoirs. Acteur aussi fut le délicat artiste et vaillant
officier qui a illustré ces pages.
Cet ouvrage est le premier qui, après
l'avoir située dans son cadre général, donne
le récit complet de la lutte soutenue pour ce mamelon
dont le nom, devenu cher aux cœurs français, a paru
si souvent dans les communiqués de l'année 1915.
L'auteur n'a pas consulté seulement ses souvenirs et nos
propres archives, il a également puisé aux sources
allemandes. Il a pu de la sorte faire, de ces opérations
et de ces combats, un récit complet et vivant, dont la
précision et la documentation ne diminuent pas la vivacité
et la chaleur.
Le sommet du précieux observatoire,
qui domine la plaine alsacienne, nous fut enlevé par une
attaque allemande dès les premiers jours de janvier 1915.
Faute de méthode et malgré la plus folle bravoure,
nos troupes n'arrivèrent point à le leur reprendre
jusqu'au jour où le 152e régiment d'infanterie,
amené par le général Serret, s'en empara
de nouveau en deux courtes attaques fort bien menées les
23 et 26 mars. Ce fut alors aux Allemands d'essayer de nous en
chasser ; après bien des essais infructueux, ils
y parvinrent à deux reprises au cours des mois de septembre
et d'octobre, mais des contre-attaques immédiates les
rejetèrent dans leurs lignes. « La rapidité
est une des formes de l'énergie », était
une formule familière à l'ardent général
Serret. Enfin, le 21 décembre, fut lancée la dernière
attaque française plus large que les autres, rapide, brillante,
heureuse – hélas ! pour un jour seulement.
Le commandement allemand, prévenu, avait préparé
sa riposte. Il déclencha le lendemain une contre-attaque
foudroyante qui remporta, à son tour, un complet succès
et éprouva cruellement le 152e. Quelques jours après,
le général Serret était grièvement
blessé, et, dans ceux qui suivirent sa mort, les Allemands
nous arrachèrent, lambeau par lambeau, les derniers gains
conservés, au cours de combats particulièrement
violents et meurtriers.
L'Hartmann demeura jusqu'à l'armistice
un secteur agité, bien qu'aucune attaque n'y fui plus
entreprise. Tant qu'il s'était agi d'une large opération
en Alsace, la conquête de cet observatoire était
sans doute justifiée, mais, une fois ce programme abandonné,
elle n'était plus qu'une sanglante et entraînante
opération de détail qu'il devenait nécessaire
d'arrêter.
Si ces combats pour l'Hartmann furent coûteux,
ils furent du moins fertiles en enseignements : on peut
y suivre l'évolution des méthodes de combat, depuis
l'assaut à la baïonnette sans préparation
d'artillerie du début, jusqu'aux attaques conduites avec
un appui direct et méthodique de l'artillerie, et jusqu'à
la formation de groupements tactiques réunissant sous
un même commandement les éléments chargés
d'une même mission.
Ce récit apporte l'explication de ce
que l'on a appelé « le drame du 152e ».
Un drame en effet que la perle à peu près complète
de ce régiment, un des plus beaux de noire armée
de guerre, qui fui sept fois cité, el reçut le
premier la fourragère rouge, dont la vaillance avait mérité
à ses fantassins, de la part des Allemands, le surnom
de « Diables Rouges ». Son Colonel, rendant
compte de ce triste événement, a pu rappeler justement
que son régiment s'était montré, la veille
encore, digne de son passé et de sa réputation,
en remportant un succès considérable, et en faisant
à l'ennemi sept cents prisonniers, et affirmer en terminant :
« La perle est cruelle, mais l'honneur est sauf. »
Cet ouvrage, enfin, fera mieux connaître,
dans toute la force de sa personnalité, le noble Soldai
que fut le général Serret. Quand il aura médité
ce rapport dans lequel le Chef déclare n'avoir rien à
reprendre aux ordres donnés par ses subordonnés,
et revendiquer toute la responsabilité de l'échec
final, « résultat, dit-il, d'une erreur initiale
qui peut m'être imputée », le lecteur
mesurera la grandeur de la perte que fut la mort du général
Serret à la hauteur du caractère qu'il a montré
dans ces graves circonstances.
On ne saurait trop exalter la vaillance et
l'abnégation dont firent preuve toutes les troupes qui
furent engagées dans ces combats rendus particulièrement
difficiles et meurtriers par la nature du terrain abrupt, par
la rudesse du climat, par la position enveloppante de l'ennemi,
par les qualités de son artillerie plus appropriée
que la nôtre à la guerre de montagne. « Là
– a écrit un des familiers du général
Serret – on s'est battu avec acharnement, mais à
la française. On y vivait et on y mourait en beauté. »
C'est pour perpétuer le souvenir de
cet héroïsme que s'élève aujourd'hui,
sur la montagne désormais fameuse, un des quatre grands
monuments du front. Ce livre y ajoute une pierre de la meilleure
qualité.
20 euros (code de commande
: 30498).
[MATA HARI]. WAGENAAR
(Sam) — Mata Hari. Adaptation de Jacques Houbart. Paris, Fayard,
1965. In-8° broché, 287 p., (collection « La
Guerre Secrète »)
9
euros (code de commande : 220/65).
 [PREMIÈRE
GUERRE MONDIALE]. 1914-1918. Un beau régiment picard.
Le 272e R.I. Historique
par le Commandant Balland. Récits et contes
de MM. Gense et Le Merer. Avant-propos
par J. Dherissart. Amiens, Le Courrier Picard,
1950. In-8° broché, 182 p., quelques illustrations,
tache sur la couverture sinon exemplaire en bon état.
Extrait de l'avant-propos
:
L'Amicale
des Anciens Combattants du 272e R. I. (1914-1918) a le grand
plaisir de publier cet ouvrage, grâce à la très
généreuse souscription de nombreux Anciens du régiment
qui ont répondu à son appel de toutes les régions
de France, et aussi de sympathisants et de collectivités ;
les noms de ces souscripteurs figurent in fine dans ce
livre.
Il est imprimé sous la responsabilité
de quelques membres du Comité qui en ont garanti le financement.
C'est le récit – rendu possible
grâce au Carnet de Route du regretté Commandant
Balland, président-fondateur de l'Amicale –
des faits d'armes de ce splendide Régiment de réserve,
qui glana cinq citations sur le front français où
il fut engagé du premier au dernier jour de la Grande
Guerre, historique suivi d'anecdotes vécues, écrites
sur le vif par deux de nos camarades, Gense et Le Merer.
Un tel livre, le premier du genre en Picardie,
offrira, nous en sommes sûrs, un très grand intérêt,
non seulement pour les Anciens du 272e et les familles des disparus,
mais aussi pour ceux de tous les Anciens Combattants des anciens
régiments du 2e Corps d'Armée qui y retrouveront
les secteurs du front qu'ils ont également occupés.
18 euros (code de commande
: 32040).
 MUNROE (Jack) — A dog Story of the Princess
« Pats ». Mopping Up ! By Lieutenant
Jack Muroe. Trough the Eyes of Bobbie Burns, Regimental Mascot.
New York, The H. K. Fly
Company, 1918. In-8° sous cartonnage d'éditeur, 319 p.,
illustrations hors texte.
En quatrième
de couverture :
Memoir,
1914 to 1915, as related by his dog, whose name was Bobby Burns.
Born at Upper Kempt Head, Nova Scotia, Munroe moved to Elk Lake,
Ontario, where he engaged in mining and other enterprises and
served as reeve of James Township. He then went to Montana and
worked in mines, also becoming a boxer. In 1902 he survived an
exhibition match with American heavyweight champion James J.
Jeffries, which made his reputation as a professional boxer,
although Jeffries decisively defeated him two years later. He
was working as coal miner in Dominion, Nova Scotia, when he enlisted
in August 1914. He took his dog with him to Valcartier, and when
Munroe was posted to the PPCLI it became the battalion mascot.
He served overseas and rose to the rank of lieutenant until being
seriously wounded by sniper fire at Armentières in June
1915. Sent to England to recuperate, he returned to Canada in
January 1917. He lived in Cobalt after the war, but by 1921 had
moved to Toronto, where he was still living when he died. W.B.
Kerr regarded this book, « related with literary and dramatic
skill and fidelity to fact », as « one
of the finest of the early memoirs. »
Bibliographie :
- Tenysson (Brian Douglas), The Canadian
Experience of the Great War: A Guide to Memoirs, n° 1340.
13 euros (code de commande
: 26462).
 OCCLESHAW (Michael) — Armour against
Fate. British Military
Intelligence in the First World War [and the secret rescue from
Russia of the Great Duchess Tatiana].
London, Columbus Books, 1989. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette
d'éditeur, XVI, 423 p., illustrations hors texte.
Sur la jaquette :
This
is not another book about spies, though they do have their place
in the book as one element of military Intelligence. Perhaps
because of its sensitivity in what was the Golden Age of the
spy, there exists no serious study of military Intelligence between
1914 and 1918 and its crucial development, in conditions of total
war, into the complex enterprise the term denotes today.
Intelligence developed the way it did because
of the kind of war the First World War became, and because of
the realization that the new mass-industrialized and democratic
nature of society was the key to a potentially decisive contribution
by Intelligence to the conduct of the war, a war that shaped
the modern world. The manipulation of whole populations by governments
or executive agencies was developed during this time.
Turning from discussion of total war and of
traditional methods of reconnaissance, Dr Occleshaw's engrossing
account describes the emerging character of Intelligence and
the human problems entailed in obtaining information from civilians
or prisoners, and of evaluating documents. He examines the early
opportunities with wireless and the development of codes and
ciphers, and deals especially with the very different, remarkable
men engaged in this vital work. Failure of communication was
a major problem, together with the undeniable conflicts that
existed between the personalities involved, such as that between
Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig and his Chief of Intelligence,
Brigadier-General John Charteris, a conflict on which Dr Occleshaw
sheds some interesting new light.
