ISBN: 1 904546 27 7 SB 128pp £8.95 Published by Churnet Valley Books.
This book contains the memoirs of Thomas James Higgins, and has been published by his grandson, one of a long line of soldiers stretching from the author to the present day.
The memoirs were written presumably in the 1920s fron notes and diaries written during the Great War. They take the reader from the outbreak of the war until March 1919 when Higgins was discharged after spending 18 months as a Prisoner of War.
Thomas Higgins was a married man working in a steel works in Stoke on Trent when he enlsited in May 1915.He describes his training , the crossing to France in March 1916, his first experiences in the trenches, and life behind the lines.
Higgins took part in the action at Gommecourt on July 1st 1916, a day which left him with mental scars. He survived relatively unhurt, but the loss of many of his friends clearly grieved him. Prior to the attack, he was also involved in trench raids.
In July 1916 Thomas Higgins met the poetry writing Padre known as Woodbine Willie, which obviously made a deep impression on him, and let to him being confirmed.
Higgins was sent on a Gas course for NCOs , the knowledge would serve him well later on. He spent the rest of 1916 alternating between the trenches and rear areas, and early 1917 saw him back at Gommecourt.
In April 1917, he moved to the Lens areas and on July 1st 1917, a year after the attack at Gommecourt, he was taken prisoner. The rest of the book concerns his experiences as a Prisoner of War, and the appalling deprivations he and his fellow prisoners endured. His hunger was never satiated and the conditions that they lived and worked under were extremely harsh.
Following the Armistice in November 1918, Higgins was repatriated, and medically classified C1.
The book ends with some poems and songs, and his bitter reactions to the treatment of returning soldiers.
This is a very interesting little book, which is worth seeking out.
Reviewer: Michelle Young
Available from
David Stroud
Ramrod Antiques,15 Market Vaults, St Helen Square, Scarborough, North
Yorkshire, YO11 1EU
www.ramrodantiques.co.uk. 01723 376070.
