The Long, Long Trail

This book is notable for three reasons: it is written by Charles Messenger, a first-rate military historian whose work has been reviewed elsewhere on the site; second, it was privately commissioned by Charles Skey, whose father Cyril served with the ebattalion; and finally it is published by ONE of London, a firm I have not heard of before but who have done a super job of production.

For once this is not a book about the pals and neither does it give the impression that the only thing that mattered about the war was the bloody first day on the Somme. The 8th Royal Fusiliers, while being raised for Kitchener's New Army and inevitably being larged manned by Londoners, was officially sanctioned by the War Office and was not a pals unit. It came under orders of 36th Brigade in 12th (Eastern) Division and remained so until being disbanded in February 1918.

The history is not extensive for, as the author points out, the battalion's war diary is not terribly detailed, there is very little material at the regimental archive and hardly any remaining papers of individuals. As such, the story is inevitably sketchy but Charles Messenger has illuminated in as well as can be done by reference to official and Divisional histories. The main body of work is thus only 93 pages long, but the book carries some excellent photographs and maps as well as an extensive roll of honour, list of honours and awards and brief biographies of officers who served.

This is almost at the other end of the scale from "Brief but glorious". John Sheen has researched three battalions of the Durham Light Infantry in enormous detail, making this a heavyweight work. It is chock-full of photographs and tales of individual soldiers, running as threads through the story of the three battalions. The detail is quite extraordinary and in terms of sheer value for money this has to be one of the best unit histories I have seen in recent years. In particular, the book benefits from the use of the extensive collection of photographs of the men of the DLI which is held at the regimental museum.

The author has been a prolific producer of work on the units of the North East of England, having before now published books on the Tyneside Irish and Scottish and on the Wearside Battalion of the DLI. They were all superb works and the outcome of years of painstaking study. "Durham Pals" continues his fine personal tradition.