UNKNOWN SOLDIERS The story of the missing of the Great War

UNKNOWN SOLDIERS: The story of the missing of the Great War
English | September 10, 2026 | ASIN: B0HJCVDN4X | 556 pages | Epub | 1.10 MB
THE MOVING TRUE STORY OF THE MISSING OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR'One of the best books I've read on the insanity of life in the trenches.'Daily MailThe First World War left nine million soldiers dead or missing. Three million of them have no known grave.Neil Hanson tells their story through three of the missing: Alec Reader, a London clerk in the Civil Service Rifles; Paul Hub, a German law clerk turned infantry officer; and George Seibold, an American fighter pilot. All three died on the Somme. All three vanished.Drawing on their largely unpublished letters and diaries, and the eyewitness testimony of scores of other soldiers, Hanson follows them from the trenches of Ypres, Vimy Ridge, Verdun and the Somme to the skies over the Western Front.He also tells the story of the families left behind, the mothers who spent years searching for a grave, and of how a grieving nation learned to mourn. At midnight in a French chapel, one nameless body was chosen at random from four. This Unknown Warrior was brought home with a Field Marshal's honours and buried in Westminster Abbey on Armistice Day 1920, the day the Cenotaph was unveiled. Almost every combatant nation would bury its own Unknown Soldier.A powerful and deeply human history of war, loss and remembrance.Previously published as The Unknown Soldier.Neil Hanson is the author of acclaimed works of narrative history, including The Custom of the Sea, The Confident Hope of a Miracle and First Blitz. He lives in Yorkshire.PRAISE FOR UNKNOWN SOLDIERS:'Vivid, sobering and without macho swagger or sentimentality, Hanson lets the voices of the unknowns speak across a bloody century with lessons for the new one.' Publishers Weekly'If I were to nominate a top pick, this would be it.' Publishing News'This emotionally wrenching tribute brings home the fury and horror of the war as experienced by common soldiers who fell victim to it.' Booklist