In "The Some: Heroism and Horror in the First World War," Martin Gilbert presents a rather unique study of one of the bloodiest battles ever fought. The Somme is a different battle to write about in that there was so much lost, while neither side was able to gain from it. Even though the battle of the Somme is possibly the bloodiest conflict in history, there is no one to proclaim as the hero that saved the day. Over one million men were lost during the 148 day conflict to either death or injury. .
Gilbert did a rather clever thing in creating this book, when he managed to capture the spirit of the battle of the Somme. He has written a respectful, absorbing account of the men who fought and those who lost their lives.
The book presents a first hand narrative of the battle from an individual perspective. It does not present a play by play review of the battle but instead focuses on a much deeper personal perspective of the conflict. Retold from the survivors' first hand accounts, and letters from both survivors and those that died, it gives an accounting of the true wastefulness of the war. At a death rate of over two thousand soldiers per day, it gives the reader a full sense of what really went on. .
From describing the peril, the fruitlessness and even just the simple smell of death, the reader is able to understand what an ordeal it was. Over nineteen thousand British soldiers were lost the first day and yet not one single goal of that day was met. The complete wastefulness of this is hard to imagine, but Gilbert makes a strong presentation of it by simply giving first hand accounts. He frequently inserts poetry written by the soldiers themselves which frequently speak of going to meet death. Most proclaim they would rather greet death like a friend than to suffer endlessly laying out in no man's land dying by inches.
The sheer numbers for the death counts are staggering. The descriptions of the cemeteries that of course appeared instantly are horrifying.
