The World War One Experiences of W H Downing

Written just after the heat of battle and in the language of the time, this extraordinarily moving account expresses in a brutally honest and personal way the ordinary soldier's experience of one of the most horrific series of battles ever fought.

Fleurbaix...Bapaume...Beaumetz...Lagnicourt...Bullecourt...The Menin Road...Villers-Bretonneux...Péronne and Mont St. Quentin - Downing describes the mud, the rats, the constant pounding of the guns, the deaths, the futility, but also the humour and heroism of one of the most compelling periods in world history. His writing is spare, beautiful in its clarity and heart-breakingly vivid. Quite simply the finest and most graphic description of these actions ever written. Anyone with an interest in war and the ordinary person's struggle to survive must read this book. Walter Downing was a Melbourne law student before fighting on the Western Front, where he won the Military Medal. His book was acclaimed, on its original publication in 1920 for its literary quality and its realism, which few soldiers have managed to achieve.

Reviews

'A Masterpiece Among the Chronicles of War' The Australian

'Downing's Book is Compelling' Sydney Morning Herald

'A Superbly Written First-Hand Account of the Horrors of World War I in the Trenches' The Herald Sun