Richard Holmes Firing Line is his attempt to convey the individual’s experience of battle and the nature of war. He seeks to do this by drawing on oral and written evidence of soldiers who have participated in combat.[1]
In putting his book together, he draws on diaries, his own interviews and letters of combatants who have experience the ‘actualities of war’ as the best illuminate to understand the subject.[2] He draws on testimony of those who served in both World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, the Falklands and the Arab-Israeli conflicts. He also uses first-hand reminiscences and memoirs of historian figures such as Caesar, Clausewitz, Xenephon, Wellington, Frederick the Great and Marshal de MacMahon.
He covers the experience of battle in a thematic manner looking at a broad range of topics such as male bonding, discipline, fear, atrocities, cohesion and decorations.
Finally, he draws on research from military psychologists, sociologists and academics in order gain some understanding of human behaviour in combat.[3]
Holmes’ task is to give a ‘universal’ experience of battle and that is probably an impossible task but he has made a credible and interesting study. The book covers many conflicts, time periods and combatant nations, so naturally it has breath, not depth. Its focus is largely on conventional conflicts fought by uniformed adversaries and neglects asymmetric or guerrilla wars. Given its structure the book naturally draws on a large collection of quotes and anecdotes which give it the feeling of reportage. Holmes is aware of this problem and he hoped ‘that I have not fallen into the trap of producing…other people’s experiences in a thin sauce of my own opinion’.[4] Given the nature of the book, this was probably unavoidable to some degree. The only one major grip of the book is the limited use of footnotes but that given this book is aimed at a general reader rather than academic, that is understandable.
[1] Richard Holmes, Firing Line (London: Pimlico, 1985), p.15.
[2] Ibid., p.15.
[3] Ibid., p.11.
[4] Ibid., 15.