Tank commander by Ronald Welch

Tank commander by Ronald Welch, illustrated by Victor G. Ambrus (OUP, 1972)

14 chapters; 182 pages with occasional pen and ink sketches

Subjects: World War One, France, Ypres, Mons, deserters, tanks, junior fiction (Year 8-10)

Synopsis

At the start of the book, John Carey is a Second Lieutenant with the West Glamorgans, who are comfortably ensconced in the regimental barracks at Tidworth. It is August 1914 and war is imminent. There is one last ceremonial regimental dinner, complete with Georgian silver service, toasts and cigars, before the dress clothes are packed away and everyone sets off for war.

Ronald Welch is very good on battle strategy, he understands how and where battles are fought, and he shows how the First World War marked the end of traditional cavalry regiments. You couldn’t use cavalry in trench warfare, because they simply got mown down. He also explains how and why tanks were first used, what they were good for and what they could and couldn’t do.

However, despite the comments quoted later, this book would be unlikely to be read in the same way today as it was when first published.

For a start, there are NO WOMEN in the whole book. Even the medical staff are men. No - actually - there are two women in London who give John a white feather because he is in mufti, but by then he has already been in the trenches and wounded and decorated and it is the tradition for his Battalion to wear mufti on leave, so you get the impression those women are a bit dim because they don't understand anything.

There is little reflection on the awful toll of war, although it’s hard to know if this book was written in 1972 to reflect attitudes prevalent in WW1, or if those attitudes were still prevalent in 1972. (In the Historical note at the back, the author notes that in 1972, the year it was published, “there were still 78,000 men in Britain drawing disability allowances from wounds received in the 1914-18 War.”) 

For example, the chapter on Desertion, where Private Tyler is courtmartialled and sentenced to death, shows no sensitivity to his plight (at one stage, John and his senior officer are discussing Gilbert and Sullivan operas); the man is simply treated as a despicable coward. “John stepped back, trying to free himself from the grip of those desperate fingers. He stared with revulsion and horror at that moaning, scrabbling figure on the floor at his feet.” (Compare that with Private Peaceful or David Hill's My brother’s war.)

Some of the comments below compare Ronald Welch to Rosemary Sutcliffe, and I did enjoy her books as a child. It will be interesting to see how they fare on re-reading, and if her books are equally weighted in favour of male characters. 

Author’s website

Ronald Welch (1909-1982) was writing well before the days of authors’ websites, and it wasn’t even his real name. He was born Ronald Oliver Fenton, in Wales, to English parents. He was a well-known author of children’s historical fiction, as well as being a history teacher and later headmaster. During World War Two, he fought in the Welch Regiment, and that was what he took his pen name from.

In 1955, he won the Carnegie Medal for the most outstanding children’s book of 1954 with Knight Crusader, which was the first in the Carey Family series. There are 12 books altogether, covering wars from the 12^th to the 20^th century, although they weren’t written in chronological order. Tank commander is the final title in the series (it has a Family Tree at the beginning), but not the last one to be published.

This website contains an interesting account of what he was like as a headmaster.

Bear Alley is a blog run by a freelance author and editor with a special interest in old British comics, books and magazines. Here he talks about Ronald Welch and his books,and his piece is followed by a string of enthusiastic comments from readers:

•  I remember reading as many of Ronald Welch’s historical novels as I could manage, when I was a boy growing up in the 1960s.
•  I devoured all his books as a child, through to my late teens. I read and re-read them all. From these books and those of C.S. Forester I gained a huge interest in History and Military History in particular.
• Ronald Welch’s and Rosemary Sutcliffe’s historical novels kindled my love of reading and history which has lasted all my life.
• Why isn’t somebody reprinting him?
• As a school librarian, I do not think that the calibre of these authors can be matched today, fantasy and chick lit are the popular genres.

With only a few dissenters:

• I think they’re too unreflective on Empire, Class and War for modern tastes, and not lyrical enough.