The story of Secret Service and special operations,
and of the spy rings, is given serious study. Again, it is the
story of the men behind the ideas which provides much of the
fascination, not just the accounts of their actions; men like
Smith-Gumming, Kirke, Drake, Marshall-Cornwall, Meinertzhagen,
Wallinger, Cameron and Best : the agents and their covers ;
and, especially, the presiding genius of Intelligence, George
Macdonogh.
Dr Occleshaw's research, conducted over several
years, was made largely among unpublished private papers, by
recorded interviews with veterans and among the less well known
documents in the Public Records Office. Even after seventy years,
much documentary evidence is still withheld from researchers ;
more frequently evidence came to light of official « weeding »
of files and of other files now unaccountably « missing ».
Despite these drawbacks, Dr Occleshaw's sources
have uncovered new information about the details of the financing
of the Secret Services, the air-dropping of agents over enemy
lines, and have made possible a new interpretation of the value
of British trench raids. Other chapters disclose fresh facts
on several contentious issues, such as an attempt to wage biological
warfare, the active assistance given to the British by the Dutch
Secret Service in breach of their neutrality, the propaganda
campaign of 1917-18 to subvert the German people, and a daring
attempt to rescue the Imperial Romanov family that affected the
fate of at least one of its members.
In Dr Occleshaw's view, work undertaken by
British military Intelligence shortened the First World War by
at least a year, saving countless lives. Further than that, Armour
Against Fate argues, convincingly, that the shape of things
today is in large measure due to a small number of brilliant
men unafraid to take some of the most controversial decisions
ever made.
8 euros (code de commande
: 21155).
 OLIVER
(Neil) — Not Forgotten. London,
Hodder & Stoughton, 2005. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette
d'éditeur, XIII, 306 p., illustrations hors texte,
ex-libris manuscrit à la page de garde.
Sur la jaquette :
There
are over 36,000 Great War memorials in Britain, listing names
from all walks of life – grand estates, cities, villages,
places of work. They stand as landmarks to a defining period
in British history – and yet one which is slipping away
from popular memory.
Accompanying the major Channel Four series,
Not Forgotten is a revealing look at the untold stories
lying behind these lists of names – stories of the impact
of the Great War on British society, the echoes of which can
still be felt today. More than a conflict overseas, it was the
catalyst for an extraordinary period of rapid and radical change
to the social and cultural fabric of the nation.
Loss and bereavement were felt at every level
of society. The centuries-old class system was thrown into disarray,
both at home and on the front lines. Social restrictions on women
were revolutionised, from jobs and the vote to new freedoms in
dress, behaviour and sexuality ; roles were reversed in
family life for a large part of the population. And when the
survivors returned after the fighting stopped, it was to a world
in which the foundations were being laid for the changed society
in which we live today.
The memorials to the Great War are a surviving
connection to lives that were lived and lost between 1914 and
I9J8- By looking back at those lives, and remembering, we can
find a unique and moving account of Britain's coming of age in
the Great War.
6 euros (code de commande
: PGM068).
 PAINLEVÉ (Paul) — Comment j'ai
nommé Foch et Pétain.
La politique de guerre de 1917. Le commandement unique interallié.
Paris, Alcan, 1923. In-8° broché, XV, 423 p. plans,
ex-libris manuscrit à la page de titre.
Table des matières
:
Chapitre
I. La situation militaire à la fin de 1916. La première
crise du Haut-Commandement.
Chapitre II. Lyautey et les préparatifs
de l'offensive Nivelle.
Chapitre III. Le Ministère Ribot (20
mars 1917).
Chapitre IV. L'offensive d'avril 1917.
Chapitre V. L'état de l'armée
après l'échec de l'offensive. Le nouveau plan d'opérations.
Chapitre VI. Le général Pétain
chef d'État-major général. L'incident de
Brimont (29 avril). Le nouveau protocole interallié.
Chapitre VII. La seconde crise du Haut-Commandement.
Foch et Pétain à la tête de nos armées.
Chapitre VIII. La fin des opérations
de mai. Les mutineries.
Chapitre IX. Le redressement du moral de l'armée
par le général Pétain.
Chapitre X. Les légendes et les vérités
sur les mutineries de mai-juin 1917.
Chapitre XI. Le rapport des trois généraux.
Chapitre XII. Les opérations militaires
de juin à novembre 1917.
Chapitre XIII. Le Haut-Commandement Foch-Pétain.
Chapitre XIV. La politique de la guerre durant
les derniers mois de l'année 1917.
Chapitre XV. Le premier stade de l'unité
de commandement interallié (octobre-novembre 1917).
Chapitre XVI. L'avènement du ministère
Clémenceau. L'offensive allemande de mars 1918. Foch généralissime
(mars-avril 918).
Annexes.
15 euros (code de commande
: 22075 - vendu).
 PEACOCK (A. J.) — A Second Alternative
Guide to the Western Front (From
Nieuport to Pfetterhouse). York,
Peacock, [1990]. In-8° collé, 144 p., illustrations,
(collection « Gunfire », n° 26),
couverture un peu défraîchie, quelques traits à
l'encre rouge.
Introduction :
There
are many guides to the old Western Front of 1914-18, but I think
it is true to say that most, if not all of those in print follow
(understandably) fairly well-known routes to places like Ypres,
Albert, Armentieres and so on. This guide, orgazetteer, by and
large ignores the places that other guides go to (though on occasion
it mentions things that are overlooked in some well-known places).
It has very little to say about cemeteries and concentrates on
places like Mondemont and sites like La Fontenelle. Each of these
had a « history » in 1914-18 ; some,
like those villages at the extreme of the retreat from Mons,
were only briefly in the war zone ; others had four years
when they were shelled, fought over and repeatedly destroyed.
With the latter places, particularly, it is difficult in the
gazetteer format I have adopted to even indicate what those four
years were like so, like most gazetteers, I have selected something
from the Great War to comment on and hope that it will give the
reader an indication of what happened at some time. Many places,
like most battle sites, have nothing left to indicate that a
war went on there (beyond perhaps having only post-1918 buildings).
These, nevertheless, will be of interest to WW1 buffs I am sure.
There is nothing much to see at Marston Moor or Towton either,
but they are still worth visiting to let one's imagination run.
Many places on the Somme are like this. Most of the places on
the Marne, the Grand Morin and the Petit Morin are like this.
Of course it must be said that the choice of
entries in these pages is somewhat selective, it had to be if
only because of space, and it could be argued that a village
left out had as interesting a war as one put in that is nearby.
This will be true, absolutely true, but reading about or looking
at a village in, say, the Argonne, will give an indication of
what also went on nearby and in the area it is hoped.
This work is not intended to supplant existing
guides ; it is intended to supplement them and it presupposes
some knowledge of the Great War. If the traveller is in an area
where the war went on, it might be worthwhile to look at the
index of this work and see « if there is anywhere
or anything else » of interest nearby. For example
a journey off a well-known route in one of those guides to, say,
Fort Leveau will (this is said without hesitation) be more than
worthwhile. The few remarks on Leveau herein might add something
to a tour (will add something to a tour). It might well prompt
further interest. It is intended to do that.
A word or two more on the format of the work.
Contained in some of the entries are references to other places
which do not have an entry of their own, so do consult the index.
The arrangement for making the entries is one that has been adopted
by others and place names with more than one part to them (for
example Fere en Champenoise) appear as entries under their initial
letter. Many forts are mentioned. They appear in the same way,
in Section F. Behind most of the entries is a figure, and this
refers to a map whereon the place appears. Sometimes, however,
these figures are used when perhaps a tiny place does not appear
on the map, but the text will indicate where it is by referring
to a place that is on the map. The maps are intended to do no
more than give a rough guide to the location of a place or site.
Avery popular guide to a part of the Western Front was criticised
some years ago claiming that it covered all there was to see
(« All battle sites and monuments are included, even
to the smallest or the most modest »). No such claim
is made for this work (as a supplementary volume might show)
and, as said before, it is intended to add to what other guide
books have done. There are many tiny places in it, but there
are also major sites (Les Étonnoirs, De Vrede and the
Hartmannswillerkopf for example). If this work takes the reader
to any of them for the first time, then I am sure he or she will
be impressed and rewarded – I have said something to
this effect in at least one of the entries. The compiler of the
aforementioned (very) popular guide was criticised for not mentioning
the magnificent Michelin Guides which must have been of
inestimable help to her. I do so and say that the one on the
Marne was of particular help to me as was one of the Blue
Guides of the inter war years. I must finally add that a
few of the entries in this work, or versions of them, appeared
in various issues of Gun Fire. The whole idea for this
work, in fact, came from its occasional column « Before
Endeavours Fade ». Should anyone have any further
sites or places of interest to WW1 buffs I would be pleased to
add them to the formidable list of such things which have been
left out of this volume, and maybe include them in Gun Fire
and/or a supplementary volume to this one.
8 euros (code de commande
: 27513).
 [PEACOCK A.J.)] — Illustrations to Accompany
Notes on the Interpretation of Aeroplane Photographs. York, Smith & Son, [ca 1996]. In-8°
carré agrafé, 72 p., nombreuses illustrations,
traces de mouillure.
Il s'agit
du n° 36 de la revue Gunfire proposant la réimpression
d'un manuel d'instructions utilisé durant la Première
Guerre mondiale.
Introduction :
The Rev Leonard Rivett of York, a Second
World War flier, is an enthusiastic worker for and at the Elvington
Air Museum. He brought the enclosed volume along to Gun Fire
and we are very grateful to him and the Elvington authorities
for permission to reproduce what we think is a remarkable volume.
