Book request: Doughboys in WWI

[USAFnav]

Hello,

I am looking for books on the Doughboy in WWI. I don't mean books like The Doughboys by Laurence Stallings (which I am now re-reading). Rather, I mean books that will tell me such things as how their small units were organized and how they fought. What was a "wagoner"? What was a company mechanic, and how did they function in battle? How did they fight and manuever their squads and platoons? How did the runner system work?

This is the type of information found in Jon Gawne's GI Journal (I have all those excellent magazines -- good WWI and WWII info there). Are there any book-length studies like those?

Thanks very much,

Pete Belmonte

[jagjetta]

Hello,

I am looking for books on the Doughboy in WWI. I don't mean books like The Doughboys by Laurence Stallings (which I am now re-reading). Rather, I mean books that will tell me such things as how their small units were organized and how they fought. What was a "wagoner"? What was a company mechanic, and how did they function in battle? How did they fight and manuever their squads and platoons? How did the runner system work?

This is the type of information found in Jon Gawne's GI Journal (I have all those excellent magazines -- good WWI and WWII info there). Are there any book-length studies like those?

Thanks very much,

Pete Belmonte

 

 

Pete:

 

The single best book for learning the "life of a doughboy" in my humble opinion, is Rookie Days of a Soldier by Fred A Sasse, published in 1924. It is written a bit tongue-in-cheek, so it is very easy to read and digest.

 

If a person wants to learn about the daily requirements and routines of the average WWI US soldier, this is the book. It has not been reprinted, but the good news is brand new-from the 1924 cases are still available. I bought mine years ago, but have seen it regularly on Advance Guard Militaria's catalog (www.advanceguardmilitaria.com).

 

Hope this helps and, if you buy the book, you enjoy the read!

 

John A-G

Editor, Military Trader

[drmessimer]

Hello,

I am looking for books on the Doughboy in WWI. I don't mean books like The Doughboys by Laurence Stallings (which I am now re-reading). Rather, I mean books that will tell me such things as how their small units were organized and how they fought. What was a "wagoner"? What was a company mechanic, and how did they function in battle? How did they fight and manuever their squads and platoons? How did the runner system work?

This is the type of information found in Jon Gawne's GI Journal (I have all those excellent magazines -- good WWI and WWII info there). Are there any book-length studies like those?

Thanks very much,

Pete Belmonte

Pete: Arthur Guy Empry, Over the Top, published in 1917 is a very good primary source on life and conditions at the front. Empry was British, but the conditions were the same regarles of which army you were in. Over the Top is available on bookfinder at reasonable prices. Another useful title is John Ellis, Eye Deep in Hell: Trench Warfare in World War I, published in 1976 and also available on bookfinder. Ellis covers all or nearly all the points you raised in your post. It's an excellent source. Alexander Wollcott, The Command is Forward, published in 1919 consists of reprints from the Stars and Stripes and covers some of the points you raised. He has a chapters titled, "The Runners," "Forage," "The Pioneers," "The Tanks," which might be useful to you. I don't know how available it is, but if you can't find a copy on bookfinder, you can have my copy if you will send me your mailing address. My email is drmessimer@aol.com. Good luck. Dwight

[USAFnav]

Gentlemen,

Thanks very much for your recommendations. I guess I now have a book want-list to work on!

I've found the Sasse book on Amazon -- that will probably be my first approach. Dwight, thanks for your kind offer, I will see what I can find on the 'net.

In the meantime, other suggestions will still be appreciated.

Thanks,

Pete

[USARV72]

+1 for Empey's book, consider Joseph E. Persico's"11th Month, 11th Day and 11th Hour, Stanley Weintraub's "Silent Night" and H.W. McBride's "A Rifleman Went to War". :thumbsup:

[hhbooker2]

:think: http://www.archive.org/ also has lots of good books about the U.S. soldier in World War One that were scanned by libraries and can be seen and downloaded if one wishes to do so and the price cannot be beat, it is all FREE! :think: Sarge Booker of Tujunga.

[USAFnav]

Thanks for all these great suggestions; my want-list is growing... :think:

Pete

[TLHSS]

I also enjoyed "The Doughboys" by Laurence Stallings, and have read it multiple times. Other books I've enjoyed on WWI include:

 

(1) "Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour" by Joseph E. Persico

(2) "Yanks" by John S.D. Eisenhower

(3) "Suddenly We Didn't Want to Die" by Elton E. Mackin

(4) "Joe's War" by Joseph N. Rizzi

and the classic

(5) "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque

 

Tim

[Camp_Kearny]

I enjoyed reading "Toward the Flame" by Hervey Allen. It covers an advance to the village of Fismette and the battle for the same village. The book is full of information about the WWI US soldier such as the carrying of packs and the different types of formations used on marches. It is dense but very good and easier to read than "Through The Wheat" in my opinion. I also liked "Make the Kaiser Dance" which is an oral history of the AEF that was written in the 1970s when WWI vets were around to interview.

