Eye-Deep in Hell: Trench Warfare in World War I, by John Ellis
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989
Guest review by Peter Geyer.
If you want an engaging read about a wide variety of topics covering all areas of trench warfare in World War I, you cannot do much better than John Ellis' Eye-Deep in Hell. Divided into chapters addressing subjects from the daily routine to the care of casualties, Ellis forgoes description of leadership and strategy in order to provide an intimate portrait of the grunt on the ground.
Complete with an interesting selection of both rare and already familiar photographs,
Eye-Deep in Hell cuts through much of the myth surrounding life at the front. Life was more than just hunkering down in a trench, either mounting or repelling huge frontal attacks. Instead, it was a constant series of work parties, rotations to the front, reserve and rear lines of trenches, and long slogs back for rest and refitting.
My only complaints about this book are fairly minor. Unfortunately, many of the photographs have no captions. While these mystery photographs may add to the visual presentation of the book, they do not contribute to an understanding of the book's subject matter. Second, as with many books about World War I, Eye-Deep in Hell deals almost exclusively with the British experience. This would be fine, apart from the fact that Britain fielded one of the smallest armies on the Western Front during the war (although their contribution was vastly out of proportion to their numbers). Of the two major combatants on the Western Front, the Germans only get occasional mention, and the French hardly any at all.
However, if the reader is willing to subscribe to the truism that the hellish existence of the First World War was a universal condition, there is still a vast amount of useful information to be gained from Eye-Deep in Hell.
