Richard Holmes
Beyond Courage
Bloody Victory: The Sacrifice on the Somme and the Making of the Twentieth Century
By William Philpott
Little, Brown 721pp £25 order from our bookshop
This is a thoughtful and important book by a first-rate historian, and deserves to become required reading for those who seek to advance their understanding of the Somme beyond the historiographical trench lines, still disputed, as noisily as pointlessly, by lions and donkeys. It has many great virtues. First among them is the fact that it is a proper history of the battle, not simply an agonising account of its first day extended by a chapter or two to cover the remaining four months’ fighting. Next, it pays as much attention to the French and the Germans as to the British, and considers – for the battle’s impact was not confined to Europe – Australia and Canada too. Among its spot-on judgements is the recognition that on that first terrible day ‘the British did not fail by their own endeavours alone, but in a gruelling fight with a professional, skilled and determined adversary.’ Something in me shrinks from using the phrase ‘learning curve’, as if the rolling downland was graph paper and the all-too-numerous crosses simple measures of combat effectiveness. But it is nonetheless true to say that the growth of British tactical skill and the degradation of German fighting power were two of the Somme’s many interlocking themes.
Philpott acknowledges not simply the French contribution to the battle, but the broader impact of occupation and reconquest on the French psyche. The clarity of his perception shines out, for example, in a pen-picture of that fine soldier Marie Emile Fayolle, commanding the French 6th Army south of
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'McCarthy’s portrayal of a cosmos fashioned by God for killing and exploitation, in which angels, perhaps, are predators and paedophiles, is one that continues to haunt me.'
@holland_tom on reading Blood Meridian in the American west (£).
https://literaryreview.co.uk/devils-own-country
'Perhaps, rather than having diagnosed a real societal malaise, she has merely projected onto an entire generation a neurosis that actually affects only a small number of people.'
@HoumanBarekat on Patricia Lockwood's 'No One is Talking About This'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/culturecrisis
*Offer ends in TWO days*
Take advantage of our February offer: a six-month subscription for only £19.99.
https://www.mymagazinesub.co.uk/literary-review/promo/literaryfebruary/