WORLD WAR

Evening Star, Issue 22630, 23 April 1937, Page 10

WORLD WAR

INTERESTING DISPLAY OF LITERATURE EXHIBITION AT PUBLIC LIBRARY Owing to the observance of Anzac Day on Sunday next, the Great War, 1914-1918, has been taken as the subject for the display in the lending department of the Public Library this Perhaps it would be fitting to mention first books on the Gallipoli campaign. ' The most famous is Gallipoli, by John Masefield, “ being an able account of the Allied campaign at the Dardanelles, which vindicates that tragic failure and pays reverent tribute to the suffering and heroism of a halttrained array under indescribable condi- ' tions. The story has never been told with, such a concentration on the essentials, with so virid a realisation of the horrors and splendours of the struggle. Leaves from the diary of an Australian trooper in Gallipoli form the material on which lon L. Idriess bases his ‘Desert Column,’ and another book dealing with the “ Anzacs ’’ is ‘Dardanelles Dilemma,’ by E. K.. Chatterton. „ The causes and history of the war will be found in the following books;— ‘ Causes of the World War,’ by Camille Bloch; ‘Eve of 1914,’ by Theodore Wolf; ‘War in Outline,’ by Liddell Hart: ‘History of the World War, 1914-1918,’ by Liddell Hart; ‘Episodes of the Great War,’ by John. Buchan; ‘ History of the Great War, 1914-1918, by c. R. M. F. Crutwell ; ‘Memoirs of Lloyd George,’ ‘ Role of British Strategy in the Great War,’ by C. R. M.'F. Crutwell. “Mr Orutwell’s mam - object is to determine the contribution made by the British influence and ideas on the general strategy of the Allies and of the conduct of the war by land. His general conclusion is that our influence on land strategy was small . . . although the forces we put into the field formed a far larger proportion of the total Allied effort than ever before, but that our policy by sea was practically decisive of the conflict.” There is also a small section dealing with New Zealand’s part in the war, which includes ‘ Official History of the Otago Regiment, 1914-1918,’ by Lieutenant A E. Bryne; ‘War Effort of New Zealand,’ by H. B. Drew; ‘ The Maoris in the Great War,’ by J. Cowan; Ofncial History of the New Zealand Engineers,’ ‘ New Zealand Division in France, 1916-1919.’ There have been many books written on spies and espionage, and some of the best are mentioned below. Bernard Newman, in two books, ‘ Secret Servant ’ and ‘ Spy,’ “ represents himself as a British spy who during the World War kept the British informed about important German plans, and who succeeded in undermining the confidence of the German general staff, thus helping on the end of the war._ ‘ I Was a Spy,’ by Marthe M'Kenna, is the story on whcih the motion picture of the same name is based. “ The Belgian girl who was Marthe Cnockaert, 1 and is now Mrs Marthe M'Kenna, worked as a trained nurse in a German field hospital close behind the German lines in Belgium, and at the same time served as a spy in the British Intelligence Service, collecting information that aided tremendously the British forces and the Allied cause.” Sections are devoted to the war in the air and the war on, and under, the sea. Floyd Gibbons in ‘ Red Knight of Germany ’ gives a vivid description of the life of the most famous German “ ace,” Baron von Richthorfen. Other tales of heroism in the air, are found in the following books : —‘ Flying Memories,’ by S. O. Bradshaw; ‘ Air V. by Captain W. E. Johns; ‘Flying Fury,’ by J. B. M'Cudden; ‘ Airman Remembers,’ by Hans Schroder; ‘ Above the Bright Blue Sky,’ by E. W. Springs; ‘Wings of War,’ airman’s diary of the last year of the war, by Rudolf Stark ; ‘ German War Birds,’ by “ Vigilant ” ; ‘ Recollections of An Airman,’ by Colonel L. A. Strange. Many people maintain that the deciding factor of the war was the strength of the British Navy, and only the latest books dealing with the part played by the’fleet are mentioned. They are ‘ North Sea Diary, 1914-1918,’ by Commander Stephen King-Hall; and ‘ Swift Channels,’ the story of the minesweepers, by Taffrail. ‘ Hell’s Angels of the Deep,’ by W. G. Cairr, and ‘ By Guess and By God,’ by W. G. Carr, are two particularly interesting books describing the horrors experienced by the crews of the submarines. ‘ 1.D.,’ by D. Masters, is a series of new tales of the submarine war. A very popular book is ‘ Raiders of the Deep,’ by Lowell Thomas. The most interesting details of the Great War are to be found in the biographies of its leaders or in the personal narratives of some of the participants. ‘My Experiences in the World War,’ by General J. J. Pershing, is a very popular book, giving an unbiased account of the last two years of the war. ‘ Seven Pillars of Wisdom,’ by T. E. Lawrence, is his own vivid and stirring ■ account of his Arabian campaigns. Another good book on the life story of T. E. Lawrence is ‘ Lawrence and the Arabs,’ by Robert Graves. ‘ Five Years,’ by John Brophy, is a recent book, and is a “ conspectus of the Great War designed primarily for study by the successors of those who took part in it; and, secondarily, to' refresh the memory of the participants themselves.” Another recent book is ‘ Recollections of an Amateur Soldier,’ by C. L. Treadwell. • Two biographies are worth mentioning: ‘ Field-Marshal Earl Haig,’ by Duff Cooper; and ‘.General Foch,’ by R. M. Johnston. . Different phases of the war are recorded in the books listed below:— ‘ Secret Service,’ by Sir George Aston; ‘ Tunnellers,’ by Captain W. G. Grieve and Bernard Newman (story of the tunnelling companies, Royal Engineers) ; ‘4O 0.8.,’ or ‘How the War Was Won,’ by H. C. Hay;' ‘Passport to Hell,’ by Robin Hyde; ‘ Journey to the Western Front Twenty Years After;.’ , by R. H. Mottram; ‘Dark Invader,’ by Rintelin von Gleist, the wartime reminiscences of a German naval intelligence officer; ‘ War of the Guns,’ by Aubrey Wade (profusely illustrated); and ‘ Mysteries of the Great War,’ by H. T. Wilkes. NOVELS OF THE GREAT WAR. Owing to the popularity of novels on the Great War, a list has been given below of some of the most popular ones:— ‘ Under Fire,’ by Henri Barbusse, a grimly realistic picture of the dull misery and nastiness of trench warfare;, ‘ Case of Sergeant Grischa,’ by A. Zweig. A Russian soldier is caught after escaping from a German prison camp, and, although he was erroneously condemned to death as a spy, the High Command decrees he must yet pay the penalty for political reasons and for the effect of discipline on the other men. ‘ Jesting Array,’ by E. Raymond, ‘Best Short Stories of the .War,’- ‘ Medal Without Bar,’- by R.