 

Ian

[Blair217]

Another book you might consider is Over There With O'Ryan's Roughnecks by William F.Clarke about the 27th Division while serving with the British.It covers his time in service from being drafted onward.

[USAFnav]

Thanks for these additional titles -- I've read Joe's War, by Joseph Rizzi. I enjoyed that because it is a unique memoir by an Italian American Doughboy, and, as you can see by the list of my relatives who served in the war, that is an area of interest for me.

Pete

[Dave]

Do a search for WW1 books on google books. There are several hundred on there, including some excellent first-hand accounts. And like the library scanned books that Sarge Booker mentioned above, these are all FREE. Read what you want; if you don't like it, delete it and never pay a dime!

 

DAve

[teufelhund]

Written by Horatio Rogers, WORLD WAR I through my sights.

( he already knew that it was the first WW but not the last one)

 

Probably out of print since written in 1975

The diary and personal account of a buck private arty scout and a 26th USID Mule driver

Bat A 101st Arty Reg 26th USID.

This is my favorite as the book describes the very places in France I know very well.

A true story, verified on the spot

 

Make the kaiser Dance is also a nice , well written book

To the limit of endurance by Pete Owen ( USMC) A+++

Suddently we didn't want to die by Elton Mackin (USMC)

Teufelhund

[Shenkursk]

Written by Horatio Rogers, WORLD WAR I through my sights.

( he already knew that it was the first WW but not the last one)

 

Probably out of print since written in 1975

The diary and personal account of a buck private arty scout and a 26th USID Mule driver

Bat A 101st Arty Reg 26th USID.

This is my favorite as the book describes the very places in France I know very well.

A true story, verified on the spot

 

Make the kaiser Dance is also a nice , well written book

To the limit of endurance by Pete Owen ( USMC) A+++

Suddently we didn't want to die by Elton Mackin (USMC)

Teufelhund

 

Great suggestions - especially "Make the Kaiser Dance". This is a collection of interviews with veterans. The author really knew his subject, and consequently he got great material from the men that he was interviewing. You can still find copies floating around at shows, book sales, etc. for just a few bucks. Very much worth the effort to seek out a copy.

[USAFnav]

Thanks for all these great suggestions. My short want list is, for now:

James Hallas, The Doughboy War (suggested by WWI historian and author and forum member Robert Laplander, along with Hallas's Squandered Victory, about St. Mihiel)

Hervey Allen, Toward the Flame,

Horatio Rogers, WWI through my Sights,

Robert Laplander, Return to Charleveaux

Fred Sasse, Rookie Days of a Soldier

Make the Kaiser Dance.

Wollcot, the Command is Forward

 

If I can find and afford all these books (OK, I"m willing to read some library books, too), I'll be busy for a while...

Still willing to hear other suggestions, too,

Pete

[MAW]

Great suggestions - especially "Make the Kaiser Dance". This is a collection of interviews with veterans. The author really knew his subject, and consequently he got great material from the men that he was interviewing. You can still find copies floating around at shows, book sales, etc. for just a few bucks. Very much worth the effort to seek out a copy.

 

 

Ditto the recomendations for "Make the Kaiser Dance", and "War Through My Sights".

 

Both excellent accounts, and in my personal library.

[USAFnav]

Update:

I just finished my re-read of Stallings' Doughboys, and am now starting Berry's Make the Kaiser Dance. Both are library books, so they're not yet in my personal library.

So far, Berry's book is very good. He had a GREAT idea to interview the vets, just in time, too (late 1970s).

Pete

[scmcgeorge]

Dear all: several comments, first looks like a great list. I would add any of the books written by Leonard Nason, although they are fiction they are based on his actual experinece in 76th FA, 3d Div AEF where he got shell shock and a Silver Star Citation. I've found nothing like his works for picking up on Doughboy slang, how they talked, and occasional commentary on various pieces of equipment. Nason's books can be found CHEAP on ABEBooks Titles include Man in the White Slicker, Sergeant Eadie, Chevrons, The Top Kick, The Lights on a Match, and a couple of others. RE: some of the other posts here Horatio Rogers "World War One through my Sights" was originally published in a very small edition under a different title, "Diary of an Artillery Scout" . It came out as "World War One...." when it was re-published in 1970's. Finally I would add "Stretchers..." by Fredrick A. Pottle again ABEBooks is a super source, and with patience you can find some very rare and pricey books at reasonable prices. best to all steve Mcg

[jgawne]

Toward the Flame gets my vote as the book likely to let you experience what it was really like to be a junior officer in the war.

