ADVANCE FROM MONS 1914

The experiences of a German infantry officer, an outstanding personal memoir recalling experiences during the initial days and weeks of the war in the West, July to September 1914. Walter Bloem was a Captain in the German 12th Grenadier Regiment (Royal Prussian Grenadier Regiment Prinz Carl von Preussen, 2nd Brandenburg, Nr 12 - to give his unit its full title). His narrative gives a superb insight into the outbreak of war and his regiment's mobilisation, followed by the advance through Belgium and France, including the author's participation at the battles of Mons, Le Cateau, the Marne and the Aisne. His account of what it was like to face Britain's "Old Contemptibles" at Mons is particularly valuable. Before the war, the author was a novelist, and "The Advance from Mons" clearly shows this - it is written with a great eye for detail, careful yet vivid descriptions abound and importantly, from an historical perspective, the book was penned whilst Bloem convalesced from a wound he received at the Battle of the Aisne. Such was the quality of his writing, that J E Edmonds, the British official historian of the Great War, commented: "Some of the scenes…are so truly and vividly depicted that I gave translations of them in the Official History, feeling that they could not be bettered." This is a high-quality reprint of the 1930 original, newly typeset and with a new index. In addition, Bloem wrote two further volumes of his war experiences - "Sturmsignal!" and "Das Ganze Halt!" - that continue his memories up to the end of the war. Translations of both of these volumes are planned to complement the publication of "The Advance from Mons".