The original is not in very good condition, and the photographs
are printed in sepia. The book measures 30 cm by 34 cm and it
has had a number of owneis. A stamp on the fly leaf reveals that
it was once item 13 in the collection of the « Air
Defence Cadet Corps Squadron 116 A.H.G.S. »' (AHGS
is an abbreviation for York's Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School.)
Another stamp reveals it was once housed in the « Common
Room n° 1 School of Instruction for Infantry Officers »
and was filed as 32L. Plate 1 has been badly damaged, but has
been reset, and maybe it should be recorded that the hard cover
(with an « Elvington » reference of S31/22)
has a stick-on label declaring it is « For official
use only » and two references - (S.S.631.A.) and la/42982.A.
A note says it is « Series A » and some
text has been destroyed. The index has also been reset, as has
the title to Plates 2 and 3. These are rather poor, early photocopies
in the original. They are in marked constrast to the wonderful
illustrations that follow.
10 euros (code de commande
: 21640).
 The Penguin Book of First World War Prose. Edited and with an introduction by Jon Glover
and Jon Silkin. London, Penguin, 1990. In-8° collé,
XV, 619 p., couverture partiellement insolée.
En quatrième
de couverture :
Selections
from the letters, memoirs, autobiographies and fiction of the
First World War.
Edmund Blunden, Vera Brittain, Oskar Kokoschka,
Willa Cather, Jaroslav Hasek, Paul Klee and Ernest Hemingway
are among the contributors to this remarkable anthology, which
contains several translations commissioned especially for it
and draws its riches from Britain, Europe and America. Nearly
all of the authors participated in the Great War, whether in
battle or, like Rebecca West, on the home front. Most would probably
have agreed with Conrad who, when asked what he had believed
would happen after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, replied,
« Nothing ... It fitted with my ethical sense that
an act cruel and absurd should be also useless. »
Jon Glover and Jon Silkin have arranged their
selection to trace and record an evolving sense of the War's
moral, political and emotional impact. « For all the
writers War seems to have been an intensifying experience out
of which they asked what values, if any, inhered in human life.
They asked what kind of survival was possible – for whom
and for what end. These answers they made – many of
them tentative – remain relevant. »
« Their writing is sumptuous with
blood, shockingly articulate, often marvellously mad, now and
then bewilderingly serene and, seen collectively, a period-piece
extraordinary. The reader is likely to emerge from this glimpse
of it very shaken ... All the contributors, in their highly personal
ways, show that the war stimulated their pens as it ruined their
world. » (Ronald Blythe in the Sunday Times.)
« The editors have ... winnowed
out fresh and arresting memoirs of the holocaust ... Their anthology
can be read today with rapt attention - alas, with tears as well. »
(John Keegan in the Daily Telegraph.)
5 euros (code de commande
: PGM063).
 PERSHING
(John J.) — Mes souvenirs de la guerre. Tomes I et II (complet). Traduction par Ch.
Jacob. Paris, Plon, 1931 (mention de 6e et de 9e mille aux couvertures).
Deux volumes in-8° brochés, III, 424 et 400 p., planches
hors texte, index, cartes, ex-libris manuscrits aux pages de
titre, couvertures un peu défraîchies.
Avant-propos :
Ce
que je me suis proposé surtout en écrivant cette
histoire des American Expeditionary Forces, c'est de rendre
à mon pays ce que je crois être un service important.
La part que nous avons prise à la guerre
comporte, pour le peuple américain – si jamais
il devait recourir encore une fois aux armes – maints
enseignements qui pourraient lui être utiles, et que je
crois de mon devoir d'énumérer en racontant les
choses telles que je les ai vues.
La Guerre Mondiale nous a trouvés absorbés
dans les travaux de la paix ; nous n'avions nullement conscience
que notre sécurité pût être menacée.
Nous restions obstinément sourds à tout indice
annonçant un danger. À peine préparés
à nous défendre, nous ne l'étions pas du
tout pour attaquer ; de sorte que, quand nous dûmes
à notre tour entrer dans la guerre, il nous fallut, pour
faire face à ces réalités, changer toutes
nos habitudes de vie et d'esprit. Ce dont je me suis efforcé
de donner ici une idée, c'est du temps énorme qu'il
nous a fallu, – en dépit de notre force de volonté,
de notre énorme matière militaire et de nos richesses, –
pour effectuer ce changement, et pour appliquer les forces existant
chez nous en puissance aux problèmes de la guerre en Europe...
Voilà où résident surtout les enseignements
qui font l'objet de cet ouvrage.
Dès que le peuple américain eut
compris ses obligations, il envoya avec empressement ses fils
à la bataille. Avec une générosité
inlassable, il donna le meilleur de sa substance ; avec
une grande force d'âme, enfin, il fit tous les sacrifices
qui lui échurent en partage. Le peuple, lui aussi, a « servi » ;
et ses services furent tels qu'ils communiquèrent aux
armées l'ardeur qu'il fallait pour vaincre.
Je ne puis qu'être reconnaissant au Président
Wilson et au Secrétaire Baker de m'avoir choisi pour être
le chef de notre Armée, et pour m'avoir donné sans
réserve un appui qui jamais ne m'a manqué.
À mes camarades des Armées Alliées
je tiens à dire que je n'ai la prétention ni d'écrire
une histoire de la guerre mondiale, ni de mesurer la part qu'ils
y ont prise, – digne de l'épopée. Je
parle ici de notre armée et je parle de notre peuple,
sans chercher le moins du inonde, soit à magnifier, soit
à diminuer l'effort accompli par telle ou telle armée
ou par tel ou tel peuple. Pour nous tous, il y a de l'honneur
dans le triomphe final de nos armes unies. La lutte que soutinrent
les Alliés fut infiniment plus longue que la nôtre,
leurs sacrifices beaucoup plus grands que les nôtres.
Les hommes de tous rangs et de tous grades
qui ont servi avec moi en France ont ajouté une page éclatante
aux annales qui relatent les actes de dévouement accomplis
par les soldats américains pour servir leur patrie. Ce
modeste ouvrage ne saurait être que l'esquisse de l'émouvante
chronique de leurs exploits. Je ne crois pas qu'à aucun
chef ait été jamais donné le privilège
de commander une plus belle armée, ni qu'il ait été
donné à aucun chef de puiser de plus hautes inspirations
dans les actions accomplies par ses troupes.
Les deux volumes : 35
euros (code de commande : 22124).
 PIÉRARD
(Louis) — La Hollande
et la guerre. Paris, Librairie Militaire Berger-Levrault,
1917. In-12 broché, 93 p., (collection « Pages
d'Histoire 1914-1917 », 9e série, K), couverture
tachée, peu courant.
Table des matières
:
- Avant-propos.
- La Presse.
- La violation de la neutralité
belge.
- La mobilisation hollandaise.
- Le pangermanisme et la Hollande.
- Le sentiment populaire.
- La cour, l’armée, l’aristocratie.
- La Hollande et le blocus.
- La Mecque des pacifistes.
- Chez les socialistes.
- Internés et réfugiés
belges en Hollande.
- Dans les camps hollandais.
- Les Wallons d’Amersfoort.
- Les prisonniers d’Urk.
13 euros (code de commande
: 31417).
 [PLUMER
(Herbert)]. POWELL (Geoffrey) — Plumer. The Soldier's General. A Biographye of Field-Marshal
Viscount Plumer of Messines.
Barnsley, Pen & Sword Military Classics, 2004. In-8°
collé, 362 p., illustrations hors texte, bel exemplaire.
En quatrième
de couverture :
First
World War Generals tend to have dubious reputations and in group
photographs of the High Command on the Western Front, one figure
stands out as an archetypal Colonel Blimp – smart to a fault,
white hair, white moustache, pot-belly. This was Sir Herbert
Plumer.
But his appearance belies the fact that he
was one of the best-performing and best-regarded officers on
the Allied side. He was famously thoughtful of his men and sparing
of their lives. Though he never got on with Haig (Plumer had,
as an examiner, given Haig low marks at Staff College) and although
Haig considered removing him, Plumer proved indispensable during
the great German offensive of March 1918. Plumer's crowning glories
were the attack on Messines Ridge in 1917 and his successful
implementation of the « bite and hold »
strategy that contributed so much to final victory.
Viscount Plumer of Messines, as he became,
destroyed all his papers, but the distinguished historian Geoffrey
Powell has meticulously researched this biography, and has written
a lucid account of this undeservedly neglected hero which throws
fresh light on generalship on the Western Front.
8 euros (code de commande
: PGM049).
   POCHHAMMER
(Hans) — La dernière croisière de l’Amiral
Von Spee. Souvenirs de
l’escadre des croiseurs. Traduit
de l'allemand par R. Jouan. Paris, Payot, 1929. In-8° demi-toile
à coins, 224 p., illustrations hors texte, couverture
conservée, (« Collection de Mémoires, Études
et Documents pour servir à l’Histoire de la Guerre
Mondiale »), ex-libris d'Alexandre Berqueman (probablement
dessiné par Hergé).
Table des matières
:
Chapitre
I. À Tsing-Tao
La relève. - Changement
d'équipage. - Exercices. - Visite du croiseur-cuirassé
anglais Minotaur. - Notre colonie de Tsing-Tao. - L'escadre
des croiseurs en 1914. - la croisière du Pacifique.
Chapitre II. De Tsing-Tao à Trouk.
Le Gneisenau appareille.
- Nagasaki. - Dernier courrier. - Urakas. - Pagan. - Saipan.
- Rota. - L'atoll de Trouk. - Le Scharnorst rallie. -
Charbon. - Danse des indigènes.
Chapitre III. À Ponapé.
Inspection aux postes de
combat. - Prolongation de l'escale. - Le Djokadj. - Danger
de guerre menaçant. - Préparatifs de guerre. -
Déclaration de guerre. - Allocution du comte von Spee.
- Écoles à feu. - Embarquement du charbon.
Chapitre IV. En guerre.
