Lionel Sotheby’s Great War: Diaries and Letters from the Western Front - Hardcover

Sotheby, Lionel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0821411780 ISBN 13: 9780821411780

Publisher: Ohio University Press, 1997

Synopsis

The “butterfly” that emerged in World War I trench warfare in 1915 aspired to kill: “I cannot explain,” the diary continues. “It comes unseen and makes you oblivious of almost everything at times, save one intense desire to kill, kill, kill, the Germans.”

Lionel Sotheby’s diary and letters are a compelling first-person account of the harrowing experiences of the young British lieutenant at the Western Front. His writing reveals constant peril, hourly discomfort, and gruesome injuries. Brushes with death or mutilation were daily occurrences, and nearby comrades—some literally inches away from Lionel—fell to gas, machine guns, snipers and shells.

“One poor fellow next to me put up his head for a second...They got him through the jaw, gums tongue, and come out tearing half his neck away. We bandaged him up somehow. Awful wound and in agony.”

There is evidence that Lionel Sotheby struggled at times with the horror of war, yet overall he remained remarkably cheerful and resolute—and certain of his own impending death. “It is a noble selfless sentiment far more rare in today’s less ‘patriotic’ world, but a virtue that characteristically animated most products of the public schools of that generation,” writes Donald Richter.

“The Black Watch including myself charged the German trenches 400 yards away. The whole 15 officers were killed, except 4. Of these 4, 3 were wounded and 1 survived. I tell you it was a miracle and I feel quite changed as I lay out 15 yards from the German trenches for 4 hours before crawling back.”

A great many soldiers in 1915 did not survive log enough to record their experiences. It was nasty, close-range fighting, with fearsome instruments of death. Nobody yet knew how to fight the first mechanized global.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Lionel Sotheby's diary and letters are a compelling first-person account of the harrowing experiences of the young British lieutenant at the Western Front. His writing reveals constant peril, hourly discomfort, and gruesome injuries. Brushes with death or mutilation were daily occurrences, and nearby comrades - some literally inches away from Lionel - fell to gas, machine guns, snipers, and shells. There is evidence that Lionel Sotheby struggled at times with the horror of war, yet overall he remained remarkably cheerful and resolute - and certain of his own impending death. A great many soldiers in 1915 did not survive long enough to record their experiences. It was nasty, close-range fighting, with fearsome instruments of death. Nobody yet knew how to fight the first mechanized global war. Lionel Sotheby, sensitive and enthusiastic, tried hard in his letters to give his family the look and feel of the war. In so doing, this young man who was forged by the chivalrous ethos of Eton, by his social class, and by his time, bore witness powerfully and poignantly. On the eve of the Battle of Loos, Lionel, barely twenty-one years old, posted two letters saying he was going over the top in the first wave in the morning, "cheerful and full of hope". He was killed in the battle. Richter ends the book with an attempt to reconstruct exactly what happened to Lionel on September 25, 1915.

About the Author:

Former teacher, lecturer and founder/director of two archives on the world wars of the twentieth century, Peter Liddle is a well-published historian of personal experience in those wars with books on Gallipoli, The Somme and D-Day. He is dedicated to the preservation of the evidence of the past and has particularly enjoyed drawing together in publications and conferences the research of others in the field.. He has a lifetime of interest in sport, history travel and wildlife. He lives with his wife, Louise, in Rawdon, Leeds. He is Life President of The Second World War Experience Centre.

Former teacher, lecturer and founder/director of two archives on the world wars of the twentieth century, Peter Liddle is a well-published historian of personal experience in those wars with books on Gallipoli, The Somme and D-Day. He is dedicated to the preservation of the evidence of the past and has particularly enjoyed drawing together in publications and conferences the research of others in the field.. He has a lifetime of interest in sport, history travel and wildlife. He lives with his wife, Louise, in Rawdon, Leeds. He is Life President of The Second World War Experience Centre.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ohio University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0821411780
• ISBN 13: 9780821411780
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 168
• Editor: Richter Donald C.