1914 — First Blood
1914: First Blood – A Tommy Gunn Adventure by John Hughes-Wilson covers the first year of the Great War from the perspective of a young infantry lieutenant in the Sherwood Foresters. It does a great job in portraying the gradual realisation by soldiers of the magnitude of this war. Immaculately researched and spiked with precise military jargon and detail, this is a find for everyone who wants to read an in-depth account of 1914 warfare with exact and accurate details of the early military operation of the war.
The story is told with help of letters and diary excerpts and presented to the reader by the grandson of Tommy Gunn, which adds another level of reflection and an outside perspective, but may be distracting to some readers; it did take me out of the reading experience a few times when I would have preferred a more linear structure.
That said, for me the book filled a few gaps in my understanding of the war and has whet my appetite to learn more about the war years to come.