Dernière journée
au port. - Marche vers Pagan. - Postes de veille. - Service divin.
- Notre situation, notre mission. - Constitution d’un train.
- L'Emden et le Prinz Eitel Friedrich rallient.
- Le Japon hostile. - Route vers l'est. - L'Emden détaché.
- Service de guerre. - L'Angleterre cause première de
la guerre.
Chapitre V. Aux île Marshall.
Charbonnage à Eniwetok.
- Nos embarcations en dérive. - « Un homme
à la mer ». - Le Nurnberg va à
Honolulu. - Alerte ! - Séjour à Majuro. -
Le Cormoran rallie. - Nouvelles de Tsing-Tao. - Le Cormoran
et le Prinz Eitel Friedrich se séparent.
Chapitre VI. Devant Samoa et Tahiti.
La grande importance de nos
colonies du Pacifique. - L'Amérique se rangera-t-elle
à nos côtés ? - Retour du Nurnberg.
- Nouvelles du pays. - Journaux américains. - Charbonnage
devant l’île Christmas. - Le Nurnberg coupe
le câble de Fanning. - Avance sur Samoa. - Baptême
de la ligne. - Devant Apia. - Bombardement de Papeete, à
Tahiti.
Chapitre VII. Aux îles Marquises
devant l'île de Pâques.
Charbonnage à Nukuhiwa.
- Le Gneisenau devant Hiwava. - Marche vers l’île
de Pâques. - Le Dresden et le Leipzig rallient
l'escadre. - Deux morts. - Anniversaire de la Kaiserin.
Chapitre VIII. La bataille de Coronel.
Arrivée devant la
côte américaine. - Renseignement : un croiseur
léger anglais se trouve à Coronel. - Route vers
le sud. - Découverte et poursuite de l'ennemi. - « Branle-bas
de combat ! » - La bataille : le Good
Hope brûle. - Tombée de la nuit. - Ordre aux
croiseurs légers de rechercher l'ennemi. - Destruction
du Monmouth. - Remerciements de l'amiral.
Chapitre IX. Au large et à Valparaiso.
24 heures à Valparaiso.
- Enthousiasme des Allemands. - Rapide visite de la ville. -
Halte devant Mas à Fuera. - Charbonnage sur des voiliers.
- « Alerte ! » - Tsing-Tao est tombé !
Chapitre X. Autour du cap Horn.
Marche vers le froid. - Journaux
allemands. - Séjour dans le golfe de Penas. - Trois cents
croix de fer. - Mauvais temps. - Cap Horn. - Iceberg et voilier.
- Mouillage à l’île Picton. - Les îles
Falklands.
Chapitre XI. La bataille des îles Falklands.
Atterrissage sur les îles
Falklands. - L'ennemi en vue. - Cessation de l'opération.
- Poursuite de l'ennemi. - Les croiseurs de bataille anglais.
- « Ordre aux croiseurs légers de s'échapper ».
- Le combat s'engage. - Suspension du feu. - La bataille d'anéantissement.
- La destruction du Scharnhorst. - la fin du Gneisenau.
- Les Anglais recueillent les survivants.
Chapitre XII. Après la bataille.
Vie sur les navires anglais.
- Vers l'Angleterre, sur le Macedonia. - Le sort des croiseurs
légers. - Une lettre de l'amiral Sturdee. - Dans un camp
de prisonniers. - Retour de l’auteur en Allemagne. - Lancement
du croiseur de bataille Graf von Spee. - Conclusion.
19
euros (code de commande : 30237).
 REID
(Walter) — To Arras, 1917. A
Volunteer's Odyssey. East Lothian,
2003. In-8° collé, 198 p., illustrations hors
texte, exemplaire en très bel état.
En quatrième
de couverture :
To Arras, 1917 is the true and poignant
account of the life and death of a young Scottish officer, pinned
down and fatally wounded in no-man's land on the first day of
the Battle of Arras, on Easter Monday, 1917.
Ernest Reid's background was in the serious,
purposeful life of a professional family in Victorian and Edwardian
Scotland. His idealism made him, like so many others, into a
soldier, and took him to the Western Front. His time there and
the battles he fought in are described against an up-to-date
interpretation of the military history of the Great War.
The synthesis of his high principles and the
events that unrolled from Sarajevo found Ernest, a company commander
in the Black Watch and a veteran of the Somme at the age of twenty,
advancing through the snow on 9 April 1917, leading his men into
Railway Triangle.
This gripping narrative creates a mood of sombre
inevitability. It does not just set out the events of Captain
Ernest Reid's life, but also describes the cultural influences
– the code of duty, an unquestioning patriotism –
that moulded him and his contemporaries for service and sacrifice
in the killing fields of France and Flanders. In retrospect,
he and they seem almost programmed for the role they were required
to play, and in that lies the pathos that is at the heart of
this moving book.
8 euros (code de commande
: PGM014).
 [RICHTHOFEN (Manfred von)]. KILDUFF (Peter)
— Talking with The Red Baron. « Interviews » with Manfred
von Richthofen. London, Brassey's,
2003. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette d'éditeur, 208 p.,
illustrations hors texte, exemplaire en parfait état.
Sur la jaquette :
He
remains the most famous military flyer of all time. Manfred von
Richthofen – the famous Red Baron – not only
became a legend in his own lifetime but has remained so ever
since. Somehow his exploits in the fragile, slow « stringbags »
of World War I portray greater daring, generate more charisma
and stimulate more debate than those of the dogfighters and bomber
crews of World War II and the high-tech machines of more
recent times.
Indeed, many of us would relish the opportunity
to talk with this cavalier of early flying to see what made him
so special and so notorious. Now, in this intriguing new approach
to biographical study, we can come as close to him as we ever
will.
Peter Kilduff, a noted aviation historian and acknowledged expert
on the German ace, creates a war correspondent to follow the
great flyer as his career develops, asking questions as he trains,
learns from colleagues, works on his flying techniques, enjoys
success and adulation, suffers setbacks and is severely wounded.
Crucially, the words 'spoken' by the Red Baron are based entirely
on his own writings, those of his brother and other contemporaries,
and on squadron records and air logs ; there is no surmise
or invention.
This is biography with immediacy, and those
who are fascinated by daring lives will delight in this ground-breaking
style of historical study, whilst specialist historians will
come to « know » Manfred von Richthofen
as they have never done before.
13 euros (code de commande
: 21666).
 ROBERTSON
(William) — Conduite générale de la guerre.
Chefs militaires et hommes politiques 1914-1918. Traduit de l'anglais par André Cogniet.
Paris, Payot, 1929. In-8° broché, 623 p., (collection
de « Mémoires, Études et Documents pour
Servir à l'Histoire de la Guerre Mondiale »),
cachet humide de bibliothèque sur la couverture et la
page de titre.
Préface :
Les
vastes problèmes que les militaires et les hommes politiques
britanniques ont été appelés à résoudre
de concert en 1914-1918, auraient, en toutes circonstances mis
à l’épreuve la plus sérieuse l'habileté
et la patience de ces deux groupes. Ces problèmes ont
été d'autant plus difficiles à résoudre
que la guerre a été commencée avec des moyens
insuffisants et que personne n'avait réfléchi suffisamment
en temps de paix à l'organisation du gouvernement et du
haut Commandement militaire pour la conduite d’une guerre.
Pendant des mois, et même pendant des années après
ce mois d'août 1914, ces difficultés sont venues
empêtrer l'examen sérieux de presque toutes les
questions où une décision était à
prendre. Et nous devons bien garder ce fait en mémoire
si nous voulons comprendre correctement les opérations
militaires ou apprécier justement le triomphe final.
Jusqu'en décembre 1915 j’ai été
employé en France, d'abord en qualité de quartier
maître général, puis en qualité de
chef de l'État-Major de l'armée en campagne ;
mes rapports avec la Direction suprême de la guerre n'ont
donc été avant cette date que locaux et occasionnels.
Cependant ces premiers moments de précipitation et d'efforts
violents ont été ceux où les défauts
de notre machinerie guerrière se sont fait le plus vivement
sentir. J’ai donc cru bon de parler des principaux événements
de la guerre, depuis le premier jour, et de ne pas me restreindre
à la période particulière (décembre
1915 - février 1918) où comme Chef de l'État
Major-Général de l'empire britannique, j’ai
moi-même rempli les fonctions de conseiller militaire en
chef du gouvernement et d'agent d'exécution de ses décisions.
Le récit qui va suivre ne reposera,
par conséquent, pas entièrement sur ce qui est
venu à ma connaissance directe ; j’ai dû
le compléter en ayant recours à d'autres sources,
principalement pour les opérations aux Dardanelles et
en Mésopotamie. Je n'ai eu d'autres rapports avec l'expédition
dans la presqu'île de Gallipoli, que d'en assurer l'évacuation,
mais j'ai pris mes renseignements principalement dans les rapports
de la commission d’enquête sur la campagne des Dardanelles.
En ce qui concerne les premiers stages de la campagne en Mésopotamie,
je me suis servi des rapports de la commission d’enquête
et de l'histoire officielle.
En dehors de ces exceptions le récit
ne concerne guère que des matières dont j’ai
eu la propre expérience. Je me suis efforcé d'y
montrer les vues de l'État-Major Général
telles qu'elles ont été exprimées sur le
moment même, et non pas celles qui se sont formées
une fois l'événement passé. Comme on le
sait, ce n’est pas chose facile. Pour y parvenir le mieux
possible, et pour permettre ainsi au lecteur de se rendre compte
par lui-même des avis d'après lesquels le gouvernement
a agi, et des difficultés, militaires et ministérielles,
existantes, j’ai cité largement les documents écrits
par moi-même ou les membres de mon État-Major, au
moment où les différents problèmes étaient
à l'étude. L'excellent travail accompli par les
Directeurs du Service des Opérations et du Service des
Renseignements (les généraux Sir Frederick Maurice
et Sir George Macdonogh) et par les officiers placés sous
leurs ordres en préparant ces importants papiers d'État
n'a pas seulement servi à moi, mais encore a été
de la plus grande utilité au pays.
