Behind the Front
British Soldiers and French Civilians, 1914–1918

This book uncovers the vital relationships between British troops and local inhabitants in France and Belgium during the First World War.

Craig Gibson (Author)

9780521837613, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 March 2014

480 pages, 49 b/w illus. 4 maps 37 tables
23.5 x 16 x 3 cm, 0.8 kg

'I've been waiting for this book for a long time - and so have my students. We haven't been disappointed by Craig Gibson's important and fascinating study. It is the first, and so far the only, major study of a unique phenomenon: the biggest ever experience of 'abroad' by British men, in which nearly 5 million spent time in France, and 600,000 lost their lives on French soil. Gibson shows the hugely varied human side of this encounter between British (and Empire) soldiers and French civilians, in which the latter (mainly women) were outnumbered by the vast influx of men in khaki. Reactions covered the whole gamut of life: love, companionship, sex, money making, food and drink, with much mutual misunderstanding, frequent resentment, but often at the final analysis a human community in circumstances of shared suffering and danger.' Robert Tombs, University of Cambridge

Until now scholars have looked for the source of the indomitable Tommy morale on the Western Front in innate British bloody-mindedness and irony, not to mention material concerns such as leave, food, rum, brothels, regimental pride, and male bonding. However, re-examining previously used sources alongside never-before consulted archives, Craig Gibson shifts the focus away from battle and the trenches to times behind the front, where the British intermingled with a vast population of allied civilians, whom Lord Kitchener had instructed the troops to 'avoid'. Besides providing a comprehensive examination of soldiers' encounters with local French and Belgian inhabitants which were not only unavoidable but also challenging, symbiotic and uplifting in equal measure, Gibson contends that such relationships were crucial to how the war was fought on the Western Front and, ultimately, to British victory in 1918. What emerges is a novel interpretation of the British and Dominion soldier at war.

Introduction
Part I. Mobile Warfare, 1914: 1. The first campaign
Part II. Trench Warfare, 1914–17: 2. Land
3. Administration
4. Billet
5. Communication
6. Friction
7. Farms
8. Damages
9. Money
10. Discipline
11. Sex
Part III. Mobile Warfare, 1918: 12. The final campaign
Conclusion
Epilogue
Appendices
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], British & Irish history [HBJD1], European history [HBJD], History [HB]