Current Literature
THE SEVENTH DIVISION, 1914-18. -By C. T. Atkinson, (Murray. 16s.)—Plainly the official history of the War will constitute the chief quarry for future historians of the period, and on that ground it may perhaps be urged that we need nu other. But sectional feelings and esprit de corps, whether of regiments or of larger units like divisions, have to be con- sidered, and that is the justification for yet another sectional history like this of the Seventh Division. To compile such an account, both for knowledge and dexterity in- handling hi, material, and the more especially by his long connexion with the C.I.D. (which is not the Criminal Investigation Depart. ment), no one is better qualified than Mr. C. T. Atkinson. A master of lucid narrative, he brings his Division through " its great deeds at Ypres, of Neuve _Chapelle, of Loos, of the Somme, of the ten nights and days struggle for Bullecourl, of the Broodseinde Ridge and Reutel, of its great share in the final rout of Austria." Quid plura ? The wearers of the White Circle ..scored 14 V.C.s, and in the early days of home- training the Division is said to have evinced its ingenuity in procuring tra;:sport by buying up local bakers' carts, 'which figured in the returns as " carts,- Maltese, Medical 'Officer, for the use of." If anyone wishes to gain some small inkling of part of the devastation of war, let him look at the plates facing p. 408, which show Polderhoek Château before and after
bombardment. •
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