Il est très probable qu'on dira, comme
on l'a déjà souvent dit, que les renseignements
recueillis par des fonctionnaires dans l'exercice de leurs emplois
doit être considéré comme confidentiel. Mais
si l'on considère la quantité et la nature des
renseignements de cette sorte déjà publiés
par des Premiers Ministres, des Ministres des Affaires Etrangères,
des Amiraux, des Généraux et tant d'autres, il
semble que cette prétention ne peut plus subsister. En
outre les règles et coutumes appliquées ordinairement
au secret des renseignements officiels, peuvent à peine
s'appliquer aux conditions spéciales de la Grande Guerre.
Ce livre d'ailleurs ne parle que d'événements
dont le plus récent n'a pas moins de huit ans d'âge.
Autant qu'on peut le croire, révéler des documents
ou des discussions jadis tenus pour confidentiels ne peut léser,
à mon avis, aucun intérêt public d'aujourd'hui.
Au contraire ce doit être un bénéfice et
non un dommage pour l'État que de rapporter les expériences
acquises par l'État-Major Général de l’Empire
Britannique, dans la première guerre où il a été
mis à l’épreuve : ce sera un guide pour les
générations futures de soldats et d'hommes politiques.
Et il me semble que ce rapport ne peut être mieux établi
que par quelqu'un qui a lui-même subi l’épreuve
de ces expériences et qui, au point de vue militaire,
en portait la responsabilité. Or il arrive que j’ai
occupé le poste de G. E. M. G. I. pendant plus do la moitié
de la durée de la guerre et que des quatre autres officiers
qui l'ont occupé pendant l'autre moitié, trois
sont morts depuis. Par suite, avec la seule exception de Sir
Archibald Murray, qui a été G. E. M. G. I. pendant
trois mois, je suis le seul capable d'établir ce rapport.
Enfin il faut que je rappelle au lecteur que
l'histoire « intérieure » d’une
guerre ne se trouve que rarement dans les récits officiels
de cette guerre. Pour une raison ou pour une autre, on n'y laisse
pas publier certaines parties de l'histoire. Et tandis que les
opérations elles-mêmes y sont ordinairement décrites
en grand, et souvent fastidieux.... détail on n'y parle
pas souvent des questions de haute politique, – particulièrement
quand elles ont abouti à un échec, –
et c’est sur la décision prise sur ces questions
que les opérations ont dû être basées.
On nous raconte ce qui a été fait, mais on ne nous
dit pas toujours pourquoi on l'a fait, ou qui a été
responsable de ce qui a été fait.
En outre, quelques parties de l'histoire, – et
parfois les plus importantes, – peuvent ne pas parvenir
à la connaissance de l'historien officiel, parce qu'on
n'en a pas conservé trace. J'en pourrai donner des exemples
en ce qui concerne la dernière guerre. Remplir ces vides,
et aider ainsi l'historien de l'avenir à placer à
leur juste perspective les éléments étonnants
de 1914-1918, est un but complémentaire que ce livre doit
dans une certaine mesure permettre d'atteindre.
20 euros (code de commande
: 31446).
 ROBINSON
(Dereck) — War Story. London,
Cassell & Co, 2002. In-8° collé, 344 p.,
(collection « Cassel Military Paperbacks »).
En quatrième
de couverture :
Fresh
from the playing fields of Sherborne, Oliver Paxton enters the
Royal Flying Corps in 1916 a nai've young patriot. Pompous, foolish
and enthusiastic, he is determined to prove himself to and country.
But two months in the skies over the Somme
change all that. The terrible reality of aerial combat, coupled
with the lax morals and casual cruelty of his fellow pilots,
slowly takes its toll, and gradually the patriotic Paxton becomes
as disillusioned as those who surround him.
Writtenby Booker Prize nominee Derek Robinson,
War Story is both a thrilling novel and a frightening
exposé of the absurdities of the First World War.
6 euros (code de commande
: 21156).
 ROUQUEROL (général Jean-Joseph)
— La Main de Massiges 1914-1918. Paris, Payot, 1933. In-8° broché,
199 p., trois croquis, (collection « Mémoires,
Études et Documents pour servir à l'Histoire de
la Guerre Mondiale »), ex-libris manuscrit à
la page de titre.
Avant-propos :
Les
régiments du corps d'armée colonial poursuivant
les Allemands en retraite après la bataille de la Marne
stoppaient en Champagne le 14 septembre 1914 devant une hauteur
d'où l'ennemi leur faisait tète de toutes ses armes.
Cette position paraissait formidable. Elle
était anonyme sur les cartes où son contour rappelait
grossièrement une main gauche renversée. Le village
le plus voisin s'appelait Massiges.
Le besoin d'un nom pour désigner une
colline dont l'intérêt venait subitement de se révéler
faisait entrer naturellement « la Main de Massiges »
dans le vocabulaire des ordres et comptes rendus locaux. L'âpreté
des combats dont elle devait devenir le théâtre,
le sang dont elle a été arrosée, les souffrances
endurées dans la boue de ses tranchées, la ruineuse
guerre de mines développée dans son sous-sol témoignent
hautement du prix attaché à sa possession par les
deux adversaires. Ainsi devait être consacré dans
l'histoire un nom créé par la fantaisie des combattants.
Sur l'immense front de la mer du Nord à
la Suisse, les événements ont fait distinguer les
théâtres d'opérations des Flandres, de l'Artois,
de la Somme, de la Champagne, etc.. La Main de Massiges a été
un des principaux témoins des combats épiques livrés
sur le théâtre de Champagne. Elle y a souvent joué
un rôle important, en raison de sa situation de bastion
flanquant le front ennemi et couvrant ses communications avec
le Nord-Est. Les Allemands en ont fait progressivement une forteresse
hérissée de tranchées, de mitrailleuses,
de canons, pourvue d'abris nombreux profonds et confortables.
Nos ennemis étaient, sans doute, fixés
d'avance sur l'importance de la Main de Massiges dont Gœthe,
en 1792, avait remarqué le site dominant. Ils l'ont appelée
« die Bergnase », littéralement
le « Nez de la Montagne ».
Ces détails semblent contredire l'affirmation
du général von Falkenhayn d'après laquelle
le front de ses armées stabilisées n'a été
déterminé que d'après les emplacements des
troupes au moment où l'ordre de faire tête à
la poursuite les a touchées. Les états-majors allemands
qui savaient leur métier avaient sûrement repéré
pendant la retraite les localités susceptibles d'être
organisées en points d'appui. Le front a été,
par suite, jalonné par des positions remplissant ces conditions.
Mais l'observation du général von Falkenhayn peut
s'appliquer à leurs intervalles.
La Main de Massiges a suivi toutes les fluctuations
de la guerre sur le front de Champagne dont elle est devenue
le pilier du côté de l'Est. Les événements
dont elle a été le théâtre sont, par
suite, étroitement liés aux opérations développées
dans la région dont le résumé devient ainsi
indispensable à l'intelligence de notre étude.
Les offensives de Champagne en 1915 ont été
l'objet de nombreuses critiques, parfois sévères,
au cours même des hostilités.
Il ne semble pas que la guerre ait fait surgir,
dans l'un ou l'autre parti, un de ces hommes qui devancent leur
époque pour la conduire. Il n'est, en outre, pas douteux
que les responsables de la préparation à la guerre
ne se sont pas rendu un compte exact de ses exigences.
Les critiques d'événements révolus
sont toujours faciles. Ce sont des enseignements. Ces pages en
contiennent.
Mais quand on regarde avec le recul du temps
les déconcertantes surprises réservées en
1914-1915 au chef des armées et au ministre de la Guerre,
on ne peut qu'admirer les hommes qui, chargés de responsabilités
formidables, devant les plus terribles mécomptes, ont
conservé leur sang-froid et l'esprit lucide. Leur volonté
est demeurée inaccessible au découragement qui
faisait faiblir autour d'eux les âmes moins bien trempées.
C'est pour de tels caractères qu'Horace
écrivit jadis l'ode célèbre commençant
par ces vers :
Justum et tenaeem propositi
virum
Non eivium ardor prava jubentium
Non vultus instantis tyranni
Mente quatit solida, neque
Auster Dux inquieti turbidus
Adriœ
Nec fulminatus magna anus
Jovis.
Si fractus illabatur orbis
Impavidum ferient ruinœ.
[L'homme juste et ferme dans ses desseins,
à l'âme bien trempée, n'est pas ébranlé
par les malsaines objurgations de la presse, par les menaces
de l'opposition, par la tempête et les foudres de Jupiter.
Que le monde s'écroule, ses ruines le frappent sans l'émouvoir.]
20 euros (code de commande
: 30574).
 SHERMER (David) — La Grande Guerre 1914-1918.
Introduction de A.J.P.
Taylor. S.l., Cathay, 1977. In-4° broché, 256 p.,
nombreuses illustrations en noir et en couleurs.
Table des matières
:
- Introduction.
- La conflagration éclate.
- La guerre se déchaîne.
- Affrontements à l'Est - Tannenberg
et la Serbie.
- La guerre s'étend.
- Flotte et armées se heurtent.
- L'Italie : l'égoïsme en
guerre.
- De Verdun à la Somme.
- L'imbroglio oriental.
- Batailles navales et tentatives de paix.
- L'Amérique intervient.
- Soulèvement et chaos en Russie.
- Idéalisme et poursuite de la
guerre.
- Les deux camps jouent le tout pour le
tout.
- Le Combat final : les Puissances centrales
s'effondrent.
- Versailles, la paix tragique.
12 euros (code de commande
: 23917).
