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Til The Trumpet Sounds Again

Til The Trumpet Sounds Again

Before any ‘special forces’ were formed, such as the Paras and the SAS, the British army had the Guards, and they won not only battles, but also wars. This two-volume set charts the history of the Scots Guards during the four years of the First World War and continues for four months afterwards to the period of March 1919. It makes for intense reading and will fascinate not only military historians, but also general readers who prefer their books with a ‘meatiness’ about them. The first volume covers the period August 1914 to July 1916 and the second from July 1916 to the end of the war.

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The Scots Guards were among the first troops to be sent to France and Belgium to fight on the Western Front and right from the very start they were in the thick of it. The battles around Ypres, the gas attacks of 1915, Loos 1915, Neuve Chapelle 1915, the Somme 1916 and many other battles. The author, who served for 10-years in the regiment, leaves no stone unturned in his masterful history of this fine regiment. He addresses the contentious subject of execution by firing squad and mentions Private I. Reid, shot for desertion on 9th April 1915. He decribes each episode surrounding the awarding of the Victoria Cross, the Scots Guards won a total of five, in a rather plain manner. That won by Private James MacKenzie is told using the written account of an unknown witness.

The author spent 12-years meticulously researching archives and the result is a first class work, which will prove essential reading for historians of WWI, battlefield tour guides and visitors to the battlegrounds where the brave men fought. He writes about the treatment of those taken prisoner and the conditions they endured. To understand the history of those four years of WWI both volumes are essential, otherwise it is only half a job; which is no good. The price is worth it, because histories like this do no come along very often. It is well written and each phase of the war is movingly told using regimental war diaries and first-hand accounts. His description of the Scots Guards actions at Pilckem Ridge in July-August 1917 is really quite excellent.

The end of the war seems to come as an anti-climax for much of the British army. Indeed, within half-an-hour of the Armistice being declared the Scots Guards were holding a drill parade. Eleven days after the end of the war King George V ordered that privates serving in the Guards Regiments be known as Guardsmen as a mark of ‘… the splendid services rendered by the Brigade of Guards…’ The text combined with the maps can be used to plan a most detailed visit to the battlefields of the Western Front with rewarding results. This is a truly remarkable history, which a reader can return to many times and find it very fresh.

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