Haynes: Great War Tommy: The British Soldier 1914-1918 (All Models) by Peter Doyle

Table of Contents

Interest in the life and times of the Great War British soldier - or Tommy - has never been greater. Most people's impressions of the war have been formed by the many photographs of soldiers at rest and in action in their trenches, with hellish images of mud and barbed wire. But there is another dimension - that of equipping and training the soldier - which is not depicted in these graphic images of war.

There is an abiding fascination with the uniform and equipment of the Great War Tommy: what was the ill-fitting khaki-serge uniform like to wear? What were puttees for? What did a gas mask look like and how did you put it on? How heavy was the equipment?

The Haynes Great War Tommy Manual focuses on the infantryman serving on the Western Front and answers some of these questions, as well as examining many other aspects of his uniform and equipment drill and training, weapons and defenses.

Most of the color images reproduced in this manual were specially commissioned and show historical interpreters wearing the uniforms, carrying the equipment and digging trenches, giving them personal insights into the practicalities of the life of a Great War Tommy.

Author:
Peter Doyle is a military historian and author who has written widely on the First World War. He is a visiting Professor at University College London and is co-secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary War Heritage Group. He lives in Essex.