Edited and introduced by Ken Wayman

From Rye to the Rhine gives an insightful account of a Sussex golfer, Jack Hickman, RFA, who shared his war experiences with the Guernseymen and ‘Jocks’ of the 9th Scottish Division. Spanning four years – 20 March 1915 to 19 March 1919 – Jack wrote three dairies to describe his emotions of daily uncertainty, danger and separation from those he loved back home. Jack lived a long and fruitful life and so his story, unlike many of his colleagues who fought in the Great War, did not come to an abrupt end.

The first of his diaries charts his journey to the Front Line in France and having to come to terms with being in the firing line. The second diary, which recounted the trials and tribulations of the great Somme offensive, is sadly missing but Jack’s progress has been reconstructed using reliable eye-witness accounts and other war diaries. His third diary, however, survived and again we can learn of his personal experiences through the conflicts at Arras and Ypres. His record of life and death on the Front Line are unique in that he served in the RFA as a Driver and secondly that he served throughout the war in a Divisional Ammunition Column.

Pub date: 19 December 2014
ISBN: 978-1-908336-76-7
Format: 152x229mm
Binding: Paperback
Extent: 404pp
Price: £17.99
Publisher: Tommies Guides
Imprint: Reveille Press

BIC Classifications:
First World War (HBWN)
Memoirs (BM)
First World War, 1914-1918 (3JJF)