Review: Life on the Western Front during World War 1
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 5, 2010
The title of this book is a phrase used by the British and Americans during World Wars 1 and 2 to indicate continental Europe, where the fighting was taking place. This book was written during World War 1. The Western Front in the subtitle is the line where the westward-moving German army was being met by the armies of the countries they were invading. Arnold Bennett was a novelist who was Director of Propaganda for France at the Ministry of Information during the war. That's the background, on to the book...Bennett tells of the time he spent moving from town to town in France and Belgium along the Front. He is always escorted by a military officer, and they often walk through trenches and have to take cover if an artillery shell explodes nearby. He frequently goes into detail about towns and buildings that have been damaged or destroyed by the Germans. It's not a very personal book- he seldom writes about people he meets or relates conversations. Occasionally he muses on the absurdity of what the Germans are doing, and what it is costing in terms of people's lives and livelihoods. His cynicism shines through at those moments. The book will be best enjoyed by war buffs, but it's short, and an excellent description of a war zone, so I recommend it to people who don't normally read war books as well.