| Roni Wilkinson was
a prime mover in the publication of the splendid series
of books on the pals battalions published by Pen &
Sword over the last decade or so.
An example - and among the best - is Terry Carter's
"Birmingham Pals", covering the story of the three
City battalions of the Royal Warwicks. Many readers
wil be familiar with these works: printed in an unusually
large format that I could never successfully fit into
my bookshelf, they were all written by enthusiasts
that had studied a battalion in detail. Full of facts,
photographs and documents unearthed from dusty archives
and from appeals to the public, they together represent
a formidable and increasingly sought-after collection.
The first eight pages
of "Pals on the Somme" explains how the series came
about and provides a very brief
summary of the contents of each one. Roni is to be
congratulated for his role in this and other series
published by Pen & Sword.
"Pals on the Somme" is a very condensed
merger of them all, published no doubt with more
than an eye on this year's 90th anniversary. While
it will make for interesting reading for anyone new
to the pals battalions and while it is as full of
superb pictures and facts as the originals from
which it was drawn, overall I found this a rather
disappointing work, for this simple reason: it is
not until page 203 of the total of 221 that we get
past 1st July 1916.
The rest of the months of endeavour
on the Somme and the important part played by many
pals battalions, some of which - like the Birmingham
units - played no role in the 1st July attack,
receive pretty short shrift in an 8 page chapter
titled "Changing attitudes and disillusion".
The
concept of a pals unit, the early days of training
and the turning of civilians into soldiers, the move
to France and familiarisation in trench warfare are
all covered in considerable depth, and the well-trodden
ground of the shocking impact of 1st July is given
a thorough airing. The pals battalions
-
most of them - rebuilt and continued to see a good
deal of service on the Somme and in many cases performed
well and creditably, and I think it is a pity that
the true nature of the history of the pals and indeed
the whole battle of the Somme is underexposed.
My advice is this: if you want to
understand the Somme (that is, how it was), read
Sidney Rogerson's "Twelve
days"; if you want to understand the Somme as
a battle, try Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson's "The
Somme". If you want to understand the sociology
and local nature of a pals unit, read one of the
the original series. I am not sure what need "Pals
on the Somme" addresses. I can't say that it is a
bad book - it is not. But it adds little to the historiography
of the Somme.
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