In The Footsteps of Private Lynch - Softcover

Davies, Will

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553824155 ISBN 13: 9780553824155

Publisher: Bantam, 2010

Synopsis

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

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

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

About this title

Book Description:

Retracing the dramatic experiences of a private soldier in the Great War - the follow-up to the bestselling First World War memoir Somme Mud.

From the Back Cover:

With a mighty roar the shell explodes spouting flame and phosphorous fumes everywhere. Mud is showered over everyone as pieces of shell fly over prone bodies. A man five feet ahead of me is sobbing - queer, panting gasping sobs. He bends his head towards his stomach just twice and is still. We've had our baptism of fire, seen our first man killed...

Will Davies' discovery of the manuscript for Somme Mud revealed a lost treasure. Private Edward Lynch's personal account of the war in the trenches has since become a classic.

This companion volume is a fascinating contextual history of the war in France as experienced by an eighteen-year-old soldier and his comrades. In retracing the progress of Lynch and the 45th Battalion, the AIF - from the long route marches to flea-ridden billets, into the frontline against the enemy at such infamous places as Messines and Villers-Bretonneux, and on to the great push for victory after August 1918 - Will Davies shines unique light on life and death amidst the barbed wire and the mud, and the ebb and flow of the war on the Western Front.

And in revisiting these battlefields today and attempting to understand their significance, this book pays tribute to the young men who sacrificed so much over ninety years ago.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0553824155
• ISBN 13: 9780553824155
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352