Ian Sumner

Published on 13 November 2018. So much has been written about the 1916 Battle of the Somme that it might appear that every aspect of the four-month struggle has been described and analysed in exhaustive detail. Yet perhaps one aspect has not received the attention it deserves – the French sector in the south of the battlefield which is often overshadowed by events in the British sector further north. That is why Ian Sumner's photographic history of the French army on the Somme is so interesting and valuable. Using a selection of over 200 wartime photographs, many of which have not been published before, he follows the entire course of the battle from the French point of view. The photographs show the build-up to the Somme offensive, the logistics involved, the key commanders, the soldiers as they prepared to go into action and the landscape over which the battle took place. Equally close coverage is given to the fighting during each phase of the offensive – the...

Published by Pen and Sword in their Images of War series, January 2018, and available where all good books are sold. The French air force of the First World War developed as fast as the British and German air forces, yet its history, and the enormous contribution it made to the eventual French victory, is often forgotten. So Ian Sumner's photographic history, which features almost 200 images, most of which have not been published before, is a fascinating and timely introduction to the subject. The fighter pilots, who usually dominate perceptions of the war in the air, play a leading role in the story, in particular the French aces, the small group of outstanding airmen whose exploits captured the publics imagination. Their fame, though, tends to distract attention from the ordinary unremembered airmen who formed the body of the air force throughout the war years. Ian Sumner tells their story too, as well as describing in a sequence of memorable photographs the ...

The French army of the First World War withstood the main force of the German onslaught on the Western Front, but often it is neglected in English histories of the conflict. Now, though, keen interest in the war in general and in the part the French played in it has prompted a fresh appreciation of their army and the men who served in it. Ian Sumner’s wide-ranging photographic history is an important contribution in this growing field. Using a selection of over 150 rare wartime photographs, he provides a graphic overview of every aspect of a French soldier’s service during the struggle. But while the photographs create a fascinating all-round portrait of the French poilu at war, they also give an insight into the army as a whole, and offer a rare French perspective on the Great War. Reviews 'There's not much out on the French Army in the Great War so was pleased to see many photos I hadn't seen before. A few period tank photos are were new and armored car ...

Charles Delvert’s diary records his career as a front-line officer in the French army fighting the Germans during the First World War. It is one of the classic accounts of the war in French or indeed in any other language, and it has not been translated into English before. In precise, graphic detail he sets down his wartime experiences and those of his men. He describes the relentless emotional and physical strain of active service and the extraordinary courage and endurance required in battle. His account is essential reading for anyone who is keen to gain a direct insight into the Great War from the French soldier's point of view, and it bears comparison with the best-known English and German memoirs and journals of the Great War. Reviews This classic account of World War One from a French officer’s perspective has not previously been translated for the original French. Highly Recommended. This book is particularly valuable because it is a translation of a diary...

The French Army at Verdun (Images of War series) (Barnsley, Pen & Sword, 2016; ISBN 9781473856158) In four and a half years of fighting on the Western Front during the First World War a few battles stand out from the rest. They had a decisive impact on the course of the conflict, and they still define the war for us today. For the French, the Battle of Verdun, fought between February and December 1916, was one of the greatest of these. That is why the selection of contemporary photographs Ian Sumner has brought together for this volume in the Images of War series is so important and revealing. They show the strained, sometimes shocked faces of the soldiers, record the shattered landscape in which they fought, and give us an insight into the sheer intensity of the fighting. At the time, and ever since, the battle has been portrayed as a triumph of French tenacity and heroism that is encapsulated in the famous phrase ‘They shall not pass’. These photographs rem...

The happy author brandishing a copy of his new book on Verdun, posed in front of a small part of the book collection. Just visible over his left shoulder are the spines of two of his previous books, They Shall Not Pass: the French Army of the Great War  and Kings of the Air: French Aces and Airmen of the Great War , both published by Pen & Sword, not only as hardbacks, but also in Kindle and ePub format (links to the P&S website). The hypnotoad says, 'Buy, Buy, Buy'!!

Well, you may be wondering where on Earth I had got to, having not updated this here blog-thingy since September. (Or perhaps not! Such is the ego of an author that he assumes everyone is hanging on his every word :-) ) The reasons for this hiatus were many, but principally it was down to family illness, and simply the difficulties in keeping several projects on the go at the same time.  I cannot promise to be as assiduous as before with keeping this blog up-to-date, but will try. So what's new? The translation of Charles Delvert's memoirs is now at the proof stage. The draft cover looks like this, with a colourized photo of the man himself at the top. The pre-proofread book contains 6 pages of translator's introduction, about the book and its author; the diary itself is 210 pages; it is followed by two indexes, which I have compiled - one of personal names and one of place names - which take up a further 26 pages. The proofs are currently with the ...

Well, why not? Inspired by the Imperial War Museum exhibition and Twitter hashtag #WhatMyFamilyWore My grandfather, called up into the Navy in 1918. Since he was an electrical apprentice in civvy street, they made him a hydrophone operator. He trained at HMS Victory II (Crystal Palace, London), was posted to the depot ship HMS Research at Portland, and served on the anti-submarine trawler David Buchan in the Western Approaches out of what was then Queenstown (and is now Cobh). One picture taken in the studio, another of him (bottom right) and the rest of the ship's company (mostly RNR ratings from the Aberdeen fishing industry) after coaling ship. After the Great War, both my grandparents did a lot with St John's Ambulance. This is him with St John's Cadets at camp on Barton Moss (I think), just to the west of Manchester. What a uniform! And my grandmother, on the right. It looks as it might be a cadet camp...

In comparison to their British and German counterparts, the French airmen of the Great War are not well known. Yet their aerial exploits were just as remarkable, and their contribution to the war effort on the Western Front was equally important. That is why Ian Sumner's vivid history of the men of the French air force during the war is of such value. He tells their story using the words of the pioneering pilots and observers themselves, drawn from memoirs, diaries, letters, and contemporary newspapers, magazines and official documents. The recollections of the airmen give an authentic portrait of their role and their wartime careers. They cover recruitment and training, reconnaissance and artillery spotting, aerial combat, ground strafing and bombing, and squadron life. They also highlight the technical and tactical innovations made during those hectic years, as well as revealing the airmen's attitude to the enemy - and their thoughts about the ever-present threat of injury...

I'm happy to announce that my book Kings of the Air: French aces and airmen of the Great War has just been published by Pen & Sword today. So get yourself down to your bookseller of choice, and buy, buy, buy :-) My thanks go to everyone who has helped in the production - Maggie Sumner, Katherine Bracewell, Christina Holstein, Rupert Harding of Pen & Sword, the staffs of libraries and museums in the UK and in France, not mention friends on Twitter and Facebook who have Liked, Retweeted, Favourited, and otherwise encouraged me through what was at times a very hard slog.

Ethe military cemetery, decorated for the centenary of the battle In the days following the battle of Ethe, the regiment wandered back and forth for a few days, as the French tried to position themselves to halt the German advance. The 101st's war diary does not make much of the regiment's casualties. The only references is a few days later on 27th August, when the strengths of the three battalions are given - 1st Battalion 9 officers, 701 men, 2nd Battalion 2 officers, 229 men and 3rd Battalion 9 officers, 760 men - a little over 1,700 men, instead of the wartime establishment of around 2,750. On the same day, Captain Lasnet arrived with four companies of replacements from the depot. Major Louis Laplace As a single battalion faced with a brigade, moving away from his supports, Major Louis Laplace and the 2nd Battalion were on a hiding to nothing. The commander of 2nd Battalion was a career soldier , who had joined as a volunteer in 1883, obtaining a commissio...