cover image: A Boy from Botwood : Pte. A.W. Manuel, Royal Newfoundland Regiment, 1914-1919

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A Boy from Botwood : Pte. A.W. Manuel, Royal Newfoundland Regiment, 1914-1919

21 Jan 2017

A proud Newfoundland soldier’s memoir gives unprecedented details of life as a German POW during the First World War.

I’m going to tell my story. With those words, eighty-three-year-old Arthur Manuel set his remarkable First World War memoir in motion.

Like many Great War veterans, Manuel had never discussed his wartime life with anyone. Hidden in the Manuel family records until its 2011 discovery by his grandson David Manuel, Arthur’s story is now brought to new life.

Determined to escape his impoverished rural Newfoundland existence, he enlisted with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in late 1914. His harrowing accounts of life under fire span the Allies’ ill-fated 1915 Gallipoli campaign, the Regiment’s 1916 near-destruction at Beaumont-Hamel, and his 1917 Passchendaele battlefield capture. Manuel’s account of his seventeen-month POW experience, including his nearly successful escape from a German forced labour camp, provides unique, compelling Great War insights.

Powerful memories undimmed by age shine through Manuel’s lucid prose. His visceral hatred of war, and of the leaders on both sides who permitted such senseless carnage to continue, is ferocious yet tempered by Manuel’s powerful affection for common soldiers like himself, German and Allied alike. This poignant, angry, witty, and provocative account rings true like no other.
biography soldiers military newfoundland and labrador world war, 1914-1918 biography & autobiography personal memoirs personal narratives, canadian manuel, arthur, army. newfoundland regiment, 1st 1895-1982 great britain.

Authors

Bryan Davies, Andrew Traficante

Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Control Number Identifier
CaOOCEL
Date published
2017.
Description conventions
rda
Dewey Decimal Classification Number
940.4/8171
Dewey Decimal Edition Number
23
Distributor
Canadian Electronic Library (Firm),
General Note
Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
Geographic Area Code
n-cn---
ISBN
9781459736719 9781459736726
LCCN
D640
LCCN Item number
M35 2017eb
Modifying agency
CaBNVSL
Original cataloging agency
CaOONL
Physical Description | Extent
1 electronic text (171 pages)
Published in
Ottawa, Ontario
Publisher or Distributor Number
CaOOCEL
Rights
Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
System Control Number
(CaBNVSL)kck00237505 (OCoLC)973759976 (CaOOCEL)451619
System Details Note
Mode of access: World Wide Web
Transcribing agency
CaOONL

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