And according to a note on the end of this post on the Historical Writers' Association, Slightly Foxed is republishing all 12 of Ronald Welch’s Carey Novels, starting with Knight Crusader, The Galleon and For The King in September 2013, with subsequent titles to follow throughout 2014-2016.

Info about the illustrator

Victor G. Ambrus (1935- ) was born in Budapest and is still alive – with a website! I’m not sure why I was so surprised, except that this book does have such an old-fashioned feel.

Here is an example of his illustrating style (from his website):

The battle of Stamford Bridge

Things I didn’t know:

• Tanks in WW1:

I didn't know anything about how tanks were developed or when they were first used.

A WW1 tank

Here's another article about them with some more fascinating pictures. 

• New words in the war:

“Anzac” was of course a new word that emerged in World War One, but Ronald Welch notes others, such as “camouflage”, which comes from the French word camoufler, to disguise, and is recorded as having its first known use in 1917.

I went looking for other examples and found a post on language of the First World War. There was “camouflage” again:

“Many words which emerged at the time have clear associations with the conflict, such as camouflage, blimp, aerobatics, demob and shell shock.”

If you’re interested, you could also follow up the derivation of other war words such as Blighty, cushy or strafe.

• Officers in the British Army

I knew that officers in the British Army traditionally came from the upper classes. It was a well-recognised career path for a younger son.

However I didn’t realise that this was made inevitable by low rates of pay. According to Ronald Welch, “the pay of a Second Lieutenant was 5/3 per day and his Mess Bill 7/6 without any drinks at all. Not even Senior Officers could live on their pay and a private income was essential. A thousand a year in some regiments, six hundred at least in many more, and not far short of four hundred the absolute minimum. John knew of several officers in the room who were heavily in debt, and to them the coming war, if they survived it, would be an enormous relief.”

• The Battle of Waterloo:

I didn't know that the Battle of Waterloo, fought in 1814 between the English and the French (think Vanity Fair), took place close by some of the battles fought in World War One. 

John Carey’s first experience of war is at Mons, in Belgium. “For the first time in ninety-nine years the British army was fighting again in western Europe…  It was quite possible, John thought, remembering his Military History, that some of those men falling as British bullets hit them were grandsons of the Prussian soldiers who had made a forced march ninety-nine years ago on another Sunday, not so very far to the north of Mons, so that they could fight with their British allies, already fiercely engaged in battle at a place called Waterloo.”

That means that 2015 is also the bicentenary of that battle - which is a complete diversion, but still interesting. 

In Flanders fields by Norman Jorgensen, illustrated by Brian Harrison-Lever

In Flanders fields by Norman Jorgensen, illustrated by Brian Harrison-Lever (Sandcastle Books, 2002)

32 pages with mostly black and sepia pen and wash drawings (the red of the robin’s breast is one of the few patches of colour)

Subjects: World War One, France, Christmas, armistice, truce, birds, picture book (Year 5-8)

Synopsis:

The summary in the teaching notes is clear and succinct:

“In Flanders’ Fields, set in the trenches of World War I, tells the story of a young, homesick Anzac soldier who, on Christmas morning, faces almost certain death in a seemingly hopeless attempt to rescue a robin caught in the wire of no man’s land. Although the story takes place in the midst of a long and brutal war, the fighting has paused and no violence is seen. The focus of the book is on the similarity of the soldiers on both sides of the fence and the absolute futility of war.”

As the summary says, the book is unusual in focusing on soldiers on both sides of the trenches. The German soldiers begin to sing a carol – “Stille nacht” - and the Allied soldiers continue it in English – “all is calm, all is bright.”

As with all good picture books, the text (sparse, simple) and pictures (in their muted tones) complement each other beautifully. I was struck by the image of the barbed wire which occurs on many pages and suggests the barbarity of war, as well as the way these young men were trapped in it with no way out. 

The final page shows a scene of a graveyard crowded with crosses and poppies, and features a verse from John McCrae’s famous poem In Flanders Fields.

