Old Front Line
WW1 Podcast with Paul Reed
Somme Books
The Somme is one of the most written about battles in military history. Where to start your reading given the huge number of books about the period? In this episode we take a ‘layered’ approach to reading and examine everything from ‘Gateway Books’ to Battlefield Guides.
Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast.
READING LIST:
Some of the key titles mentioned in the podcast:
John Giles – The Somme Then and Now
Martin Middlebrook – First Day on the Somme
Andrew MacDonald – First Day of the Somme
Malcolm Brown – Imperial War Museum Book of the Battle of the Somme
Chris McCarthy – The Somme Day by Day
Gerald Gliddon – Somme: A Battlefield Companion (formerly When The Barrage Lifts)
Terry Norman – The Hell They Called High Wood
Jonathan Porter – Zero Hour Books
Jack Sheldon – The German Army on the Somme
Unit Histories – for reprints visit Naval and Military Press and originals Tom Donovan Books
Pals Books and WW1 Unit Histories – visit Pen & Sword Books
Ray Westlake – British Battalions on the Somme
For Somme Memoirs have a look at the Podcast website and this episode:
Captain J.C.Dunn – The War The Infantry Knew
Pen and Sword Battleground Europe Books
Rose Coombs MBE – Before Endeavours Fade
2 Comments on “Somme Books”
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Old Front Line 
Thanks for an excellent and informative podcast Paul. Good plug for the Farrar-Hockley one. I bought this with me on your walking the Somme tour in 2002. I’d like to get his other one on Ypres, Death of an Army in the original Briitish battles series format. Good to see that Jonathan Porter is planning a volume 3, I understand that eventually his volumes will cover the whole of the British front.
I have many of the books listed but not all, so thanks for the health warning on bankruptcy. You once said that you can never have too many books. And I think that “How to buy too many books and avoid bankruptcy” would be a podcast in it’s own right!!
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Ha! Good point! I’ve no answer to that one!!
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