Review of "Fighting in Flanders," by E. Alexander Powell

 Review of

Fighting in Flanders, by E. Alexander Powell

Four out of five stars

One of the first books on WWI in Europe

 Powell was an American war correspondent that witnessed the early weeks of World War I in Europe when the German army invaded Belgium. He witnessed how the relatively small Belgian army held off the powerful German forces for a few weeks. As an American, Powell had some immunity within the conflict, but he did not hesitate to place himself in danger to get the story he wanted.

 While there is a clear occasional bias against the German military in terms of their tactics and actions in occupied Belgium, Powell also praises the efficiency of the German military while on the move. Extremely well organized down to barbers and cobblers that can cut hair and fix boots all while the massive army is on the move, he watches them as their columns march through Belgium. His relationship with the Germans was relatively cordial, the first image in the book is one of Powell in the company of German General von Boehn, commander of the Ninth German army.

 First published in December 1914, this is one of the first books on World War I to be printed. Generally accurate with sympathies to the Belgian people, this is a book that puts forward what it was like on the western front in the opening weeks of World War I.

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