The Boy Scouts In The Great War
Craig Armstrong Pen & Sword, 208 pages, £19.99
The Boy Scouts enthusiastically sprang into action in both world wars, and Craig Armstrong gives a yearby-year account of their activities in 1914–1918. Each year’s chapter is further divided into ‘Home Front’ and ‘Military Service’ sections, with over 50 black-and-white photographs throughout. Acting as cycle messengers, assisting with the harvest, living away a from home on coast-watching duties; Scouts were even asked to help out in the War Office. Armstrong describes the range of surprising and sometimes dangerous tasks that were entrusted to these teenage boys. Each chapter also gives details of former Scouts who died in battle or received military honours in that year.
There is a particular focus on the early months of the war, and how scouting skills prepared young men for action on the front line. It also covers the littleknown, and controversial, Scouts Defence Corps and the perceived militarisation of the Boy Scouts Association.
The chronological nature of Armstrong’s approach means that the narrative sometimes feels disjointed and repetitive, and more first-hand stories from the time would have definitely enlivened the text. However, it is a thorough account that highlights the exploits of ordinary Scouts living through extraordinary times.