Introduction to 'The Face of Battle,' a Description of Historical Battles from the Perspective of Soldiers

Military history works incorporate, to a greater or lesser extent, the perspective of the commander. What is important to a commander is which units to fight, when, where, and how to engage the enemy, and it is rare to focus on the soldiers who make up the units.

However, British historian John Keegan considered the personal experiences of soldiers fighting on the front lines to be valuable in "The Face of Battle". Rather than looking down on the battle from above, he is highly regarded for vividly describing historical battles from the perspective of the soldiers. The book covers the Battle of Agincourt (Hundred Years' War), 1415, the Battle of Waterloo (Napoleonic Wars), 1815, and the Battle of the Somme (World War I), 1916.

All of these are battles that researchers have repeatedly taken up and analyzed, but Keegan does not delve into theories of strategy or tactics. Instead, he meticulously reconstructs the movements of the soldiers who stood on the front lines and analyzes them from both social and psychological perspectives.

To demonstrate the strengths of this book, let us introduce how the Battle of the Somme, covered in Chapter 4, is described.

On July 1, 1916, in the Somme region of the Picardy coast in northern France, the British army decided to launch a large-scale offensive against the German army in coordination with the French army. At the time, the British 56th (London) Division of the VII Corps of the Third Army was conducting a diversionary attack against the German defensive positions. The units that led this attack were soldiers of the Queen Victoria's Rifles battalion, who climbed out of the trenches using ladders at 7:25 AM that day, aiming for the German trenches 450 meters away.

It is testified that although a smoke screen laid down with the support of engineers was still spreading across no-man's-land on the battlefield, gray figures could be seen moving on the other side. The battalion commander in charge deployed the unit in line formation and advanced, but the soldiers had to advance while stumbling and avoiding obstacles such as shell holes created by high-explosive shells, barbed wire set up by the enemy to stall them, and scattered debris.

A slower advance meant more time exposed to German rifle and machine-gun fire. This was a fatal issue for the soldiers' survival. However, most of the soldiers accepted the danger of death, came to terms with their fear, and continued to advance in accordance with operational orders.

The attack by the 36th (Ulster) Division, which was deployed in the center of the Fourth Army, saw exactly such a scene. In this book, Keegan presents the report of the battalion commander who led the 9th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers at the time, just as it was written.

"When I shouted 'Keep going' with a megaphone, soldiers here and there turned around and waved at me. Everyone had a face full of energy. What soldiers they were! Even though the majority of them were carrying heavy loads. Even though they were carrying large coils of barbed wire on their shoulders and advancing into intense gunfire" (Japanese translation, Keegan, p. 391).

Also, a sergeant belonging to another battalion testified about the state of the attack battle as follows.

"I could see lines of soldiers advancing endlessly to my right and left. At that moment, I heard machine guns rattling far away. By the time I had advanced 10 meters from there, only a few soldiers remained around me. After advancing 20 meters, it seemed I was all alone. At that moment, I was also hit and fell" (Ibid., p. 393).

When the Battle of the Somme, which began on July 1, ended, the casualties, including dead and wounded, from the British army reached 419,654. The French army's casualties were also close to 200,000, resulting in devastating losses. However, Keegan argues that such figures can only capture a part of the complex phenomenon of the Battle of the Somme, and by extension, battle itself.

According to Keegan's interpretation, the most important characteristic of battle is that it is a human act. The study of battle is said to be "always a study of fear, and usually a study of courage" (Ibid., p. 483). It is also stated that it is "always a study of anxiety, and sometimes a study of exhilaration and relief" (p. 484). I believe this book is a thought-provoking study for understanding the psychology of soldiers on the battlefield.

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