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A Very Unimportant Officer: Life and Death on the Somme and at Passchendaele
 
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A Very Unimportant Officer: Life and Death on the Somme and at Passchendaele (Hardcover)

by Alexander Stewart (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £20.00
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Frequently Bought Together

A Very Unimportant Officer: Life and Death on the Somme and at Passchendaele + The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, the Only Surviving Veteran of the Trenches + Somme Mud
Price For All Three: £24.37

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton General (26 Jun 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0340977116
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340977118
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16 x 3.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 151,155 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #53 in  Books > Biography > Political > Countries & Regions > France
    #89 in  Books > Biography > War & Espionage > World War I

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Product Description

Review

'The life of an infantry officer on the Western Front during the greatest battles of the First World War has been recreated in fact and fiction very many times, but never more powerfully than in these diaries and letters...The immediacy, candour and sheer literary merit of his journals make this an important new source for the Great War.' --Evening Standard


Review

'The immediacy, candour and sheer literary merit of his journals make this an important new source for the Great War...a very remarkable man.' (Evening Standard )

'something unusual and fresh on the subject of the Great War...edited sympathetically and unobtrusively by his grandson.' (The Times )

'A vivid account of an infantry officer's war on the Western Front...required reading for those who really want to understand the war.' (Richard Holmes, author of Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front )

'His trench diaries show a different aspect of World War I from the usual images of industrial massacre.' (Time Out )

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

A Very Unimportant Officer: Life and Death on the Somme and at Passchendaele
90% buy the item featured on this page:
A Very Unimportant Officer: Life and Death on the Somme and at Passchendaele 5.0 out of 5 stars (3)
£15.49
The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, the Only Surviving Veteran of the Trenches
3% buy
The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, the Only Surviving Veteran of the Trenches 4.6 out of 5 stars (52)
£3.99
Somme Mud
3% buy
Somme Mud 4.6 out of 5 stars (17)
£4.89
Letters from the Trenches: A Soldier of the Great War
2% buy
Letters from the Trenches: A Soldier of the Great War 4.6 out of 5 stars (9)
£9.23

 

Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Mud, Blood and Glory, 25 Sep 2008
By M. L. Richings "m_richings2" (Birmingham, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
what was the great war like from the perspective of the officer in the trenches, well here you have got the chance to find out for yourselves, the entries are only rough and brief but they tell an incredible story of courage and bravery, the diary includes commentry written by the author it wasn't meant to be widely published, only to be read by his family and perhaps therein lies its charm
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A very important account of ww1., 17 Jan 2009
By Peter A. Colwill (England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
What impressed me most was the fact that the grandson has continued to press for this account to be published over 40yrs after the attempts by the author. I admire the chap for persuing this venture and adding his anecdotes alongside his grandfather's and adding a social account of the war era lifestyle for a very well to do family in London.
It has been done with much love and thoughtfulness to ensure the original diary and attached notes are given far more credence than they would have had in 1966(the first attempt to get the diary published). It is a very worthy account of the ww1 battlefield. Hardships, dangers and terrifying conditions are all there as is the officer's ability to continue with the vigour and thrust he would have at at the start. For many, the longer the war went on, the futility, waste of life , seemingly impossible objectives all became too much. Many became ill and needed convalescence. Others wounded and hospitalised had no wish to return to the front. Forced to return, but no longer with a strong will, many died in the trenches or on no mans land.
Here to, is one, that had he not been wounded and survived the ordeal that saw him almost left for dead, one feels for sure that a return to fighting would have been fatal for him. Almost at the end of his courageous attempts to do right against the futility of the war to end all wars he survived by luck. Luck that saw him sent to an officer training school instead of back to the front. Whilst here the war ended and I believe that is what most probably saved this hero's life.
Entitled a very unimportant officer I believe does little justice to this outstanding war hero but can understand the reason behind the title after reading this wonderful account.
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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Unimportant Officer, 5 Feb 2009
By Ms. C. Briggs - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I bought this as a Christmas present for my husband so I haven't actually read it myself but he loved it and thought the book was fantastic. He couldn't rate it highly enough,plus you were the only company I could purchase it from and it was a good price.
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