BOOK REVIEW - Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger

The memoirs of a German officer who served in the trenches of the Western Front during World War I. They are based on his diary, but written up some years after the war.

This account is brutal in its frankness about what daily life in the trenches - he does not hold back. And pretty grim it was too. The unrelenting nature of the danger from snipers, artillery and other forms of sudden death is well described and harrowing. The author takes the time to describe what dug-outs were like, how tunnelling was done, how trenches were constructed and other facts about daily life that don't always make it into the historical accounts. He also waxes lyrical about food and meals - something that was obviously important in the trenches. Loads of interesting facts and views.

Although most of the book is about the author - fair enough - he also comments on other aspects of the war. In rear areas out of reach of the shelling there were still French or Belgian civilians living in their houses. He talks a lot about the interactions between the German soldiers and these civlians - both friendly and not so pleasant. There are also comments about transport, drink, the higher command and so forth.

Having a grandfather and three great uncles in the trenches on the other side, I was interested in his comments on the differences between British and French enemies. The British are said to have had far more artillery ammunition, particularly heavy guns, and were more skilled in its use than the French. He also says that the British were more active at trench raids and similar small scale fighting. The French, however, seem to have been more adept at the slow grinding attrition of trench warfare.

My only real criticism is that this is very much the account of day to day events affecting one man. He makes little effort to place his experiences into context. For instance I was half way through the Battle of the Somme before I realised that this is what he was describing. Rather more off putting was the fact that he barely makes any effort to breathe life into his comrades in arms - even though he was in the same regiment for most of the time. They are for the most part anonymous men, sometimes described by rank. He only names a man when something is about to happen to him - being wounded, getting into trouble with a senior officers, being killed. As a result we the reader don't really care when something happens. If we had heard of these characters we might think "Oh dear, Corporal Schmidt has been wounded". But as it is, we don't.

Still, this is a fascinating and informative account of life in the trenches from the German side. If you have any interest at all in the Western Front, you should get a copy and read it.