My interest in this unit is familial. My grandfather and his brother were in this unit in WWI. Both came home but not unscathed. G'pa hacked and coughed
the rest of a full life (he lived to be 78) from a whiff of gas and his brother apparently suffered from some form of ptsd. Of course, the term had not yet
been coined din his lifetime and practically nothing known or understood about the condition. But the details do not apply here.
The reason for the post is historical interest. A topic on another forum recalled the book to me. The unit published a history as did so many others. The publishing date of Record is 1920 but g'pa's book says 1919. The cost of original copies is not high as such things go but perhaps too much so for idle interest. But fortunately, someone reprinted the book as a paperback in 2006, available in the low $20s or less used.
Even better is a free download or read on-line... http://www.archive.org/details/historyof313thfi00crow
Now why I would promote this here? Well besides it's purely historical interest with the approach of "Armistice day," The book is in fact, well written and very readable. Many such histories are basically just a collection of statistics, tables of organization, combat reports and rosters. Informative but of little use unless you're looking for something specific in that history. All that is in the 313th history of course. But they went beyond that here. They wanted to tell the story of this unit and it's experiences in the "Great War." They did a good job. The text carries minutiae, little pieces of human interest as well as descriptions of broader events that the unit took part in. There is the conversion from horses and mules drawing the guns and equipment (G'pa's discharge noted he was good w/horses and mules) to the use of tractors.
All in all, I highly recommend this be looked at if you have any interest in WWI. In fact, look at it anyway. It just might give you an interest. It is rapidly approaching a century since these events happened. Confined now to such dusty books, they changed the world in their day. A whole era of human history changed bringing an end to any reaal control of events in Europe by royalty and ushering in a more 'modern' era of society.
The reason for the post is historical interest. A topic on another forum recalled the book to me. The unit published a history as did so many others. The publishing date of Record is 1920 but g'pa's book says 1919. The cost of original copies is not high as such things go but perhaps too much so for idle interest. But fortunately, someone reprinted the book as a paperback in 2006, available in the low $20s or less used.
Even better is a free download or read on-line... http://www.archive.org/details/historyof313thfi00crow
Now why I would promote this here? Well besides it's purely historical interest with the approach of "Armistice day," The book is in fact, well written and very readable. Many such histories are basically just a collection of statistics, tables of organization, combat reports and rosters. Informative but of little use unless you're looking for something specific in that history. All that is in the 313th history of course. But they went beyond that here. They wanted to tell the story of this unit and it's experiences in the "Great War." They did a good job. The text carries minutiae, little pieces of human interest as well as descriptions of broader events that the unit took part in. There is the conversion from horses and mules drawing the guns and equipment (G'pa's discharge noted he was good w/horses and mules) to the use of tractors.
All in all, I highly recommend this be looked at if you have any interest in WWI. In fact, look at it anyway. It just might give you an interest. It is rapidly approaching a century since these events happened. Confined now to such dusty books, they changed the world in their day. A whole era of human history changed bringing an end to any reaal control of events in Europe by royalty and ushering in a more 'modern' era of society.
