A. Stuart Dolden

This is a factual reality masterpiece of understatement of the ordinary soldier at or near the front-line trenches of WW1 for almost the entire war. Veteran of WW1, A. Stuart Dolden writes his account based on his scraps of notepaper, small diaries and memory from the period - - it is all the better for not having the angst and vision of more celebrated World War authors - - the plain, unvarnished, matter-of-fact, day-to-day description of an Infantryman who happened to be seconded to the London Scottish Battalion's Cook unit. Dolden makes clear his experience is completely unremarkable: Thousands upon thousands underwent the same experience of being under massive bombardment, intensive gunfire, advances and retreats, in haste and plodding in the heat and the freeze, dry and wet, up to their necks in muck and rats, preferring to risk being above the parapet to the ghastly mess at the bottom and so with everything there is confusion, fear, good humour and above all the incessant "marching" to and fro with a 60 to 80lb pack and a 400lb cooker plus utensils to haul around when the horse teams were unavailable! Extraordinary times, enthralling experiences and Dolden would be the first to state his War was no exception. My only quibble is with the Publishers: WHY did they not put in a Map of the area Dolden served in - - he mentions place after place - - it would have been a real plus to trace his many long and short marches to the front-line and rear cook-houses!?… (mehr)