 SMITH
(Gaddis) — Britain's Clandestine Submarines 1914-1915.
Hamden, Archon Books, 1975.
In-8° sous reliure et jaquette d'éditeur, VI, 155 p.,
illustrations hors texte.
Sur la jaquette :
An
unusual historical detective story, this book traces a significant
episode of the early months of World War I - an episode that
revealed much concerning the history of American neutrality,
Canadian national aspirations, and British efforts to cope with
the problems of war and the confusing impact of the submarine
on the royal navy.
In 1914, Charles Schwab, President and Chairman
of the Board of Bethlehem Steel, announced that he would cancel
a contract to build submarines for Britain because President
Woodrow Wilson was convinced the operation would violate American
neutrality. Schwab's subsequent – and contrary –
actions set off a number of diplomatic, political, and economic
problems that, according to Gaddis Smith, both strained and helped
to define the relationship between Canada, Great Britain, and
the United States.
The special nature of the North Atlantic Triangle,
and how it changed and grew, is at the heart of this book. Mr.
Smith stresses the importance of the industrial network linking
all three countries, and explores the near-break in English-Canadian
relations that almost resulted from the submarine incident. The
contrasting attitudes towards neutrality in American government
circles are detailed, and Charles Schwab, who manipulated all
three governments for huge corporate profits, emerges as an influential
figure who, paradoxically, was the only one involved who understood
the nature of the Triangle and how to make use of it.
What the submarines did, when they eventually
sailed from Canada in 1915, was not important to the course of
the war. It was their conception, manufacture, and delivery-with
all the attendant international implications-that sparked the
real story Mr. Smith has told here. This is a reprint of the
original edition, which was published in 1964.
15 euros (code de commande
: PGM038).
 SPINDLER
(Karl) — Le Vaisseau Fantôme. Épisode du complot de sir Robert Casement
et de la révolte irlandaise de Pâques 1916. Traduit de l'allemand par R. Jouan. Paris,
Payot, 1929. In-8° broché, 239, (« Collection
de Mémoires, Études et Documents pour Servir à
l'Histoire de la Guerre Mondiale »), ex-libris manuscrit
à la couverture.
En quatrième
de couverture :
Le
présent livre n'est pas une œuvre d'imagination romanesque
mais le récit tout net d'événements vécus
par moi – des faits sans enjolivement et qui ne sont malheureusement
que trop vrais. Il fournit la première relation authentique
du début de la révolution irlandaise de Pâques
1916 en tant qu'elle concerne Sir Roger Casement. Ce qui m'est
arrivé en tant que commandant du Libau et, par
la suite, durant ma captivité en Angleterre, contient
assez de romanesque en soi pour que le simple récit des
faits suffise à satisfaire le lecteur le plus friand de
récits d'aventures et principalement les jeunes gens.
Les journaux étrangers, les anglais
surtout, ont parlé pendant des mois de l'opération
du Libau à l'occasion de la révolte irlandaise.
L'imagination se donna alors libre carrière, les documents
authentiques faisant défaut. Le gouvernement britannique
seul, grâce à son remarquable service d'espionnage,
sut quelque chose de plus précis mais, pour d'excellentes
raisons, il le garda pour lui. Un peu avant ou bien un peu après
que j'eusse quitté les eaux allemandes avec le Libau
pour aller porter à l'Irlande révoltée contre
l'Angleterre des armes et des munitions, le gouvernement de Londres
connaissait déjà le plan allemand dans tous ses
détails. D'après les rapports anglais il est irréfutablement
établi que Wilson lui-même (qui à ce moment-là
était encore soi-disant neutre) avait averti l'Angleterre
de l'arrivée du Libau. Selon une information de
la Koelnische Zeitung, des papiers auraient été
volés dans le métropolitain, à Washington,
au secrétaire d'ambassade v. J., papiers qui se rapportaient
à nos plans secrets relatifs à l'Irlande !
Si je suis parvenu, malgré cela, à forcer les lignes
de surveillance anglaises du Cattegat, du Skagerrak, de la mer
du Nord et de l'Atlantique septentrional et à gagner la
côte irlandaise, c'est surtout au dévoûment
et au zèle de mon équipage que je le dois. L'histoire
du « vaisseau fantôme », du nouveau
« Hollandais volant », comme on nous appela
alors, passionna l'Angleterre pendant des mois et nous pouvons
nous vanter d'avoir causé bien du souci aux Anglais !
Afin de détruire des affirmations controuvées
et les faux bruits qui ont circulé, particulièrement
à l'étranger, sur mon opération en Irlande
et sur sa préparation, je crois nécessaire d'insister
sur les trois points suivants :
1° L'Allemagne avait
le droit, internationalement parlant, de soutenir les Irlandais
dans leur lutte d'affranchissement.
2° Contrairement à
l'opinion anglaise admise jusqu'à ce jour, notre Kaiser
n'a ni conçu l'opération, ni poussé à
son exécution.
3° Si mon opération
n'a malheureusement pu être menée à bonne
fin, c'est uniquement à cause d'une indigne trahison.
Bien entendu on ne put rien publier en Allemagne,
pendant la guerre, au sujet de cette affaire. Tout aveu de notre
part, ou de la part de notre gouvernement, que nous voulions
faire cause commune avec les Irlandais, nous aurait infailliblement
coûté la tête car le soi-disant « droit
international », comme je l'ai déclaré
ailleurs, n'était déjà plus à ce
moment qu'un mot vide de sens, les Anglais l'ayant depuis longtemps
jeté au rebut. Le gouvernement allemand d'après-guerre
n'avait naturellement plus aucun intérêt à
publier quelque chose sur cette affaire d'Irlande déjà
vieille de deux ans. C'est ce qui explique qu'on n'ait, autant
dire, rien su de notre opération jusqu'à aujourd'hui.
Si je publie aujourd'hui ce livre, plusieurs
années après l'ignominieuse exécution de
Sir Roger Casement en Angleterre, ce n'est nullement pour enrichir
la collection des nombreuses « révélations »
de ces derniers temps, mais seulement parce que c'est pour moi
un devoir et un besoin d'exposer sous cette forme ce que doivent
à la petite et vaillante troupe qui m'accompagna alors
l'Allemagne et aussi le peuple irlandais pour lequel ils ont
risqué leur vie et souffert.
15 euros (code de commande
: PGM060).
 STONE
(Christopher) — From Vimy Ridge to the Rhine. The Great War Letters of Christopher Stone DSO
MC. Edited by GD Sheffield
and GIS Inglis. Marlborough, The Crowood Press, 1989.
In-8° sous reliure et jaquette d'éditeur, 172 p.,
quelques illustrations hors texte, trace de mouillure.
Sur la jaquette :
In
September 1914 Christopher Stone volunteered as a private soldier
for active service in the British Army. No longer young, this
literary, bespectacled Old Etonian, brother-in-law of Compton
Mackenzie, nevertheless went on to win the DSO and the MC while
serving as a signalling officer in the 22nd Royal Fusiliers.
This book is based on his almost daily letters
which he wrote from the front to his wife Alyce, his elder by
almost 20 years. Here, skilfully edited with extensive footnotes,
they give us a rare and moving picture of a sensitive man living
through tumultuous events. From the letters we learn much of
Stone the man, and of how this somewhat unmilitary middle-class
Englishman came to endure the horrors of trench warfare and the
loss of many friends.
By the end of the Great War, Stone was serving
with the Divisional Staff and witnessed perhaps the cruellest
irony of all - the disasterous flu epidemic of 1918-19. He wrote:
« It's as if Death were gleaning through the battlefields
to gather the few who should have been chosen earlier in the
harvest. »
During the late 1920s and early 1930s Christopher
Stone achieved national fame as a presenter of gramophone records
on the BBC, becoming, according to his obituary, 'the first disc
jockey'. He died in 1965, aged 82.
Unlike many accounts of World War One, this
collection is taken directly from original material of the time
and thus retains its spontaneity. As a professional writer of
some standing, Stone captures in a unique and stylish way the
daily routines of war on the Western Front, and the reality of
life in the trenches.
5 euros (code de commande
: PGM093).
 THOMAS (Lowell) — The Sea Devil's Fo'c'sle.
New York, Garden City, 1929.
In-8° sous reliure toilée d'éditeur, XI, 300 p.,
quelques illustrations hors texte, couverture défraîchie.
Table des matières
:
I. Light
your pipes, mates, and pull up your sea chests.
II. We stole the eggs and the captain killed
the rooster.
III. The two knots on tante Mimi's head, and
walking the ties in quest of Buffalo Bill.
IV. Jails I have known, and a battle royal
in an Argentine saloon.
V. It was a dark and stormy night, and
the pilot was a ghost.
VI. The Sea Devil discourses on prayer, and
they sailed the sea in a coffin.
VII. Girl stowaways and skippers' wives, and
the girl in the chain locker.
VIII. Drifting across the Pacific with dead
men's bones for a crew.
IX. The nigger got religion and they were going
to throw him overboard.
X. The salt of the sea in the life of an old
Jack Tar.
XI. And he learned about monkeys from
me.
XII. A bottle of beer and Limburger cheese,
and the sulphuric acid in the hair tonic.
XIII. It may be grand opera for some but it's
yo ho ho and a bottle o' rum for me.
XIV. When the Kaiser called me in to entertain
the king of Italy.
XV. Dirty work in the Secret Service, and the
king of England's gold watches.
XVI. The Battle of Jutland from the turret
of S.M.S. Kronprinz.
XVII. Christmas day in the blockade, the « Taipus »
of the south seas, and the spiders of a New Zealand jail.
XVIII. He thought I was the king and that the
flunkies where marshals of the court.
XIX. The stealing of the nose of the beautiful
countess of Königsmark.
XX. And so we founded a new German Navy.
XXI. I become a doctor of philosophy.
8 euros (code de commande
: 23115).
