No comments about The Black Jack in Vermont (La Posta monograph series).

No comments about Stamps of the empire, (The Nelsonian library).

2 comments about There's a Devil in the Drum.

1. In 1914 John Lucy was that rare treasure, an NCO of a regular regiment of the British army. He was one of those men who made up the backbone of the finest professional army as the world tore itself apart, and as the world decended into the maddness of the First World War he kept a diary,and detailed in it as he watched his regiment, 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles go from 1000 men to 40 in 4 months.
   
   Lucy survived the war and later served as a professional soldier and a journalist and he writes well, going into detail of basic training and serving in the prewar army without getting bogged down in needless details or technical points. The book spans the period through 1917 but focuses especailly on the early months of the war from Mons to 1st Ypres when the bulk of the old, professional army was destroyed and then the frustration of trying to turn non-professional, war time replacements into soldier up to the standards of the pre-war professionals but more than anything this focuses on the death of the professional army.
   
   This easily belongs on the bookshelves of people with an interest in the First World War besides such famous autobiographies as those of Vera Britton, Robert Graves and Frank Richards. .



2. J.F. Lucy and his brother enlisted in the army in 1912. They became members of the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Rifles of the 3rd Division. The first part of the book is an excellent account of the pre-war British army, replete with the peacetime training and traditions. Though only a N.C.O. Lucy was a keen observer of the war, looking back upon it as a bitter veteran but with a sensitive eye towards the naivete he and his comrades shared going into the war. What follows are wonderfully detailed and fascinating accounts of the early stages of the war. The destruction of the old army, as countless lives were lost following antiquated battle plans. Latter stages of the war were plagued by the attrition of trench warfare, many accounts have been written about these days, so a memoir of the first few months is extremely rare. He saw action at Mons, Le Cateau, the Marne, the Aisne and Neuve Chapelle. The latter two being poignant as the Aisne is where his brother was killed and Neuve Chapelle was where his battalion ceased to exist. He was one of only 50 men to survive the battle out of over 800. The descriptions of the last time that he saw his brother alive are priceless, as he loved his brother a great deal. He spares nothing in this account, it is graphic at times, displaying the horror of war, and the psychological stress. He later describes the first battle of Ypres and after getting his commission the futile slaughter that was Passchendaele. He describes that fateful ridge using the immortal words of Dante from the 28th canto of the Inferno: 'Who, even with words set free, could ever fully tell, by oft relating, the blood and the wounds that I now saw? Every tongue assuredly would fail because of our speech and our memory that have small capacity to comprehend so much.' Then he was off to Cambrai where his war ended, after he was hit sixteen times by an exploding shell. In subsequent years he became a journalist and later Lieutenant-Colonel in the army during World War II. This memoir is not to be missed, it is a highly underrated work that should be read by everyone. In his book "World War One Memories" Edward Lengel regards this as the finest memoir written of the First World War or possibly from any soldier ever. I give it my highest recommendation.

No comments about Gold rush steamers of the Pacific,.

No comments about The beginner's guide (Handbook).

No comments about A stamp collector's encyclopaedia.

No comments about U.S. Stamp Yearbook 1995.

No comments about STAMPS AND STAMP COLLECTING.

No comments about The postage stamps of Hong Kong.

No comments about Railway stamps (ATA handbook).