Page 95 - History of War - Issue 18-15

REVIEWS

EUNRETURNINGARMY:AFIELD

NNERINFLANDERS

ter Huntly Gordon Price £8.99 Publisher Bantam Books
SECRETSANDINSIGHTSAREUNLOCKEDASTHISWORLDWARI
SICGETSTHEOLD‘REVISED-EDITION’TREATMENT

memoir of a World War I artillery no less than 14 different wounds to his
er is based around letters that the shattered body.
20-year-old author Huntly Gordon In his ten months of combat, Gordon
home to his family in 1917-18. witnessed not just Passchendaele’s
publishedin1967,theyarebound horrors, but the German’s 1918
herbyanarrativethatwasn’t offensive and the resulting chaotic
en 50 years after the event, as Allied retreat. His writing brings that
ouslybelieved,butinNovember world pulsatingly back to life. Men and
,justasthegunsfellsilent.In mulesdrowninginmud,screaming
respect, to borrow a phrase from shellfire and pre-painkiller hospital
reface, this revised book is almost wards filled with wailing casualties – all
“last live broadcast” from the are recreated in remarkable detail.
efields of Flanders. This edition also contains a
spite being written almost a postscript with previously unseen
ury ago, what grabs you about material.Itendswithananecdote
work is its freshness. Gordon about a chance encounter in 1928
have been born when Britannia betweenGordonandamanwho’d
uled the waves, but his voice is saved his life ten years previously. This
nctly youthful. Unstuffy, sensitive sweet vignette rounds the book out
sprinkledwithwryhumour,his well.Thenarrativestartsinthepeace
itness account of the slaughter is of Gordon’s idyllic boyhood, and ends
ptivating read. withhimhavingfoundpeace–ofsorts
enarrativefollowshisjourneyfrom –onceagain.
rdian schoolboy in 1914 to battle- The Unreturning Army may have
edveteranfouryearslater.In darkness at its heart, but Gordon
een, he’s rushed through training, delivers his account of that terrible
led on a boat to France in time for warwithadefttouch,swerving
attle of Passchendaele, before sensationalism in favour of dignified
g blown up an

PROFESSOR PORSCHE’S WARS

Writer Karl Ludvigsen Price £30 Publisher Pen & Sword
DISCOVER HOW THE FOUNDER OF THE WORLD’S LUXURY SPORTS CAR BRAND
BEGAN HIS CAREER BUILDING BRILLIANT AND TERRIFYING WAR MACHINES

It’s a favourite piece of Nazi trivia that Hugo Austro Daimler company, Porsch
Boss designed the neat, austere uniforms of ever-efficient engines as well as
the Wehrmacht, ensuring they could at least working tug vehicles, also known
claimtobethebest-dressedinvasionforceto These were put to work hauling
date. However, it’s less known that many of the artillery guns and ammunition t
Third Reich’s military machines were designed frontline, across nearly any terr
byFerdinandPorsche,founderofthefamous Ludvigsen very literally lifts th
sports car brand that now supplies millionaires’ Europe’s engineering geniuses,
garages the world over. In his book, Karl from the complex technical expl
Ludvigsen explores Porsche’s career and his newdesignrequires.
work with the military, from his early years with Asthepagesturn,yougetar
Austro Daimler to founding his own company of the journey that not only Pors
in the early 1930s, to becoming one of Nazi industry at the time was taking,
Germany’s most trusted engineers. demands increased and ever de
Ludvigsen tells Porsche’s story within were commissioned. Moving into
thewidercontextofaEuropeonitsjourney the clumsy-looking armoured ca
towards devastating wars that dominated turn into deadly efficient Schwim
everyaspectoflife,includingthefledgling the rustic-looking hulking land tr
automotive industry. In the midst of the Great tracked tanks.
War, there was no need for high-performance While the sheer depth of this
racers, or comfortable domestic cars – armour, intimidating to the casual reade
firepower and brutal efficiency were demanded essential read for every petrolhe
to outsmart the Triple Entente. Working for the intriguing insight for students of

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