Dedication:

Both author and illustrator have dedicated the book to soldiers, presumably relatives, who served in the First World War. Some survived, some were wounded and some died. 

Reviews:

There is a short review on the Fremantle Press site. 

A review in The Age (“Oh what a lovely war”) includes an interview with both author and illustrator ("A book for children about World War I has won the best picture- book award.")

The Children's Book Council of Australia lists it under Picture book of the year:
"The story is told with slow solemnity and sensitivity that is never allowed to sink into sentimentality. In World War I on Christmas Eve, a young Australian soldier walks out into no-man’s-land to free a small robin caught in the barbed wire. The robin symbolises the survival of compassion and hope. The text is sparse and compelling, using the present tense. Subtle use of black and sepia pen and wash capture the bleakness of battlefield, sandbags and barbed wire, contrasting starkly with the sacrificial red of the robin’s breast and the Flanders poppies. The endpapers, tableaux of soldiers in opposing trenches, have a pathos which encapsulates the wasted humanity of war."

Questions:

The teaching notes pose some interesting questions:

A white silk scarf was sent to the soldier. What does that tell you about the ideas that people at home held of the conditions in the trenches? What Christmas gift would you send a soldier?

The main character in the story remains anonymous. Why do you think the author didn't give him a name?

Author’s website

Norman Jorgensen is an Australian writer, born in Broome. He says the book was partly inspired by “a single scene in an old black and white silent film…the first version of Erich Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front made by Lewis Milestone in 1929” - the image "where the German hero reaches for a butterfly and is shot by a sniper."

About the illustrator

Brian Harrison-Lever used his 19-year-old son as the model for the soldier, who looks very young and fresh-faced in his illustrations. The teaching notes include some lovely details about the process of illustration, something you don’t often read about:

“I initially decided to limit my palette to Sepia, Pane’s Grey, and diluted black ink, with the robin’s red chest feathers being the only bright colour through the book. As the work progressed a touch of watery Vermilion and Cadmium Yellow was included in the fire tins as a concession to Christmas for the poor homesick youngsters. As morning breaks and the daylight strengthens I added a little Cerulean Blue to the sky and the morning light.”

Other books you might like:

War game by Michael Foreman tells the story of a football game played between opposing sides during a temporary truce. Look at my blog posting on that book for more details about Christmas and other truces that took place during the First World War. 

Links

I'd never heard of the In Flanders Field Museum in Belgium before, but the website looks really interesting and it includes the full text of the poem.

“The In Flanders Fields Museum presents the story of the First World War in the West Flanders front region. It is located in the renovated Cloth Halls of Ypres, an important symbol of wartime hardship and later recovery.”

New Zealand soldiers passing the ruins of the Cloth Hall in Ypres, Belgium. Ref: 1/2-013129-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23071426

The horses didn't come home by Pamela Rushby

The horses didn’t come home by Pamela Rushby (Angus & Robertson, 2012)

Cover sub title: A young soldier and his horse in the Battle of Beersheba.

250 pages; chapters told alternately by Harry and Laura

Subjects: World War One, Middle East, Egypt, Palestine, Beersheba, Australia, Banjo Paterson, archaeology, horses, animals, junior fiction (Year  5-8)

Synopsis

From the blurb on the back:

“The last great cavalry charge in history took place at Beersheba in the Sinai Desert in 1917. It was Australian soldiers and horses that took part in, and won, this amazing, unexpected, unorthodox victory. The men proudly claimed it was their great-hearted horses that won the day. But in the end, the horses didn′t come home...”

The book starts with a lovely evocation of the Australian outback. Harry and his friend Jack, aged 16, have just finished school and are returning home. Harry is glad to be going back to his beloved horses, but Jack is restless, aware that there is a war going on. Then the army officers arrive, looking for horses to buy, and soon Harry and Jack are off to war as well with the Australian Light Horse.

