The Tommies' Manual 1916

A poignant facsimile manual showing how to dig a trench, mount a bayonet charge, aim a field artillery piece and bury the dead, compiled from official books supplied by the War Office during the First World War

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How do you aim a Lewis gun?
What can you do to protect your war horse from a gas attack?
How do you design a barbed wire entanglement for a front line trench?
What does an 18-pounder artillery piece do best?

An amazing array of leaflets, books and manuals were issued by the War Office during the First World War to aid British soldiers on the Western Front. The Tommies’ Manual 1916 combines the best of them into a poignant facsimile. Most were supremely practical or highly technical; some became obsolete almost immediately, overtaken by technological advances; others hid the grim reality of war behind a prosaic title. All make fascinating reading and are reproduced here with an introduction and over seventy period illustrations.