Finished one book a few days ago Shots From The Front: The British Soldier 1914-18 by Richard Holmes

>3/5

>Covers all the main information about the tactics and life of British soldiers during the First World War combined with lots of pictures. Good mix of areas, not just the Western Front. The photos are also good quality in the hardback version I read plus there is a lot of commentary (what it shows, whether it was staged or genuine, when it was probably taken) etc and links in the text to the photos, rather than the photos just being completely random. Of the photos my favourite is probably number 47 which shows a woman from the Women's Royal Naval Service training the soldiers on how to use the gas masks. The writing was fine but for me personally I felt there was a little bit too much on regiments and uniform details, but it is a rather short book so it didn't drag too much.

>While the book was fine and I would recommend it if you can find or see a cheap copy I was also sort of disappointed with it. I've read a quite a few of Holmes' books and really enjoyed them all (in particular 'Tommy' which is a lot more in-depth about the WWI British soldiers, 'Redcoat' about the 18th and 19th century soldiers and 'Sahib' about British soldiers in India up to WWI) but this one just didn't work as well for me and I can't really say why.