This should be read in conjunction with Riding the Retreat methinks.
I had almost forgotten to mention - last Sunday saw SWMBO and I visit a local indoor boot sale held in the village. This is quite a small affair but I have managed to score a coupe of odds and ends there in the past. I am happy to say that Sunday was no exception and I was able to pick a hardback copy of Tommy - The British Soldier on the Western Front 1914 to 1918 by the late and great Richard Holmes. I must confess that the Western Front has never really appealed to me from a gaming perspective - 1914 and 1918 excepted but I have wanted to explore the whole thing in more detail, mainly to get a better understanding of the whys and wherefores of this awful environment. The image of the trenches and the slaughter of the Somme etc are in my opinion indelibly etched on our understanding of the war so I want to gain a greater understanding of the human perspective.
The price for this tome was the princely sum of £1.
Not a bad Sunday then, all things considered!
It strikes me sometimes that we often hear numbers of dead and wounded to the point one could easily think that few if any came home. But without looking at numbers it seems that even larger number came home bringing the experience with them whether sharing it as some did or burying it as others did. Either way they played a big role in shaping the world.
ReplyDeleteHi Ross,
ReplyDeleteSorry for the delayed response but your comment gave me much to think about - simply because I had never thought of it in this way. very true though.
All the best,
DC