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In common with other young men of his generation, a young 15 year old, junior clerk J. Ivor Hanson had a burning desire to join up and 'do his bit' when war was declared on the Kaiser's Germany in 1914. His boyish enthusiasm was quickly tempered by the reality of war and the news that his best friend had been killed in action. However, like the vast majority of men serving in Haig's army, Hanson was no defeatist. He believed the war, no matter how grim, needed to be fought to a victorious conclusion by the Allies.
90 years on Hanson's eldest son, Leighton Hanson, has released Ivor's First World War diary resulting in an articulate first-hand account of life in the trenches on the Western Front. His wartime letters and diaries follow his progress from church-going youngster - working as a junior clerk at the Port Talbot Steelworks - to battle-hardened soldier, and cover his recruitment, training and service on the Western Front. Serving as a signaller with 311 Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, Hanson acknowledged the destructive power of modern war. Indeed, the title Plough and Scatter came to him after hearing a rendition of the popular hymn 'We plough the fields and scatter', which seemed such an appropriate epitaph for the work of the gunners.
Illustrated with a selection of rare personal photographs, historic images and explanatory maps, Plough and Scatter gives the reader a fascinating account of how an artilleryman, and a signaller in particular, learned his trade through intensive training. There are detailed descriptions of Hanson's experiences during the German Spring Offensive and the subsequent Allied advance to victory in 1918, together with vivid insights into daily life in the wartime British Army such as time spent off-duty, home leave and the lack of decent food. Hanson even provides us with comments about all the books he read while on active service.
Alan Wakefield has edited Hanson's diaries. He is a curator in the Photograph Archive of the Imperial War Museum, a member of the British Commission for Military History, the Society for Army Historical Research and the Western Front Association. He is co-author with Simon Moody of Under the Devil's Eye (Sutton, 2004). He lives in Hertfordshire.
Leighton Hanson, J. Ivor's eldest son lives in Taunton.
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