Young Men, to Arms!

Description

Young Men, to Arms! – The First World War in the Crickhowell District by Geoffrey Williams and Ryland Wallace (2016). 137pp

This book is the culmination of the Behind the Stones Project—an initiative to compile the life stories of all those men of this district who fell during the First World War.

As the project developed, it became far more than brief lives of the war dead and thus the first half of the book discusses the wide-ranging impact of the war on the parishes of south-east Breconshire. From the local response and reaction to the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914 to the celebrations which greeted the armistice in 1918, this book covers key themes including: recruitment, volunteer support efforts, the role and experience of women at work and home, the prisoner of war camps in the area, conscription, and finally the community coming to terms with four years of horror and anguish.

The book is a fitting commemoration of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, ensuring that future generations will never forget, and learn of the huge contribution that local people made both during the First World War and after hostilities had ceased. It is also a very poignant picture of Crickhowell District at a crucial time in its history.