Old Soldiers Never Die.: Old Soldiers Never Die. - Softcover

Richards, Frank

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1843420260 ISBN 13: 9781843420262

Publisher: Naval and Military Press, 2009

Synopsis

One of the finest of all published memoirs of the Great War, truly a classic of its kind. The author had enlisted in 1901 in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (spelling changed from ‘Welch’ to ‘Welsh’ in 1881 and back to ‘Welch’ in 1920) and was a reservist when war broke out. He rejoined his old, 2nd Battalion and landed in France with them on 11 August 1914. He went right through the war with the battalion, never missing a battle, winning the DCM and MM and ending up still a private. Here is a typical soldier of the pre-1914 regular army, one of the ‘Old Contemptibles’ and this book is a delight, written in his own unpolished manner. Fighting, scrounging, gambling, drinking, dodging fatigues, stolidly enduring bombardment and the hardships of trench warfare, always getting his job done. A tribute to the army that died on the Western Front in 1914.

About this title

Review:

'...the greatest account of trench warfare...' --Phil Carradice, BBC

About the Author:

Frank Richards was born in 1883 in Monmouthshire. Orphaned at nine years old, he was brought up by his aunt and uncle in the industrial Blaina area, and went on to work as a coal miner throughout the 1890s before joining the Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1901. A veteran soldier who served in British India and many areas of the Western Front, he wrote his seminal account of the Great War from the standpoint of the common soldier, Old Soldiers Never Die, in 1933. This was followed by Old Soldier Sahib, a memoir of his time serving in British India, in 1936. He died in 1961.

About this edition

• Publisher: Naval and Military Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1843420260
• ISBN 13: 9781843420262
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320