From Mons to Messines and beyond

There have been many books written on "The War to end all Wars" and a considerable number of trench diaries and war memoirs published by those officers who survived the conflict.

These memoirs, from the pen of a sergeant in the infantry, give the view-point of the professional N.C.O., the backbone of the British army.

Events meriting only a brief mention in the official military and regimental histories, are shown to have had a very significant impact upon the "other ranks" and N.C.O.'s., in the British county infantry regiments who bore the brunt of the fighting. Sergeant Charles Arnold, originally of the East Surreys and subsequently of the Border Regiment served in Ireland, on the Western Front in Belgium and France, and eventually in Egypt. At times he was far from the main offensives but he saw his share of trench warfare, being wounded twice in 1914 at Mons and Le Cateau, and again in 1916 in the battle of the Somme. In 1917 he served at Messines and Ypres where he was badly injured by mustard gas.

He survived the war and continued his service with the colours until 1922.

Professor Stephen Royle who has researched and annotated the scrapbooks and diaries which form the basis of this book is the grandson of Sergeant Arnold. The illustrations, previously unpublished, come from Sergeant Arnold's own collection.