eBook Mons: The Retreat to Victory ePub

TheSuspect

John Terraine (1923-2001) was a historian who set out to correct various myths which had arisen about the First World War, the most persistent of which is that it was all `pointless'. We still hear this one repeated, regularly, by pacifists.

At the time the War was regarded by vast numbers of people in Britain as `The Great War for Civilisation', which had saved Europe from German militarism (and even barbarism). The family of every man who fell was sent a medallion, which bore the that inscription and the words `He died for Honour and for Freedom' on the other side. (I have one, because my grandfather was killed during the last German offensive of March 1918). Thereafter, the poets and revisionists got to work, culminating in the popular film `Oh What A Lovely War!' which portrayed the whole thing as a futile and bloody shambles. Tell that to the Belgians, who were occupied by the Germans for four years; and tell it to the Russians, who had to submit to a dictated peace in 1917, at Brest-Litovsk.

In a series of books, Terraine attempted to show that there was much truth in the inscription on that medal than we had come to believe. He was the mastermind behind the BBC's brilliant series `The Great War' (1964) and the author of `Douglas Haig, the Educated Soldier' (1963) which attempted to refute the idea that Haig was merely the leading `donkey', in an undistinguished cast of British generals.

`Mons' is now re-published by `Pen & Sword' and this is most welcome. It was first published in 1960. It takes us back to August 1914, before the world learned the meaning of trench warfare and before the War Poets started to spread their insidious messages of defeatism, to a time when the War was still one of movement and battles were unpredictable, though everyone hoped it would all be over by Christmas. It criticises the generals on all sides, but in a moderate and meaningful way. It explains the strategy, in terms we can understand. There are some great anecdotes (for example, of how Sir John French tried to speak French to his opposite number); and the narrative is nicely woven with personal memoirs.

The book marked the first chapter in Terraine's revision of the revisionists. He shows, above all, that the British assisted the French greatly in slowing down the German invasion of France in 1914. Had they not done so, the Schlieffen Plan might well have worked. It might have been 1870 all over again; or to put it another way, it could have been 1940, 25 years early. The French might have been knocked out of the war and the British Army destroyed, with incalculable consequences for Europe and democracy. Make no mistake about it, the Germans were just as much of a threat in 1914 as they were 1939; and, though we no longer like to mention it, they did start both World Wars.

The book is eminently readable, though the maps are not as good as one might have hoped for; and the layman will wish for an explanation of the numbers. (How many troops in a battalion, and how many in a division?)

Stephen Cooper

Alsanadar

Seems like John Terraine had (he's deceased) that obesssion to turn every battelfied disasters and military blunders of the British into something else, and in the process had judiciously/maliciously doctored his researches to cast the best possible light on what mere mortals will call fiascos.

Read this as cheap trash fiction, as there are no references to sources, no bibiography at all. All we have is Terraine's words that the 'Old Contemptibles" were the most magnificient army in the world, that they trumphed every encounters with the Germans ( a division is supposed to be smashed by the bloody Tommies when they captured 78 prisoners!) and that every other one of those morons won a VC!

Being the first work of fiction written by Terraine, this book sets the standard for his later owrks!

Phobism

An excellent study of a crucial engaement early in the war. A must read for anyone interested in the First World War.

Lucam

Great read - many thanks