Stanley Spencers Great War Diary 1915-1918

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Stanley Spencer's Great War Diary 1915-1918

edited by Tony Spencer

published by Pen & Sword Military, 2008

ISBN 9781844157785

cover price - £19.99

hardback, 176pp

reviewed by owner of The Long, Long Trail, Chris Baker.

"Great! A diary of Stanley Spencer, one of the greatest of war artists! Erm, no ... a Sheffield lad whose name was actually Charles William Stanley Spencer, a ranker who rose to a commission and an MC, who has left one of the finest of war diaries, describing his time on the Western Front.

Stanley Spencer served as Private 2682 in the 24th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, with which he saw action in the Loos area, on the Somme, in the pursuit of the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line and at Arras. He was commissioned into the West Yorkshire Regiment in late October 1917 and served with the 10th (Service) Battalion. Stanley's descriptions of many incidents large and small are very fine, but perhaps none more so than his tale of chaotic retreat in March 1918. This part of his story is a genuine addition to our knowledge of that terrible time. He went on to win the Military Cross for his leading part in a raid near Bouzincourt, which he modestly describes in the diary as "a walkover". His MC was gazetted in October 1918, by which time he was back in England having fallen ill. He did not return to France.

The writing is frank and mentions many individuals, not all in glowing terms. Place and battle descriptions are vivid if surprisingly unemotional, particularly as Spencer's friends and comrades fall. He is a keen soldier, selected at times for unusual tasks such as an attachment to Divisional Intelligence, but we get little real insight into his motivations and feelings. As a chronicle of the times, though, it would be hard to better.

There are some weaknesses. The lack of an index is a pity, as is the consistent misspelling of three placenames. For Corbie we have Corbic, Couin becomes Conin and Loupart Wood is Lonpart Wood. It is hard to believe that Stanley spelled them this way.

One of the best Great War books of recent times".

Ordered mine today, £12.00 form Abe Books.

Dean.