 TRANIN (Edmond) — Les rouliers
de la mer. Préface de M. Georges Leygues. Paris,
payot, 1928. In-8° demi-relire toilée à coins,
223 p., (Collection de mémoires, études et documents
pour servir à l'histoire de la guerre mondiale"),
couverture conservée.
16 euros (code de commande
: 1GM14).
 TURNER (E.S.) — Dear Old Blighty. London, Michael joseph, 1980. In-8° sous
reliure et jaquette (dont un rabat est partiellement découpé)
d'éditeur, 288 p., illustrations hors texte.
Le chapitre « Hallucinations »,
pp. 52-64 est notamment consacré à la légende
des anges de Mons.
Sur la jaquette :
What was life really like in Britain in
1914-18 ? The rumble of the barrage in Flanders was heard
in the southern counties, disturbing schoolboys at their classes,
providing a deadly accompaniment for the arms workers on their
summer holidays. Year in, year out, the population which supposedly
practised business as usual was distracted by spy fever and increasingly
bizarre rumours.
What was the Unseen Hand which held back Britain's
victory ? Was it a conspiracy of traitors, or some supremely
diabolic individual ? What was the menace the press called
Boloism ? And what were the nameless sins committed in the
capital as the war neared its end ?
E. S. Turner offers some astonishing glimpses
of a nation under stress : blind men recruited to listen
for Zeppelins ; surprise round-ups of train travellers in
a search for « slackers » ; Whitehall's
propagandists sowing dissension between sweethearts ; married
men and bachelors at loggerheads over conscription; parents with
eight, ten and twelve sons in khaki ; bereaved women flocking
to a notorious 'prayer shop' in Regent Street; the bestseller
which revealed that newly dead subalterns could order cigars
and whisky-and-sodas on the Other Side ; and the sad trick
played on the King, who was persuaded to give up drink for the
duration, thus setting an example which hardly anybody followed.
8 euros (code de commande
: 21488).
 TURNER (William) — Accrington Pals Trail. Barnsley, Leo Cooper, 1988. In-8° collé,
192 p., illustrations, (collection « Battlegroung
Europe »), exemplaire en bel état.
Table des matières
:
-
Foreword, by Peter Liddle.
- Author's Introduction.
Chapter 1. Private Fred Sayer's Story : August
1914 -March 1916.
Chapter 2. The Somme : March 1916 - December
1916.
Chapter 3. A Relatively Quiet Year : January
1917 - December 1917.
Chapter 4. An Eventful Year : January 1918
- December 1918.
Chapter 5. The « Pals Industry ».
Chapter 6. The Pals Trail in Accrington.
Chapter 7. The Pals Trail in Lancashire.
Chapter 8. Camps & Billets in England &
Wales - and Egypt.
- Cemeteries, Memorials and Men.
- Index.
10 euros (code de commande
: 28716).
 VAN EMDEN (Richard) — The Trench. Experiencing Life on the Front Line. 1916. London, Corgi Books, 2002. In-8° collé,
301 p., illustrations hors texte, bel exemplaire.
En quatrième
de couverture :
A
vivid and harrowing recreation of life in the trenches of the
Great War.
What did it feel like to be a soldier on the
Front Line in 1916 ? What was it like to see the trenches
for the first time ? What did you do to pass the time once
you got there ? How did you deal with trench routine ?
And the deaths of your friends ? How did you treat injuries ?
Or trench foot ? Or lice ? What did you eat ?
How did you sleep ?
How did you stay alive ?
The Trench recreates the experience
of day-to-day life for soldiers during the First World War. Based
on many hours of original research and interviews with veterans,
as well as extant records which describe daily events in extraordinary
detail, its aim is to present an accurate picture of how it actually
felt to be in the Front Line in 1916.
Awe-inspiring and deeply moving first-hand
testimony from veterans of the Great War combines with the experiences
of the modern day volunteers who occupied a specially reconstructed
trench in northern France to bring us face-to-face with the unimaginable
daily tragedies of the conflict and offer a profound new insight
into the realities of war.
5 euros (code de commande
: PGM062).
 [VON
BÜLOW (Bernhard)] — Mémoires du chancelier
Prince de Bülow.
Tome 1er : 1897-1902. Le
secrétariat d'État des Affaires étrangères
et les premières années de chancellerie. Tome
II : 1902-1909. Du renouvellement de la Triplice jusqu'à
sa démission de chancelier. Tome III : 1909-1919.
La Grande Guerre et la Débâcle. Tome IV : 1849-1896.
Sa jeunesse et sa carrière de diplomate. Traduction
de Henri Bloch et Paul Roques. Paris, Plon, 1931-1949
(mentions de 23e, 28e, 17e et 17emille sur les couvertures).
Quatre volumes in-8° brochés, 494, 525, 346 et 527
p., illustrations hors texte, rousseurs éparses, petits
manques au dos du 1er volume, non coupés, bon exemplaire.
Avertissement des éditeurs
de l'édition française :
En
1920, le prince de Bülow fit prévenir la maison Ullstein
de son intention d'écrire ses Mémoires et de son
désir de lui en confier la publication. Un contrat fut
signé le 15 janvier 1921, stipulant que ces Mémoires
ne pourraient être publiés qu'après la mort
de l'auteur. Le manuscrit fut établi sous la dictée
du prince en 1921-26. Pendant les années suivantes, l'auteur
procéda à des suppressions et à des additions,
toutes certifiées exactes et signées de sa main.
Le manuscrit en triple exemplaire se trouvait
dûment cacheté dans le coffre-fort d'une banque,
d'où il fut retiré après le décès
du prince le 28 octobre 1929, et remis à la maison Ullstein.
Il fut mis en mains bientôt après
sous la surveillance de M. de Stockhammern, directeur honoraire
au Ministère, et exécuteur testamentaire littéraire
du prince.
La publication des Mémoires se fera
dans l'ordre même où ils ont été écrits :
le prince de Bülow a rédigé d'abord ses souvenirs
politiques, depuis le moment où il fut appelé au
Secrétariat d'État des Affaires étrangères
jusqu'à la débâcle qui suivit la Grande Guerre ;
il n'y a ajouté que plus tard les souvenirs de sa jeunesse
et de ses débuts dans la diplomatie, qui formeront le
quatrième et dernier volume de ses Mémoires.
En de nombreux passages, le prince de Bülow
parle en termes extrêmement sévères des hommes
politiques qui ont dirigé l'Allemagne après la
Révolution. M. de Stockhammern, ayant constaté
dans ses conversations journalières avec Bülow un
changement progressif dans les appréciations du prince
sur les événements et les hommes de la Révolution,
s'était demandé s'il ne supprimerait pas certaines
de ses attaques contre Ebert et autres hommes politiques.
Mais M. de Slockhammern étant mort le
2? février 1930, la maison Ullstein jugea que le contrat
signé avec Bülow leur imposait de n'apporter aucune
modification au manuscrit original.
L'ouvrage paraît donc en allemand, tel
que le prince l'a écrit.
L'édition française a été
allégée par la suppression de quelques passages
sur des questions proprement allemandes et d'ordre secondaire,
offrant peu d'intérêt pour les Français.
Les quatre volumes :
45 euros (code de commande : 28026).
 WADE (Aubrey) — The War of the Guns.
Western Front, 1917 &
1918. New York - London, Scribner's
Sons - Batsford, 1936. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette (défraîchie)
d'éditeur, XVII, 142 p., 122 illustrations photographiques
hors texte, soulignements et traits marginaux à l'encre
rouge.
En quatrième
de couverture :
The
ordinary publishers' « puff » would seem
inappropriate on the dust jacket of this volume ; Mr. Wade's
simple narrative, and the photographs that accompany it, speak
only too plainly for themselves. Amongthe latter, some subjects
have been included which under ordinary circumstances might be
considered unnecessarily brutal. But the times demand a frank
statement on the subject of War and its horrors, and it is felt
that if their publication can serve to advance the cause of Peace
in any way, however small, something will have been accomplished.
15 euros (code de commande
: 26071).
 WEIR (Alec) — Come On Highlanders !
Glasgow Territorials
in the Great War. Stroud, Sutton,
2005. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette d'éditeur, XVI,
413 p., illustrations hors texte, bel exemplaire.
Sur la jaquette :
Formed
in 1868, and already possessors of a proud history by the outbreak
of the First World War, the men of 9th (Glasgow Highland) Battalion,
The Highland Light Infantry, were right at the heart of the cataclysmic
events that unfolded between 1914 and 1918 on the Western Front.
One of the first Territorial units to be rushed to France in
1914, they participated in almost all the major British battles
– Festubert, Neuve-Chapelle and Loos in 1915, the Somme
in 1916, Arras and Ypres in 1917. They played a central role
in opposing the great German offensive of spring 1918, and in
the big Allied push which drove the Germans back and culminated
in victory later that year.
Altogether, around 4,500 men served with the
Glasgow Highlanders in the First World War. The composition of
the Glasgow Highlanders changed dramatically over five years
of fighting, as the original Territorial members of the battalion
were replaced, firstly by Kitchener's volunteers and then by
« Derby's Men », the conscripts of the
last years of the war. By 1919, over 1,200 Glasgow Highlanders
had died and at least double that number had been wounded. More
than half of all these deaths occurred on just seven fateful
days, two in 1916, two in 1917 and three in 1918. Despite this
transformation the ethos of the battalion, built up over half
a century of peace and many months of warfare, survived.
Alec Weir has steeped himself in the proud
history of the Glasgow Highlanders in the First World War. His
accessible, informal style, employing many first-hand accounts,
and his rigorous research combine here to produce a fascinating
and detailed account of how ordinary men from all walks of life
confronted and mastered the hellish conditions of trench warfare.
A detailed appendix lists the names of nearly 4,500 men who served
with the battalion in the First World War.
13 euros (code de commande
: 21637).