 

Trench knives and Mustard Gas is also not bad. And I would not pass up George Marshall's Memoris of the great war.

 

As to a book length project, There actually is one and it is sitting in my computer about 3/4 done stuck due to some damn publishing issues.

The question is if to go ahead and do it as just a B+W book, or struggle to deal with trying to make the finances work for a color one.

[USAFnav]

Toward the Flame gets my vote as the book likely to let you experience what it was really like to be a junior officer in the war.

 

Trench knives and Mustard Gas is also not bad. And I would not pass up George Marshall's Memoris of the great war.

 

As to a book length project, There actually is one and it is sitting in my computer about 3/4 done stuck due to some damn publishing issues.

The question is if to go ahead and do it as just a B+W book, or struggle to deal with trying to make the finances work for a color one.

 

Jon,

I am familiar with your work, so I anxiously await this next volume. Color would be nice, if you intend to show WWI militaria. Finances are always a trick.... Frankly, B+W would be fine with me!

Pete

[USAFnav]

Update:

I just finished Make the Kaiser Dance, by Henry Berry. Part way through the book I remembered that I had read it about 20 years ago, but I dont' recall most of it. It is an excellent book; Berry interviewed 100 veterans in the mid 1970s, and he lets them tell their stories. I do have a minor beef, though. Most of Berry's interviewees are not what I'd call typical doughboys. There are a lot of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton men, officers, flyiers, observers, many men who were in the national guard outfits before the US declared war, men who were sent to France early, men who first volunteered for the US ambulance service, men who came back in the service for WWII, at least three generals (including Lemuel Shepherd, Mark Clark, and James Van Fleet), and a former congressman. Now don't get me wrong, I think this is great; as far as I'm concerned, all 4 million soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines should have been interviewed. But Berry didn't include the story of a single draftee; not one man who, for example, was drafted in the spring of 1918 and sent to France in July or August 1918, either as a replacement or, for example, as a member of the 85th Division, only to be sent out as a replacement just in time for St. Mihiel and the horrible Meuse-Argonne. Berry says he interviewed men who were laborers and quartermasters, etc., but none of their stories appear in this book. Again, this is not to detract from what Berry has written, it is more to say what I would like to have read, or what, indeed, I would like to have written back in the late '70s had I not been too busy with high school.

Also, the book doesn't really address my curiousity about how US units functioned (see first post in the thread). But, as I said before, it is an excellent book and highly recommended for those who want to read first hand memories of American veterans.

Pete

[USAFnav]

Another update:

 

I just finished Toward the Flame, 2003 paperback edition, by Hervey Allen (I received it and World War I Through My Sights, by Horatio Rogers, for my birthday).

 

Allen's book is, as Jon Gawne said a few posts before, an excellent revelation of what it was like to be a junior officer in the infantry during the war. The book describes how Allen's company marched to battle; it covers much material such as how the kitchens tried to keep up, how the men would rest during halts, how they were billeted in villages, etc. The narrative abruptly ends during the horrible battle at Fismette, where Allen was wounded. Allen and his fellow officers pushed themselves to limit to care for their men during these marches; he describes walking up and down the long column of struggling men, trying to encourage them, even though he, himself, was dead tired. Other officers carried the rifles of men who were too done in to carry their own weapons. Here is an interesting quote, something I hadn't really thought about before, regarding the unsanitary condition of a typical WWI battlefield:

 

"Another thing which hastened the destruction of perishible food was the immense amount of decay all along the front. All those rotten woods were filled with dead horses, dead men, the refuse, excrement and the garbage of armies. The ground must have been literally alive with pus and decay germs. Scratch your hand, cut yourself shaving, or get a little abrasion on your foot, and almost anything could happen. Biochloride tablets were invaluable; I always threw one into my canvas basin for good luck." (p. 112)

 

All in all, a very good, well-acclaimed book. Next up, Rogers, World War I Through My Sights.

Pete

[jgawne]

It is kind of an odd book in that itis more of a "I had no clue what was going on- we just kept slogging through mud. It kept raining, was dark and no one knew anything."

 

it just has that ring of truth to it.

[USAFnav]

Another update:

I just finished World War I Through My Sights, by Horatio Rogers. He was an artillery scout and ammunition NCO with the 26th Division. This is an interesting book in that it covers what a scout saw and did at the Battery level. Just like Allen's Toward the Flame, Rogers saw the war through the filter of his small unit. Rarely is he aware of what his battalion or regiment is doing, or where they all are.

Next up is Doughboy War, by James Hallas. I just got it in the mail today, another birthday gift. It promises to be a good one -- looks like Hallas quotes from numerous vets memoirs or letters to tell the Doughboys' story. I'm not sure if it will answer my original questions spelled out in my first email, but it should be a good read.

Pete