Secret History: Charley's War - The Third Battle of Ypres & The Great Mutiny

I read that the cement for the German pillboxes originally came from Britain via neutral Holland, but couldn’t confirm it, so I left it out. Later I found the evidence.

Welcome to my Secret History of Comics: my new book serialised on Substack. The first section was on Marshal Law: now it’s all about Charley’s War.

If you’re joining me for the first time, you can read the intro to the Secret History here, it’s available for everyone, and so is the intro to Charley’s War.

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Training at Etaples Camp. Joe’s art seen side by side with a photo shows his talent at depicting the reality. Thanks to ww1live.wordpress.com for the image.

Before Charley and co. go ‘over the top’, there are more fascinating insights into trench life. For instance, the methods of getting a self-inflicted wound. Charley has no sympathy with S.I.W.s and the risks involved were huge. Officers who were experts in ballistics were commissioned to examine wounds and see – from the angle and the closeness of the shot – if they were self-inflicted. The chances of getting away with it were not good.

The Tommies go over the top – portrayed by Joe in an incredible diorama. It’s a year after the Somme and the same mistakes are repeated! Soldiers are weighed down with heavy equipment, the barbed wire isn’t cut, and the enemy is not subdued by the pre-battle barrage. This time, there are concrete pillboxes and man-traps waiting for the Tommies.