About this item

This concise, handsomely illustrated, boots-on-the ground guide provides a unique introduction to life on the Western Front during World War I. Readers will learn about the drastic living circumstances of characters Tommy Atkins, Poilu, and Doughboy, respectively the foot soldiers of Britain, France, and the United States. We all know something of how these men existed in muddy trenches, subject to shelling, snipers and waiting for the next Big Push; but it is through the unique vocabulary of those troops, with their newly coined words, slang, and euphemisms that we can most easily enter their world. Readers will learn the meaning behind the long lost wartime language of these soldiers, with such words and phrases as: Black Hand Gang, Ace, Crummy, Barker, Dud, Come-alongs, Hush-hush, and Over the top.