THE SOMME, INCLUDING ALSO
THE COWARD
THE JOSEPH M. BRUCCOLI GREAT WAR SERIES
A. D. Gristwood
Preface by H. G. Wells
New Introduction by Hugh Cecil
First published in London in 1927, The Somme and its companion, The Coward,
constitute the only published literary achievements of A. D. Gristwood, a reluctant
accountant turned even more reluctant infantryman in the London Rifle Brigade
who later fell under the tutelage of his father’s classmate, master storyteller H. G.
Wells.
Heavily autobiographical and much influenced by Wells’s guidance, Gristwood’s
tales of World War I combat are rife with acts of unheroic self-preservation and
colored with the fear, bitterness, and hopelessness that defined the author’s wartime
experience. The central characters of these accounts are clever outsiders placed in dire
circumstances where survival mandates acts of horrific selfishness in lieu of valor. The
Somme centers on a futile attack in 1916 during the Somme campaign on the Western Front. The uncourageous behavior of wounded protagonist Tom Everitt both
in and out of combat reflects Gristwood’s assessment of the weak mettle of British
forces at this stage of the war. In The Coward, a soldier commits an act of self-mutilation to escape combat duty, an offense punishable by death, and is haunted first by
fear of discovery and later by self-loathing. This is the war as Gristwood experienced
it—a dark and desperate theater of pain where only base instincts could get a man
out alive.
This first reissue of The Somme, Including Also The Coward marks the only edition
available outside of the United Kingdom and includes a new introduction by Hugh
Cecil detailing the author’s biography and putting his work into a broader historical
and literary context.
The Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Series • Matthew J. Bruccoli, series editor
The Somme
INCLUDING ALSO THE COWARD
A. D. Gristwood
#3
PREFACE BY H. G. WELLS
New Introduction by Hugh Cecil
A. D. Gristwood (1893–1933) was
wounded in the Battle of the Somme
in October 1916. He suffered a
nervous breakdown after the war and
withdrew from commerce to pursue
writing. In 1926 he began the correspondence with H. G. Wells that
would lead to the completion of the
tales in this volume. Unable to find
a publisher for later volumes, Gristwood took his own life at the age of
thirty-nine.
October 2006, 208 pages
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