Like many other books about war, this one stresses the importance of letters, both to those serving and to those waiting back at home. Harry’s letters to Laura at boarding school, pretending to come from Bunty (the horse) are a delight, and Bunty is a very real character in herself. There are some lovely moments of humour, in particular the time when the Aussie soldiers talk in Aboriginal placenames to confuse the English officers who are speaking French in front of them, and when they discover that the same nurse has agreed to write to them all, after they'd each thought they had some special understanding with her.

If you know what happened to the horses, you will understand the Prologue as you read it. If not, it will become clear at the end. 

One good thing to come out of this was the founding of the Old War Horse Memorial Hospital in Cairo, in 1934, which led to the work of the Brooke animal welfare organisation. A woman called Dorothy Brooke had discovered how badly many old British war horses were being treated and this is the text of the letter that she wrote in 1931, alerting the public to their plight. 

An added level of interest (pun unintended, but apt) comes from Jack’s fascination with archaeology and the stories of ancient Egypt. During one period of leave, they travel to Luxor and go to see the Valley of the Kings. In the middle of the desert they find a man sitting at a folding table under a white bell tent. This is Mr Carter, “Supervisor of Excavations for Lord Carnarvon”. In November 1922, he would discover the undisturbed, nearly intact tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen.

In the late 1800's Howard Carter like many others went to Egypt to discover lost tombs and treasures from the past. With the backing of wealthy folk from back home we was able to spend years (literally 30+) searching for undiscovered tombs.

The book also mentions the uncovering of the Byzantine Shellal Mosaic which is now on display in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. This article in the Sydney morning herald poses the question: Was it looted? Should it be returned?

Author’s website

Pamela Rushby was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, and now lives in Brisbane. Here she talks about  the book, the history behind it and what inspired her to write it. 

Teacher’s guide is available here. 

Other books you might like:

Charlie and Tommo in Private Peaceful sign up at nearly 16, so does William in My mother’s eyes: the story of a boy soldier, and Sydney in One boy’s war. The boys in War game are very young as well. “Boy soldiers” by Norman Bilbrough in School Journal, Part 4, No 3, 2008 tells the story of two young New Zealand soldiers, Stan Stanfield and Len Coley, who fought in World War One. 

Light Horse Boy by Dianne Wolfer also tells the story of the Australian Light Horse. 

NZ connections:

In Egypt, Harry meets a couple of Kiwi soldiers from the NZ Mounted Rifles, Frank and Ollie. To start with, they make fun of each other’s uniforms - the New Zealanders’ “baggy trousers and floppy hats”; the “kangaroo feathers” (actually emu feathers) that the Aussie soldiers wear in their hats - but they soon become good mates, and keep bumping into each other throughout the book.

New Zealand horses have also played an important role in war. On pg 32 of Anzac Day: the New Zealand story, you can read about Bess, one of 11,000 horses that went overseas with the NZ troops, and one of only four that returned. There is a memorial to her at Bulls (on private property, but it can be seen from the road.) 

 'Memorial to Bess the horse', URL: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/memorial-bess-horse, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 19-Sep-2013

Things I didn’t know
I’d heard about the Australian horses used in the First World War, but after reading the explanation on pg 11, I finally understand why they were called walers. According to Laura’s father, their ancestry can be traced back to seven horses (one stallion, five mares and one colt) that arrived with the First Fleet. These bred with other horses that came later: “English thoroughbreds, sturdy Timor ponies, and even Arabs”, to produce a new sort of horse suited to life in Australia. The horses were strong and fast, light and medium-sized, of any colour, and they were called walers because they were first bred in New South Wales.

I didn't know about the charge of the Light Horse at the Battle of Beersheba. On the NZ Historyonline website, this is referred to as part of the Third Battle of Gaza.

Australian Light Horse going into action. Photograph taken by Francis Gillard Rathkey.

In October 2012, the famous charge was re-enacted by members of the Australian Light Horse Association. You can watch the re-enactment on Youtube here. 

Here you can read about a bugle that was used at the Battle of Beersheba. It belonged to Roy Wynter, aged 18, a bugler and signalman. He was born on a Taree dairy farm in 1899, and enlisted in the 12th Light Horse Regiment at the age of 16, following his brother to war. Wynter also worked alongside Banjo Paterson tending the horses.  

