Originally appearing at the same time as the pacifist novel All Quiet on the Western Front, this powerful collection provides a glimpse into the hearts and minds of an enemy that had been thoroughly demonized by the Allied press. Composed by German students who had left their university studies in order to participate in World War I, these letters reveal the struggles and hardships that all soldiers face.The stark brutality and surrealism of war are revealed as young men f...

Originally appearing at the same time as the pacifist novel All Quiet on the Western Front, this powerful collection provides a glimpse into the hearts and minds of an enemy that had been thoroughly demonized by the Allied press. Composed by German students who had left their university studies in order to participate in World War I, these letters reveal the struggles and hardships that all soldiers face.The stark brutality and surrealism of war are revealed as young men f...

The French painter Jean Hélion’s unique and deeply moving account of his experiences in Nazi prisoner-of-war camps prefigures the even darker stories that would emerge from the concentration camps. This serious adventure tale begins with Hélion’s infantry platoon fleeing from the German army and warplanes as they advanced through France in the early days of the war. The soldiers chant as they march and run, “They shall not have me!” but are quickly captured and sent to hard labor.Wr...

Presenting the desperate conflict of the First World War through the eyes of an ordinary German soldier, Ernst Jünger's Storm of Steel is translated by Michael Hofmann in Penguin Modern Classics.'As though walking through a deep dream, I saw steel helmets approaching through the craters. They seemed to sprout from the fire-harrowed soil like some iron harvest.'A memoir of astonishing power, savagery and ashen lyricism, Storm of Steel depicts Ernst Jünger's...

The author of Saturday at M.I.9 and former British soldier recounts his escape from Nazi captivity during World War II in this military memoir.Wounded and captured at Calais in May 1940, Second Lieutenant Airey Neave wasted little time before attempting to escape. Always a thorn in his captors' sides, he earned his place in the "escape-proof" Colditz Castle. Undeterred, he had the distinction of being the first British officer to make a "home run," via Swit...

This is Bill Cull's unforgettable story of his experiences in WW1: he fought at Gallipoli and on the Western Front where he was captured by the Germans and was a POW until the end of the war.Captain William Cull fought the First World War from both sides of the wire. As a young infantry officer on the Allied side of the Western Front, Cull frequently led patrols out into No Man's Land and raids on the German trenches. He took part in bitter fighting on the Somme at Pozi res, and in...

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

One of the most powerful descriptions of the scourge of the First World War by a woman who was on the front lines and ultimately gave her life for the cause.Scottish-born English novelist, Sarah Broom Macnaughtan (1864 – 1916) spent much of her life in the service of others in need. She worked for the Red Cross to aid soldiers and civilians in the Balkans, the Boer War, and WWI. She was a suffragist and worked for the poor.She kept this diary during her service in WWI. Duri...

A German deserter's war experienceAbout ten minutes we might have lain in the grass when we suddenly heard rifle shots in front of us. Electrified, all of us jumped up and hastened to our rifles. Then the firing of rifles that was going on at a distance of about a mile or a mile and a half began steadily to increase in volume. We set in motion immediately.The expression and the behavior of the soldiers betrayed that something was agitating their mind, that ...

In trying to recall my impressions during my short war duty as an officer in the Austrian Army, I find that my recollections of this period are very uneven and confused. Some of the experiences stand out with absolute clearness; others, however, are blurred. Two or three events which took place in different localities seem merged into one, while in other instances recollection of the chronological order of things is missing. This curious indifference of the memory to values of time and spa...

"Contemptible" is an anonymous memoir attributed to a British soldier who served in the early stages of World War I, particularly during the British Expeditionary Force’s (BEF) engagement in 1914. The title refers to Kaiser Wilhelm II's dismissive description of the BEF as a "contemptible little army." This phrase became a badge of honor for the soldiers who endured grueling conditions and displayed remarkable resilience during the opening phases of the war.The book provides a vivid, perso...

The horrible and incomprehensible hates and brutalities of the European War! Unspeakable atrocities! Men blood-lusting like a lot of tigers! Horrible they are indeed. But my experiences in the war zone render them no longer incomprehensible. For, while over there, in my own blood I felt the same raging beasts. Over there, in my own soul I knew the shattering of my most cherished principles. It is not an unique experience. Whoever has been drawn into the center of the conflict has found him...