Blaker; ‘ Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,’ hy Ibanez Blasco; ‘ It’s a Great War,’ by M. Lee; ‘No More Parades,’ by F. M. Ford, “ a realistic picture of life in a crowded base camp in France during the World War. Captain Tietjens and his fascinating unmoral wife are the central figures in this book, as they were in ‘ Some Do Not ’; ‘ Silence of Colonel Bramble,’ by A. Maurois; ‘ Ashenden,’ by W. S. Maugham; ‘ Farewell to Arms,’ hy E. Hemingway. “An American ambulance officer serving the Austro-Italian front becomes entangled with an English nurse and deserts to join her after the retreat of Caparetto.” ‘Mrs Fischer’s War.’ by H.. Leslie; ‘ Spanish Farm,’ by R. H. Mottram; ‘Saul Enchanted,’ by R.’ Rolland; -‘ Memoirs of an Infantry Officer,’ by S. L. Sassoon. “ Life in the trenches, in combat, behind the lines, on the march has been portrayed again and again, but nowhere with greater distinction . Sassoon clothes scene after scene with the actuality of the event itself, and against such backgrounds his alert and humorously attached mind observes not only the men about him, but also his own moods and reactions.” ‘ Journey’s End,’ by R. C. Sherriff and V. Bartlett; ‘ Once in England,’ by E. Raymond; ‘Death of a (Hero,’ by R. Aldington; ‘Sagittarius Rising,’ ,* All Our Yesterdays,’ by H. St. Tomlinson. “British events in tlie cause of the Empire are presented in panorama from 1900-1918 in this reflective novel, which has less of actual warfare than of war’s causes and its effects on human lives.”