War poetry

Banjo (Andrew Barton) Paterson (1864-1941) was a famous Australian bushman, journalist and poet. The man from Snowy River is one of his most well-known poems, and he also wrote Waltzing Matilda. He worked as a war correspondent in the South African War, and sailed for England when World War One broke out, hoping to do the same again. 

Instead, he ended up driving ambulances, then later was commissioned in the 2nd Remount Unit of the AIF. (Remounts were war horses that weren't individually owned, but were supplied to soldiers who had lost their own horses.) He served in the Middle East, was promoted and commended the commanded the Australian Remount Squadron until 1919. 

I looked for any war poems that he might have written and came across one called “We’re all Australians now,” published as “an Open Letter to the troops at the Dardanelles” in 1915. But the one I found most moving was this one, first published in The Kia-ora Coo-ee, 15 May 1918; and later in Aussie: The Australian Soldiers Magazine, 15 April 1920.

Moving On
In this war we’re always moving,
Moving on;
When we make a friend another friend has gone;
Should a woman’s kindly face
Make us welcome for a space,
Then it’s boot and saddle, boys, we’re
Moving on.

In the hospitals they’re moving,
Moving on;
They’re here today, tomorrow they are gone;
When the bravest and the best
Of the boys you know “go west”,
Then you’re choking down your tears and
Moving on.

View from Major ‘Banjo’ Paterson’s tent, Remount Camp at Moascar, North Egypt, 1918
George Lambert

Lone Pine by Susie Brown and Margaret Warner

Lone Pine by Susie Brown and Margaret Warner; illustrated by Sebastian Ciaffaglione (Little Hare, 2012)

CBCA Notable Book 2012

32 pages with full page colour illustrations

Subjects: World War One, Gallipoli, Australia, Lone Pine, trees, brothers, picturebooks (Year 2-6)

Synopsis:

The story starts in December 2008 with the image of a lone pine tree being lashed by a storm in the grounds of the Australian War Memorial. The rest of the book tells how and why it got there.

The battle of Lone Pine took place in August 1915. For the Australians at Gallipoli, it was as crucial and defining an event as the battle of Chunuk Bair for the New Zealanders. Pine trees grew on the Turkish hillsides, but many were cut down to provide cover for the Turkish trenches, leaving only one standing on the particular hill where this battle took place.

The battle is lightly touched on, but afterwards a soldier wanders the empty battle field searching for his brother. He slips a pine cone into his pocket because its scent reminds him of home. Later he posts it to his mother, who keeps it in a drawer. Three of her sons have gone off to war and only two will return. She plants the seeds and raises three saplings (only two of which survive.) In January 1930, one sapling is planted in a park in Inverell, the town where her sons grew up. In October 1934, the second sapling is planted in the grounds of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. This is the tree that we see at the beginning, still standing tall and strong. 

Lone Pine tree at the Australian War Memorial, December 2010.
PAIU2010/119.07

Colours and light make up a big part of this story, from the steely blue and stormy grey of the sky in the opening scene, through the dusty yellow of the battlefield and the Australian outback, the green colours of planting and regrowth and the sunset shades at the end. The book shows the impact of war on those who were left behind to wait and often to grieve, and the importance of remembering. 

Two pages of notes at the back cover the battle of Lone Pine, and the Canberra and the Inverell pine trees, and give brief biographical details about the mother and three sons of the Smith family, on whom the story is based. 

Reviews:

You can read reviews of the book on the Aussie Reviews site and on My little bookcase. 

Teachers notes are also available here. 

Questions and Activities:

How do the colours on each page make you feel? Why do you think the artist chose those colours?

Draw a time line that includes each date given in this book (remember the notes at the back.)

Author’s websites:

Susie Brown is a teacher librarian who has written for the educational market. Margaret Warner is also a teacher; the two of them taught together for a number of years and developed the story together.

