Reddit reviews Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front

I would recommend 'Tommy - The British Soldier on the Western Front' by Richard Holmes. It is very respectful to the men and I didn't become bogged down in difficult and confusing reading as I do with some books. There's an interesting chapter on the structure of the British Army which I really couldn't get my head around until I read it.

For the First World War I strongly recommend Richard Holmes' Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front 1914-1918 which is both comprehensive and accessible. Holmes' masterpiece Soldiers: Army lives and loyalties from Redcoats to Dusty Warriors is excellent, but has a much broader scope so may offer less detail.

For a view on how Junior Officers and NCOs interacted you can try John Lewis-Stempell's Six Weeks: The short and gallant life of the British Officer in the First World War. I must caution that I am only half way through it and so far have found it to be rather sentimental and lacking in critique, but it is a good read nonetheless.

On a point of order Colour Sergeant is a rank specific to the infantry and Royal Marines, in the Household Cavalry it is Staff Corporal (or Company Quartermaster Corporal) and in other cap badges the rank is Staff Sergeant: something to bear in mind if you're interested in broader research. Also The Rifles spell it as serjeant.

I don't know which category this would go under- it best fits "Broad overviews" but it's so in-depth I would hesitate to place it there. Maybe a new category of something like "Great Britain" or "English Perspective"?

Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front (link) by Richard Holmes (2005)

Incredibly in-depth overview of England during the War that thoroughly explains the experience of the average Tommy and how the English army operated. Uses extensive primary sources (letters, diaries, etc.) and is a good place to go if you're interested in England during the War, although it's pretty long for a casual read (~750 pages).

Glad to have you all the same.

Incidentally, a book I've recommended to people here before is Richard Holmes' Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front (2004). It's affordable, vastly comprehensive, very well-written, and frankly huge (688 pages!). Holmes was one of the best military historians we had when it came to writing about complicated matters for a popular audience, and it was a pity to see him die so unexpectedly in 2011. If you find yourself interested in this subject and have some time to kill in your reading rotation, it might be worth giving Tommy a try.