A Brief Look at Combat Memoirs, Part 1

Remembrance Day is coming up soon (or Veterans Day for my American readers). As such let's turn our gaze to the past once again, shall we? Ever since I was a kid I read a lot of history books. (I lead an exciting life. What can I say?) One subgenre of history that I read a lot of is combat memoirs. Also known as war memoirs or soldier memoirs, combat memoirs are books about war written by the guys who fought it. I find that the first-hand experiences of individuals – ordinary, everyday people – provides the most engrossing viewpoint of historical events. In short, they're enthralling and hard to put down. So for this article I thought it might be fun to look at some combat memoirs that I've read over the years, sorted alphabetically by author.

Shoot to Kill: From 2 Para to the SAS by Michael Asher. Cassel Military Paperbacks, 1990.

Shoot to Kill details the young adulthood of Michael Asher throughout the 1970's. As a high school graduate he enlisted in the Parachute Regiment. After making it through the gruelling training process he was posted to Northern Ireland during the height of The Troubles. Once his time with 2 Para was up he qualified for the SAS and completed his training there. But soon after he quit the SAS due to some personal difficulties and joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary in a Special Patrol Group. After one year Asher quit the RUC as well, realizing that a life surrounded by violence was wearing on his soul and that the conflict in Ulster simply wasn't his war to fight. I found Shoot to Kill a fascinating read. I like learning about the experiences of people involved in The Troubles – how daily life in a developed Western country existed alongside domestic terrorism and lawlessness – and it's told from the viewpoint of a young man struggling with his self-confidence and sense of identity. And yet you can tell how his training and development amongst the elite of Britain's armed forces gave Asher such a sense of empowerment and pride. Anyone who likes books about boot camp and training should check out Shoot to Kill. The only downside is that there's not much SAS action in it. Otherwise, Asher's memoirs is a fine read.

One Soldier's War in Chechnya by Arkady Babchenko. Portobello Books, 2007.

This freakin' book, man. This might just be the most depressing book I've ever read (and I've read The Jungle for crying out loud!) I knew that things in post-Soviet Russia and Chechnya were bad but still this book was a real eye-opener. Taking place in both Chechen Wars (mid-1990's and early 2000's), One Soldier's War depicts the army of what was once the world's second most powerful nation as little more than an undisciplined horde of barbarians, thieves, and drunkards. No wonder the Russians lost the first war: they were beating eachother up as much as they were the Chechen rebels! The infamously brutal Russian practice of dedovshchina is on full display and life for the average soldier didn't get much easier after boot camp. Being constantly surrounded by danger, corruption, and abuse made it easy for grunts to feel depressed, worthless, and hopeless. Regrettably, the book's veracity does often come into question amongst those who have read it. In the preface Babchenko states that while “everything in [the book] is true” some events told within have been “shifted in time”, he personally didn't witness every event, and that in a few cases he “combined two or three persons into one character”. Real or fake, One Soldier's War is still a powerful read that's hard to put down. But I warn you, it's not for the faint of heart.

Nam: The Vietnam War in the Words of the Men and Women who Fought There by Mark Baker. Berkley Books, 1981.

I know, technically Nam isn't a combat memoir but I figured oral history is close enough. An oral history book such as this one is a collection of interviews from people who took part in or witnessed historical events. Nam's sources range from troopers to pilots, nurses to doctors, pacifists to patriots, killers to POWs: all of them Americans who were involved in the Vietnam War. These accounts – ranging in length from a couple paragraphs to a dozen pages – encompass a wide range of tones, viewpoints, and experiences. Pretty much everything from enlistment (or in some cases conscription) to homecoming is covered. However, as was the case with One Soldier's War in Chechnya, I couldn't help but question how truthful it all was since these are the memories of scores of unidentified people. Nevertheless, if you want a general overview of what the Vietnam War was like for the boots-on-the-ground average American participant, Nam is a fine place to start.

Storming the Falklands: My War and After by Tony Banks. Abacus, 2012.

As was the case with Nam, it might be a little misleading to call Storming the Falklands a combat memoir. A more accurate classification would be “an autobiography starring the Falklands War”. Tony Banks was an average working class youth in the rough-and-tumble Scottish town of Dundee who joined the army and served with 2 Para during the war in the South Atlantic. His experience there was nasty, brutish, and short. A significant portion of the book deals with his life after the war, about how he lived with this sense of anger, frustration, and a single-minded drive for success that still didn't satisfy him even after becoming a millionaire. About 18 years after the war Banks broke down and realized that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The book ends with him coming to terms with his experiences, travelling to some familiar places. In spite of – or possibly because of – it being so different from other combat books I've read I found Storming the Falklands to be a riveting read. Most other combat memoirs come to an end once the war is over or once the author comes home, but Tony Banks reminds us that even after the fighting our veterans need our support.

Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-18 by Louis Barthas. Yale University Press, 2014 (English translation).

Originally published in French in 1978, Poilu is the collection of notebooks kept by Louis Barthas who more-or-less spent the entire First World War on and around the front lines. By the time the war began Barthas, a reservist, was not only a zealous socialist who hated militarism but also was in his late-30's which is pretty old by soldiering standards. As a result pretty much every page of Poilu is filled to the margins with criticism, sarcasm, and complaining about everything from incompetent officers and wasteful tactics to the lousy weather and pitiful sleeping quarters. Sometimes it's humorous while other times it's serious and tragic. With everything Barthas went through it's a miracle he was never wounded, although as the war went on he certainly became exhausted and worn out. War from the viewpoint of a mature artisan in early 20^th century France frequently takes on a religious perspective and attention is always drawn when the author comes across another soldier from his hometown of Peyriac-Minervois. However with so many place names and with so many people to keep track of the book can be a bit dense at times. Also the author's political beliefs often manifest in an overbearing self-righteousness: does he think that only socialists value human life? Do only socialists dislike war? Regardless, Poilu is still an interesting look into the French trooper's day-to-day life more than one hundred years ago.

LRRP Team Leader by John Burford. Ivy Books, 1994.

One subgenre of combat memoirs I find fascinating is that of the elite soldier or special forces soldier. In the Vietnam War the US Army made use of Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols (LRRPs, pronounced as “lurps”) that would be deployed in small teams deep into enemy territory. Their missions included things such as observing enemy outposts/movements, rescuing downed pilots, staging ambushes, and calling in airstrikes. Burford's book LRRP Team Leader is a short book that sheds light on how LRRPs operated with such a high level of professionalism and calmness in the face of danger. In spite of the high level of tactics involved the book never gets too technical on the reader. In fact it gets pretty personal by the end, as Burford's uncomfortable homecoming ends up with him becoming estranged from his family. In short, if you like books about professional soldiers or counterinsurgency then LRRP Team Leader is a book you'll want to check out.

That's all for this time, but come back soon for Part 2. Thanks for reading.