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To Fight alongside Friends cover art

To Fight alongside Friends

By: David Crane - foreword, Gerry Harrison - editor
Narrated by: Finlay Robertson
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Summary

A born storyteller, Charlie May's vivid eye for detail and warm good humour brings his experience in the trenches (and the experience of millions of ordinary men like him) to life for a 21st-century audience.

Captain Charlie May was killed, aged 27, in the early morning of 1st July 1916, leading the men of ‘B Company', 22nd Manchester Service Battalion (the Manchester Pals) into action on the first day of the Somme.

This tolerant and immensely likeable man had been born in New Zealand and - against King's regulations - he kept a diary in seven small, wallet-sized pocket books. A journalist before the war and a born storyteller, May's diaries give a vivid picture of battalion life in and behind the trenches during the build-up to the greatest battle fought by a British army and are filled with the friendships and tensions, the home-sickness, frustrations, delays and endless postponements, the fog of ignorance, the combination of boredom and terror to which every man that has ever fought could testify.

His diaries reflect on the progress of the war, tell jokes - good and bad, give details of horse-rides along the Somme valley, afternoons with a fishing rod, lunch in Amiens, a gastronomic celebration of Christmas 1915 and concerts in ‘Whiz Bang Hall'. He describes battles not just with the enemy, but with rats, crows and on the makeshift football pitch - all recorded with a freshness that brings these stories home as if for the first time.

©2014 Gerry Harrison (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"Every so often one comes across a diary where it is the sense of personality behind it that lift it out of the ordinary: such a diary is that of Captain Charlie May" (David Crane)
"The diary of Captain Charlie May provides a fascinating insight into the mind of a young British officer. It is peppered with intriguing insights, acute observations and the hectic, heart-stopping flurries of nocturnal trench raids" ( Robin Cross author of the bestselling VE-Day)

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Tragic, moving

The closer the 1st July 1916 draws, the more poignant Charlie May's musings become. A compelling view of one man's journey through war-torn 1916 which inevitably ends in tragedy.

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A brilliant and moving account of WW1

One of the most detailed and moving accounts of the conditions that were endured by by the men who fought in the First World War.

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Memorable

The dairy of the Great War. Very moving especially as you know the outcome and how this diary ends.
A good listen.
I have the book version of this to get the maps and photographs.

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Fascinating Insight

Initially there is an out pouring of emotion but the narrative becomes more matter of fact as time goes on. Knowing the eventual out come makes the final few entries all the more poignant. The 22 Manchesters were in the line next to the 1st South Staffordshires, my Great Uncles unit. He was there on the 1 Jul 16 too, this account helps me imagine his experience at the beginning of the Somme Offensive. My Great Uncle survived the attack on Mametz and the rest of the war.

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