Generals Die in Bed: A Story from the Trenches

This 1928 book is about trench warfare. Author Charles Yale Harrison was an American fighting for Canada in WW1. The title refers to the soldiers belief that the generals who were sending them into the trenches did not die in battle, but comfortably in their own beds not having to endure the horrors of the trenches of Amiens, France, where the story takes place.

The introduction compares Generals to the more well known A Farewell to Arms, and All Quiet on the Western Front, also WW1 stories, and although I liked the book a lot, I don't think I'd go that far. In a clever way Harrison is able to set a mood appropriate for the content; his writing is stark, the story is bleak, and the first third is monotonous, -much like the intolerable conditions and constant shelling by both sides. The only relief for the soldiers (and therefore the reader), is when they get out on leave. I found these parts to be the most interesting.

In one chapter the army is moved for 2 days by truck and foot to an abandoned but well stocked town in northern France. The soldiers, who had not eaten for an extended period looted the town helping themselves to all the food and booze they could consume, although their stomaches had shrunk a lot while in the trenches. You can imagine a bunch of young men, angry from the long difficlut trip, tired, and armed, with little to look forward to knowing they would quickly be back in the trenches. Many of them got sick after from sheer gluttony.

I think this book is suitable for all ages, but is a fairly quick 170 page easy reader.

CMB