About the illustrator:

Sebastian Ciaffaglione is a freelance artist based in Melbourne. He has illustrated Carol Wilkinson’s Dragon Keeper series. His blog shows some of the spreads for the book:

New Zealand connections:

On pg 39 of Anzac Day: the New Zealand story is a section called “Lone Pine”. This describes other Anzac pines planted in various places around New Zealand, for example, in Taradale, Wanganui, Stratford and Featherston.

Most of these are derived from pine trees that grew on other parts of the Gallipoli peninsula. Some botanists have worked out that there is only one pine tree in New Zealand that can be linked back to the original Lone Pine, and that tree is on the Paeroa golf course.  

Links:

An article titled “Lone Pine: seeds grown into a living memorial” points out that at least one other digger brought home a pine cone from Lone Pine. Sergeant Keith McDowell carried a cone in his rucksack for the rest of the war and gave it to an aunt when he returned home. She planted some of the seeds and several grew and were planted in Melbourne and elsewhere.

You can read more about “The battle of Lone Pine” here. 

Lone Pine cemetery, Gallipoli. 

Light Horse Boy by Dianne Wolfer

Light Horse Boy by Dianne Wolfer, illustrated by Brian Simmonds (Fremantle Press, 2013)

120 pages with charcoal sketches and facsimile letters

Subjects: World War One, Australia, Palestine, Egypt, horses, animals, junior fiction (Year 6-10)

Synopsis:

Jim is a young Australian boy, not yet 18, who works as a farrier (someone who trims and shoes horses’ hooves.) His best mate Charlie reckons that when the army recruiting officers see how well they can ride, they won’t ask for a birth certificate, and so it turns out. Jim and Charlie sail with the fleet from Albany in 1914, and wave goodbye to the lighthouse keeper’s daughter, Fay, who features in Lighthouse girl. 

The story is told in a mixture of narrative, illustrations, photographs, and Jim’s letters and postcards back to his younger sister Alice, who is working as a governess. On the way over, Jim is chosen to work as a farrier on the flagship Orvieto. That means he has to leave his mates and his own horse, Breaker, but on the Orvieto, he looks after Major General Bridge’s horse Sandy, and gets to know the Major himself.  He meets up with Charlie again in Egypt, where they camp in the desert, walk alongside the River Nile, visit the pyramids, race camels and leave their kangaroo mascot Rufus at the Cairo Zoo. They are sent to Gallipoli (without their horses) where they see the first of their good mates die in the landings on April 25^th 1915. Later Charlie dies in the battle of Lone Pine.

Back in Egypt, Jim takes part in the battles of the Desert Campaign. After being wounded in an explosion, he ends up on a hospital ship on his way to England, and is transferred to a hospital for the blind. Eventually, on his way back to Australia, he finds a surprise below decks that helps him start the process of inward healing. There are a couple more surprises in the final pages.

The book is full of good Aussie slang (Charlie says they will make ”crackerjack soldiers”, and Jim says it’s “bonza” being back with  his mates) and the story of the Light Horse soldiers is a fascinating one, that is less familiar than the stories of Gallipoli and the Western Front. Children who like horses will find it especially interesting as there are lots of descriptions of how the horses are cared for.

Reviews:
There are reviews of this book on the Aussie Reviews site and on Buzz Words books. (This latter reviewer points out that the black charcoal sketches suit the story because they capture "the seriousness and sadness of war".)

This interview and review describes some of the research behind the writing of the book. 

Questions:

At the end of the war, “many soldiers chose to shoot their beloved Walers [horses] rather than leave them behind to an unknown fate.” Why did they do that? What would have happened to the horses otherwise?

Author’s website:

Dianne Wolfer sounds like such a nice person!

Her website includes teaching notes about the book.

There is a bio of her on the Fremantle Press site.

The illustrator is Brian Simmonds and you can read about his work here. 

