Boy Soldiers of the Great War - Softcover

Van Emden, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1408824728 ISBN 13: 9781408824726

Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks, 2012

Synopsis

The youngest soldier who fought in the Great War is believed to have been just twelve years old. Many thousands of other boys are known to have faked eye tests, inflated their small chests and stood on tiptoes to bluff their way into a war of unforeseen horror. How and why so many under-aged boys were able to get to the battlefields is a complex mystery of World War I, and until Richard van Emden's classic account, largely unexplored.

Boy Soldiers of the Great War tells for the first time the incredible stories of the boys who went to fight for their country. Richard van Emden, having amassed a unique collection of personal testimonies and hitherto unpublished diaries and letters, brings to life their stories of heroism and sacrifice.

This edition has been completely revised and updated.

About this title

About the Author

Richard van Emden has interviewed over 270 veterans of the Great War and has written twelve books on the subject including The Trench and The Last Fighting Tommy (both top ten bestsellers). He has also worked on more than a dozen television programmes on the First World War, including Prisoners of the Kaiser, Veterans, Britain's Last Tommies, the award-winning Roses of No Man's Land, Britain's Boy Soldiers and A Poem for Harry, and most recently, War Horse: The Real Story. He lives in Barnes.

From the Back Cover

Boy Soldiers of the Great War tells for the first time the incredible stories of the boys who went to fight for their country. Richard van Emden, having amassed a unique collection of personal testimonies and hitherto unpublished diaries and letters, brings to life their stories of heroism and sacrifice.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1408824728
• ISBN 13: 9781408824726
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416