The Soul of the War

The Soul of the War, by Philip
Gibbs, et al

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Title: The Soul of the War
Author: Philip Gibbs
Release Date: March 23, 2004 [eBook #11682]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOUL
OF THE WAR***
E-text prepared by A. Langley

THE SOUL OF THE WAR
by PHILIP GIBBS

with an Introduction by ANTHONY LANGLEY written for Project
Gutenberg

Contents
I. The Foreboding II. Mobilization III. The Secret War IV. The Way Of
Retreat V. The Turn Of The Tide VI. Invasion VII. The Last Stand Of
The Belgians VIII. The Soul Of Paris IX. The Soldiers Of France X.
The Men In Khaki Conclusion

Introduction
This book is a companion book to another book by Philip Gibbs that is
already in the Project Gutenberg library, namely Now It Can Be Told[1].
Together, both books constitute the war-time memoirs of British
war-correspondent Philip Gibbs, one of the few officially accredited
journalists allowed on the British sector of the Western front. He
covered the war from beginning to end. The Soul of the War is the first
part of his memoirs, published in 1915, Now It Can Be Told is the
second part, but published immediately after the war. Taken together,
both books are amongst the most important and influential books
published in English during the Great War, being in no small part
responsible for the emergence of the "Lost Generation" myth of the
1920's.
A pre-war best-selling author and journalist, Philip Gibbs was one of
the most outstanding British war-time reporters and writers. Like many
reporters in the opening months of the war, Philip Gibbs and his
companions seemed to posses the knack for being in the wrong place at
the wrong time, following armies across northern France in the vain
hope of being on hand to witness battle. He never really succeeded
during the first year, aside from joining a British volunteer ambulance
service on the Ypres front in late 1914. But while other reporters
unashamedly spruced up their reporting, dramatizing and glorifying
small insignificant incidents and passing occurrences of no import,

Gibbs knew how to talk to soldiers coming from or going to the front
lines, how to convey their thoughts and fears and vividly describe their
battle experiences. Gibbs was a very serious writer, and extremely
proficient at his trade. He knew how to get to the essence of things, to
describe the feel of the times, the general attitude, and the hopes and
fears of both fighting men and civilians. Not only is this voluminous
book a brilliantly written commentary on the opening months of the
war, it is also infused with an inner sadness that could well be
considered a precursor to the post-war "lost generation" myth, which is
yet another indicator at how well Gibbs could gage the feel of the times
and assess its impact on future developments in society.
In this first book of his, he tells of his wanderings during the first year
of the war, as he tried (in vain) to witness the fighting in France. His
observations, descriptions and opinions are however well worth reading;
they are accurate, insightful and to the point. He gives detailed
descriptions of both British and French soldiers and includes an
incredibly atmospheric portrait of Paris during the opening months of
the war as well as a moving account of his time spent with the British
Field Hospital in Furnes. After being arrested in 1915 on general
principle by the British authorities as a nuisance and potential
loose-lipped journalist, he was afterwards appointed one of the few
officially accredited journalists attached to the British forces on the
Western front. Thereafter Gibbs continued filing dispatches till the end
of hostilities. His writing is heartily sympathetic to the common soldier
and war-time refugees, but quite critical to those in power. After the
war he was knighted for his valuable patriotic services and enjoyed a
distinguished career as novelist and writer.
He served yet again as accredited reporter during the opening months
of the Second World War, being billeted in the same areas in France as
during the Great War. After the evacuation of the BEF in 1940 he
remained in Great Britain. His son followed in his footsteps, taking up
the profession of war reporter for the British press.
Anthony Langley
[1] Now It Can Be Told, by Philip Gibbs, is Project Gutenberg E-book

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