Other books you might like:

Light Horse Boy is a companion novel to Dianne Wolfer’s earlier book, Lighthouse girl, which is based on the true story of Fay Howe. Fay lived on the Breaksea Island lighthouse, near Albany where the troopships departed from. She was proficient at semaphore and used to take down messages for the troops and send them to their families, as their last farewell before they left Australia.

Evan’s Gallipoli tells a very different story, but one that overlaps in time and sometimes in location.

New Zealand connections:

The New Zealand Mounted Rifles fought with the Australian Light Horse in the deserts of the Middle East during World War One. You can read about the different units here.

The New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade left New Zealand with the Main Body of the NZEF in October 1914. The mounted riflemen fought in Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine. They sometimes fought from horseback, and sometimes (as when they went to Gallipoli) they left their horses behind. But usually they would ride to the scene of action and then dismount before going into battle. One man in each group of four would then look after those four horses, as happens in Light Horse Boy.

They were fine horses, and not many of them ever came back to Australia or New Zealand. Dianne Wolfer says in her introduction that of the 136,000 horses that left Australia, only one returned. That was Sandy, the horse belonging to Major General Sir William Bridges. The Major General was killed at Gallipoli and was the only Australian to be returned to his homeland for burial. 

Four of the 10,000 New Zealand horses returned home, and the most famous of them is Bess. You can read about her on pg 32 of Anzac Day:the New Zealand story. There is a memorial to her near Bulls. Bess was also the model for the horse on top of the Cenotaph in Wellington.

 'Memorial to Bess the horse', URL: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/memorial-bess-horse, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 19-Sep-2013

Other links:

A mounted rifleman in uniform sits among a group of farriers, photographed by Laurie Mackie in the World War I military camp at Zeitoun in Egypt, 1914. The farriers are holding equipment for horse shoeing, including hammers and bars.

The farriers, Zeitoun camp, Egypt. Ref: PA1-o-308-10-3. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22534019

Members of the Mounted Rifles Regiment in Nelson during World War One. Ref: 1/2-026531-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23081874

The Great War by Joe Sacco

This post is a bit of a cheat. I haven't seen this book yet; I've only been told about it and read about it online. But it sounds so fascinating I wanted to mention it straightaway.

Someone said to me recently that they hoped I would be covering books written some time ago as well as books that are being published now, and that is certainly my intention - but it's hard to keep up! I just checked out a list from Publishers Weekly about children's war books coming out in 2013 and the list is enormous.

The Great War is a graphic novel (whether or not not you like that term) showing the first day of the battle of the Somme in fold out pages: "an epic 24ft portrayal of the events of 1 July 1916." It's one long drawing with no speech bubbles or words, taking us through the events of that first day.  

You can see some of the pictures here. 

Most of the men sent to the Somme are New Army volunteers. 
At the height of every recruitment, 30,000 men enlisted each day

It's a stunning idea, described in this Guardian interview with Joe Sacco as "the Bayeux Tapestry as a silent movie". The descriptions in this interview of how he did it are fascinating (he broke the photocopier at London's Imperial War Museum by copying so many research photographs and images.)  

Joe Sacco is described as "a Maltese-American comic book artist and journalist" although in this interview he tells how he grew up in Australia, the impact that Anzac Day services had on him as a child and his childhood interest in World War One with its new technology. He also has some great stuff to say about the advantages of his style of illustration in telling stories - for example: "With the written word, you can describe the architecture, but you’re not going to keep mentioning it as a figure is walking down the street, you’re not going to keep mentioning what the background is. With comics you can do that."

And also this: "The other thing I think a comic does well is that it can take the reader into the past, very seamlessly. Because your drawing style is the same now as if you’re drawing something a hundred years ago, and so the reader has an easier transition, which can be difficult to do with a documentary film; sometimes documentary film relies on acting to bring the past to life, and that always seems strange — it rubs up against the nature of documentary film.

You can read another review from the Washington Post here. I'm really looking forward to seeing a copy of this book and I'll try and track down some of Joe Sacco's earlier work as well. 

Joe Sacco (Credit: Don Usner)