“…descending abruptly like a fringe of clouds along the line of trunks, appeared the smoke of the German barrage. Through this veil of bursting shells the landscape grew patchy and unreal.”
Geoffrey Fildes served as a senior subaltern and company commander in the Coldstream Guards during the First World War.
Starting with Fildes enlistment in the Army, Iron Time With the Guards follows Fildes as he found his feet in the military.
In April 1915 Fildes arrived at the Western Front and was thrust into a world of trench raids, snipers and ration biscuits.
Fildes unit was behind the lines on the First Day of the Somme, but he describes the alarming reports that seeped back from the front.
Working at night on barbed wire and defence maintenance, Fildes and his men avoided machine gun bullets in the dark.
And when a shell took out a trench near Fildes’ unit, it was up to him and his men to dig out their comrades with any tools they had…
Scenes of life behind the lines, in the trenches and during the assault of battle are graphically related making it a truly indispensable volume for anyone interested in the war the infantry knew.
Iron Times with the Guards is an engaging and informative memoir of one man’s war from the streetlights of London to the shells on the Somme.
‘Vivid portrayal of the devastation of the Somme.’ – Imperial War Museum
Geoffrey Fildes (b.1889) was born in London. He served in the Coldstream Guards during the First World War. In 1918 he published Iron Times with the Guards anonymously as an ‘Old Etonion.’
Geoffrey Fildes served as a senior subaltern and company commander in the Coldstream Guards during the First World War.
Starting with Fildes enlistment in the Army, Iron Time With the Guards follows Fildes as he found his feet in the military.
In April 1915 Fildes arrived at the Western Front and was thrust into a world of trench raids, snipers and ration biscuits.
Fildes unit was behind the lines on the First Day of the Somme, but he describes the alarming reports that seeped back from the front.
Working at night on barbed wire and defence maintenance, Fildes and his men avoided machine gun bullets in the dark.
And when a shell took out a trench near Fildes’ unit, it was up to him and his men to dig out their comrades with any tools they had…
Scenes of life behind the lines, in the trenches and during the assault of battle are graphically related making it a truly indispensable volume for anyone interested in the war the infantry knew.
Iron Times with the Guards is an engaging and informative memoir of one man’s war from the streetlights of London to the shells on the Somme.
Praise for Iron Times with the Guards
‘Vivid portrayal of the devastation of the Somme.’ – Imperial War Museum
Geoffrey Fildes (b.1889) was born in London. He served in the Coldstream Guards during the First World War. In 1918 he published Iron Times with the Guards anonymously as an ‘Old Etonion.’