 WESTLAKE
(Ray) — The Territorial Force 1914. Newport, Ray Westlake Military Books, 1988.
In-8° sous reliure d'éditeur, 138 p., envoi de
l'auteur, notes manuscrites à la première page
de garde.
Introduction :
Under
the Army reforms introduced in 1907 by the Secretary of State
for War - Richard Haldane, the existing Yeomanry and Volunteer
Forces were combined with effect from 1 April 1908 as the Territorial
Force. In his Territorial and Reserve Forces Bill, Mr Haldane
set up an establishment of fourteen divisions, each including
three infantry brigades of four battalions. Further infantry
battalions were attached to divisions as Army Troops and as part
of a coastal defence system.
Each division contained the necessary artillery,
engineer and signal units together with transport and medical
personnel. Mounted brigades were also formed which incorporated
the Yeomanry and other horsed formations.
After mobilisation in August 1914, the Territorials
were at first sent to their wartime home defence stations. Within
weeks, however, some divisions were to precede overseas to replace
regular forces then serving on garrison duty. By September 1914,
the first Territorial Force units began to cross to France. The
much enlarged Territorial Force later served with distinction
in this and other theatres of war.
The Territorial Force was recruited throughout
England, Scotland and Wales, its units existing not only in the
major cities and towns, but smaller hamlets and villages.
The purpose of this work is to record all units
of the Territorial Force in existence at the outbreak of war
in 1914. The headquarters of each formation – Division,
Brigade, Battalion, Squadron, Battery, Company etc, are listed
together with locations of all outlying drill stations.
The main source of information used, is the
Annual Territorial Force Return for 1913, amended to February
1914, together with the Monthly Army List.
13 euros (code de commande
: 27623).
 WILLIAMSON (H.J.) — The Roll of Honour
Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force for the Great War 1914-18.
Dallington, The Naval &
Military Press, 1992. In-8° sous reliure et jaquette d'éditeur,
270 p., note manuscrite à la page de garde, ouvrage
épuisé au catalogue de l'éditeur.
Sur la jaquette :
This
Roll of Honour, which has taken over eight years to compile,
lists 8,000 names of officers and men of the R.F.C. and R.A.F.
who gave their lives during the Great War of 1914-18. A number
of casualties are also listed for the period 1919-21.
It greatly expands on the information in Officers
Died in the Great War (H.M.S.O.) and adds hundreds of names to
that roll.
It includes, for the first time, the information
on the Arras Memorial, extracted from over 20 volumes for missing
airmen, and it provides the first ever published roll of Other
Ranks casualties, from St. Katherine's Register in London.
The roll is divided into three parts.
Part 1 is a roll of Officers who died, listing
approximately 6,500 names, with rank, year of death, and whether
they served with the R.F.C. or R.A.F. Notes include cause and
date of death and in many cases the squadron the officer was
serving with.
The second part lists all entries from the
Arras Memorial dealing with airmen who are recorded as having
no known grave. These expand on the information in Part 1 and
cover details of over 1,000 missing airmen.
The third part is a list of Other Ranks casualties,
including rank, number, year of death and whether they served
with the R.A.F. or R.F.C.
This book provides a fitting memorial to the
men of the R.F.C. and R.A.F. who gave their lives during the
Great War and is an essential addition to the library of any
enthusiast of the early days of combat flying.
25 euros (code de commande
: PGM041).
 [WILLIAMSON
(Henry)]. WILLIAMSON (Anne) — Henry Williamson and the
First World War. Stroud
??, Sutton, 2004. In-8° collé, XVIII, 264 p.,
illustrations hors texte, exemplaire en très bel état.
En quatrième
de couverture :
Henry
Williamson is perhaps best known for his book Tarka the Otter,
yet he devoted a major part of his life and over a million words
to fiction which drew closely on his personal experiences during
the First World War, including five volumes of the widely-acclaimed
sequence of novels, A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight. Williamson's
time in the trenches affected him profoundly and, like many young
soldiers, he was utterly changed by what he saw. This book draws
closely on his letters, diaries, photographs and notebooks written
at the time to give us a uniquely detailed account of life in
the trenches of the First World War. It also offers us a rare
insight into the making of a novelist.
Anne Williamson is Henry is Williamson's daughter-in-law,
and knew him well until his death in 1977. She manages the Henry
Williamson Literary Estate and edits the Henry Williamson
Society Journal. She has also written Henry Williamson :
Tarka and the Last Romantic.
5 euros (code de commande
: PGM008).
AFFICHES
Classement par ordre chronologique
[PREMIÈRE GUERRE MONDIALE
- ANDERLUES]. Proclamation suite à des faits de résistance. [Binche], [Quartier Général
de l'Armée Allemande], 1914. Placard imprimé sur
un papier au format 328 x 502 mm., un pli horizontal, papier
au filigrane de la Ville de Mons, en très bon état.
Avis
du général Johann « Hans » von Zwehl,
daté du 27 août 1914, au quartier général
de Binche, relatif à une manifestation d'hostilité
de la population d'Anderlues vis-à-vis de soldats allemands
et aux représailles qui sont prévues en pareilles
circonstances.
L'impression fut réalisée par
l'imprimerie Léon Lambert, rue de Houdain, 12 à
Mons.
25 euros (code de commande
: 31204).
[PREMIÈRE GUERRE MONDIALE
- MONS]. Dispositions en vigueur lors de l'arrivée de
troupes. [Mons], [1914]. Affichette bilingue (allemand
- français) au format 724 x 277 mm., en très bon
état.
Le Commandant
de l'Étape de Mons invite les troupes qui feront « un
séjour plus ou moins prolongé » à
se signaler à la Kommandatur (Hôtel de Ville de
Mons).
L'affiche porte la date manuscrite du 31 août
1914.
20 euros (code de commande
: 31409).
[PREMIÈRE GUERRE MONDIALE
- HAINAUT]. Réquisition des automobiles, motocyclettes
et bicyclettes. Mons,
Province de Hainaut, 1914. Placard imprimé sur un papier
au format 365 x 549 mm., trois plis horizontaux et un pli vertical,
exemplaire en très bon état malgré la grande
fragilité du papier.
Avis
de la Députation permanente du Conseil provincial, relayant
l'ordre du commandant de l'Étape de Mons, Steinicke, de
réquisitionner dans les cinq jours toutes les automobiles,
motocyclettes et bicyclettes présentes dans le district
de Mons, daté du 4 octobre 1914.
L'impression fut réalisée par
l'imprimerie Léon Lambert, rue de Houdain, 12 à
Mons.
30 euros (code de commande
: 31408 - vendu).
[PREMIÈRE GUERRE MONDIALE
- MONS]. Affiche annonçant la reprise des cours à
l'Académie des Beaux-Arts.
Mons, Administration de la Ville de Mons, 1914. Placard imprimé
sur un papier au format 503 x 652 mm., trois plis horizontaux
et un pli vertical, exemplaire en très bon état
malgré la grande fragilité du papier.
Avis de la Ville de Mons relatif à
la reprise des cours, le 3 décembre 1914, à l'Académie
des Beaux-Arts, daté du 25 novembre 1914, signé
par le Secrétaire communal Gaston Talaupe et par le Bourgmestre
Jean Lescarts.
L'impression fut réalisée par
l'imprimerie Léon Lambert, rue de Houdain, 12 à
Mons.
30 euros (code de commande
: 31359).
[PREMIÈRE GUERRE MONDIALE
- MONS]. À la population de la Ville de Mons. Mons, Ville de Mons, 1914. Placard
imprimé sur un papier au format 441 x 562 mm., un pli
horizontal et un pli vertical, exemplaire en très bon
état malgré la grande fragilité du papier.
Avis
de la Ville de Mons invitant la population à observer
« les lois sacrées de l'hospitalité »,
daté du 24 août 1914, signé par le Bourgmestre
Jean Lescarts.
L'impression fut réalisée par
l'imprimerie Gottigny-Thiemann, rue d'Havré à Mons.
30 euros (code de commande
: 32062).
[PREMIÈRE GUERRE MONDIALE
- MONS]. Gestion des stocks de farine et consignes aux boulangers. Mons, Ville de Mons, 1914. Placard
imprimé sur un papier au format 368 x 550 mm., un pli
horizontal et un pli vertical, exemplaire en très bon
état malgré la grande fragilité du papier.
Avis
de la Ville de Mons relatif à la pénurie de farine,
daté du 14 novembre 1914, signé par le Secrétaire
communal Gaston Talaupe et par le Bourgmestre Jean Lescarts.
L'impression fut réalisée par
l'imprimerie Léon Lambert, rue de Houdain, 12 à
Mons.
 s
40 euros (code de commande
: 32061).
[PREMIÈRE GUERRE MONDIALE
- MONS]. Reprise des cours à l'École Professionnelle
de Filles. Mons, Ville
de Mons, 1914. Placard imprimé sur un papier au format
503 x 655 mm., trois plis horizontaux et un pli vertical, exemplaire
en très bon état malgré la grande fragilité
du papier.
Avis
de la Ville de Mons relatif à la reprise des cours, le
30 novembre 1914, à l'École Professionnelle de
Filles, daté du 25 novembre 1914, signé par le
Secrétaire communal Gaston Talaupe et par le Bourgmestre
Jean Lescarts.
L'impression fut réalisée par
l'imprimerie Léon Lambert, rue de Houdain, 12 à
Mons.
30 euros (code de commande
: 31457).
[PREMIÈRE GUERRE MONDIALE
- MONS]. Rare affiche du Cinéma Palace (rue d'Havré
78). [Mons],
[Imprimerie Leborgne], [1915]. Affichette au format 149 x 423
mm., en parfait état.
Programme pour la période du
21 au 25 février 1915, imprimé par Léon
Leborgne, rue Notre-Dame, 6, à Mons.
30 euros (code de commande
: 31358).
|