“A triumph of sympathetic observation ... delightful book ... many moving passages.”—Daily Graphic.
“So good as to be no less amusing than the original.... This is one of the finest feats of modern translations that I know. The book gives one a better idea of the war than any other book I can recall.... Among many comical disputes the funniest is that about superstitions. That really is, in mess language, ‘A scream.’”—Daily Mail.
“The whole is of a piece charmingly harmonious in tone and closely woven together.... The book has a perfect ending.... Few living writers achieve so great a range of sentiment, with so uniformly light and unassuming a manner.”—New Statesman.
JOHN LANE, The Bodley Head, Vigo Street, W.
[1]. A list of the officers who were prisoners of war with us in Yozgad is given in [Appendix I].
[2]. Of course neither this nor any other of the conversations in the book claims to be a verbatim report of what was said. Such a thing would be difficult to give even after twenty-four hours—much more so after two years. These conversations are “true” in the sense that they are faithful reconstructions of my recollection of what took place. Every event mentioned in the book occurred. (See [footnote], p. 85.)
[3]. I believe the English language is indebted to Lieut. L.C.P. Tudway, R.N., for the invention of this word. A “posh” is a good-tempered cross between a riot and a rugby scrum. The object of the “poshers” is conjointly and severally to sit upon the victim and to pinch, smack, tickle, or otherwise torture him until he begs for mercy.
[4]. See [Appendix II].