Copse 125
| Author | Ernst Jünger |
|---|---|
| Original title | Das Wäldchen 125 |
| Translator | Basil Creighton |
| Language | German |
| Genre | war memoir |
| Publisher | E.S. Mittler & Sohn |
| Publication date | October 1924 |
| Publication place | Germany |
Published in English | 1930 |
| Pages | 254 |
Copse 125: A Chronicle from the Trench Warfare of 1918 (German: Das Wäldchen 125. Eine Chronik aus den Grabenkämpfen 1918) is a World War I memoir by the German writer Ernst Jünger, first published by E.S. Mittler & Sohn in October 1924 and revised by Jünger in 1935.[1]
Summary
[edit]Copse 125 is based on Jünger's wartime diaries and is seen as a spin off of his more famous 1920 memoir Storm of Steel.[2] It covers the period 30 June to 10 August 1918 and the author's participation in the Operation Michael at Cambrai and the Second Battle of Bapaume. A central location in the narrative is copse 125 located between Puisieux and Gommecourt in Pas-de-Calais.[1]
Jünger's stated goal with Copse 125 was to use his episodic material about World War I to reach something universal. The book stresses both the human element of the war, by depicting a small group of men who held out for a long time, and how technology determines war and shapes men.[3]
Reception
[edit]The scholar Thomas Nevin writes that Copse 125 is more constrained than Storm of Steel, has "a peculiar fervor" and is written with "naive ruggedness".[3] According to Nevin, it "approximates the 'undefeated in the field' apologetics of Germany's postwar officer class".[3]
References
[edit]- 1 2 Ketelsen, Uwe-K. (2014). "Das Wäldchen 125. Eine Chronik aus den Grabenkämpfen 1918 (1924/25)". In Schöning, Matthias (ed.). Ernst Jünger-Handbuch. Leben – Werk – Wirkung (in German). Stuttgart and Weimar: J.B. Metzler. pp. 70–73. doi:10.1007/978-3-476-05350-3. ISBN 978-3-476-02479-4.
- ↑ Hofmann 2004, p. ix.
- 1 2 3 Nevin, Thomas (1996). Ernst Jünger and Germany: Into the Abyss, 1914-1945. Duke University Press. pp. 63–64. ISBN 0822318792.
Further reading
[edit]- Hofmann, Michael (4 May 2004). "Introduction". In Jünger, Ernst (ed.). Storm of Steel. London: Penguin.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - Schönrade, Rüdiger (2018). Ernst Jünger und das Wäldchen 125. Stellungskrieg an der Westfront im Sommer 1918 und seine literarische Verarbeitung (in German). Hamburg: E.S. Mittler & Sohn. ISBN 9783813209839.
External links
[edit]- Full text of Copse 125 at HathiTrust Digital Library:
- Original text (in German)
- English translation by Basil Creighton
