The Battlefields of the Somme

For even a brief visit to the area, and even if you know where you want to go and what to see, background reading is helpful and enjoyable, both for the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and the Great War as a whole in the Somme. New material is constantly appearing, either recent discoveries or ideas, or reissues of earlier books.

Internet sites offer a wide range of information about the First World War – the links given here are only a tiny proportion of the total available, giving fact and opinion of all kinds on every imaginable aspect of the war.

Picture books, popular or academic histories, personal memoirs, letters, anthologies of prose and poetry – all help to build a picture of wartime life in the Somme. Thousands of books on the war, and the Somme, have been published since 1918.

Look for material in your lending library or bookshop, and on the Internet (under History, or Military History, or First World War – or even under Travel); and don’t forget secondhand books too, from either general or specialist dealers. Try John Marrin Rare Books at www.johnmarrin.com or Tom Morgan Military Books at www.hellfire-corner.co.uk or morganbooks@blueyonder.co.uk Tom can also be contacted at 91 Woden Road South, Wednesbury, West Midlands WS10 0DP Tel/Fax: 0121 530 4589".

Local authors may be useful, well worth an enquiry at a good bookshop or your reference library. If you have a local regimental museum, they may have useful material - see what they recommend.

Look for:

	The history of the First World War as a whole (libraries, bookshops, websites)
	Guidebooks specifically designed to explore the battlefield area
	Accounts of particular battles or events in specific places (local histories or published collections of letters if you are interested in, for example, the Pals battalions that were so hard-hit in the Battle of the Somme)
	Books in the Osprey series (www.ospreypublishing.com ) or the Pen & Sword series ‘Battleground Europe’, (individual volumes on specific battles and poets, www.pen-and-sword.co.uk ). Many other publishers produce their own history of the war, or a series of books looking at various aspects of 1914-1918.

Earlier histories turn up regularly in libraries, second-hand bookshops or book-dealers’ catalogues. Organisations such as the Western Front Association, with branches throughout the country www.westernfrontassociation.com can be very helpful with information and guidance; UK tourist offices and reference libraries can usually help with contacts.

Modern fiction relating to the First World War is usually well researched and vivid, and often based on real individual experience. The Somme is a popular topic, particularly the events of 1916, and novels very often include considerable background information about volunteers and their lives, both before the war and after enlisting. Some modern publications are well-known, and some have been turned into film. Among the most successful novels in recent years are:
Pat Barker, the Regeneration trilogy
Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong.

For books for children, but also appreciated by adults and guidance; UK tourist offices and reference libraries can usually help with contacts.

These are some useful books or authors worth looking for – not exclusively about the Somme, but full of information and guidance on what to look for. Several of the authors listed here have created or contributed to substantial television presentations of 1914-1918.

Jack Alexander, McCrae’s Battalion

Max Arthur, Forgotten Voices

Malcolm Brown, The Imperial War Museum Book of the Somme

Martin Gilbert, The First World War

Gerald Gliddon, several books on the Battle of the Somme

Wyn Griffith, Up to Mametz

Richard Holmes, War Walks and other books on British military history

Michael Howard, The First World War

John Keegan, The First World War, an Illustrated History; and other books

Chris McCarthy, The Somme: a Day-by-Day Account

Lyn Macdonald, Somme (and other titles on various aspects of the war, based on
veteran soldiers’ accounts)

The Macmillan Dictionary of the First World War

Martin Middlebrook, The Kaiser’s Battle

Hew Strachan, several books on the First World War

Gary Sheffield, Forgotten Victory

John Terraine, famous specialist historian on the First World War