There's A Devil In The Drum: There's A Devil In The Drum Paperback – February 13, 2009

Fascinating story about Irish soldier John Francis Lucy who fought and kept a journal during the beginning through the end of WWI.John is a hero, and a man of valor, with bravery, honor, and a reverent spirit. The stories he tells are the most gruesome and terrible scenarios built out of turn of the century nightmares, but it is all true. After reading this novel I have had even more admiration for the brave men who fought in The Great War. As an American, we aren't taught nearly enough about this War and it's impacts, John Lucy's experience will stay with me forever, as a reminder and appreciation for the sacrifices our European brothers made.

One of the best WW1 memoirs I have read. I am so glad I took a chance on this book. It has been hard to put down!

An astonishing first hand account of a soldier in the Great War. It starts in 1912 as a recruit in Ireland and is a very readable account of life and death in the trenches. It should be 'require' reading for any student of the 1st World War. This is a no nonsense factual account of a soldiers 'lot', from the opening phases of mobile open warfare through to the static years of trench life. It describes the death agonies of the "Old contemptibles' and the birth of Britains Citizen Armies.Breathtaking well written book I can commend and really all should read this.

One of the best memoirs of WWI I have read with special emphasis on the Irish Experience This is a topic often downplayed in traditional Irish history.

Great book. It is one of the few that focuses on the beginning of the war.

This is a wonderful book, yet another memoir from a veteran of WWI but told in a straightforward manner from the viewpoint of an enlisted soldier (and Irish, too). The detail of his enlisted life is unmatched elsewhere.

This is a very rare viewpoint of the British army in World War I from an Irish Nationalist. There are also some interesting comments on the world of the British soldier and his lot before the war. Well written. The author was commissioned from the ranks.

Great read

I enjoyed the reading a lot. Very interesting when he describes his feelings about Easter rising.

Of all the Great War books I have read, this has to rate as the very best. Quite apart from being an excellent account of the old Regular pre-Great War British army and life in that terrible conflict, the fact that it was written by a Cork nationalist who joined an Ulster regiment and later went on to senior rank in WW2 makes this exceptional. This book should be required reading in schools in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. All "sides" of Irish politics should read this book and reflect on John Lucy's comments.This is true history, not a politicised account from later years.It is no romantic tale. It is told as it was - horror, terror, sadness and all, but not without humour and wry asides - by an eloquent, rational and thoughtful man who, to my mind, seems to have encapsulated the very best of what it meant to be an Irishman at that period. His views on the relationship between Ireland and Britain, especially about Easter 1916 are clearly stated but what is of paramount importance is his honourable and professional approach and commitment to his friends and fellow soldiers in the army.If you are a student of European history, the Great War or just the social history of the period than I cannot recommend this book more highly.

Most 'I was there' books about the Great War are written by Officers, for reason of opportunity, education etc. Of the few written by Private Soldiers & NCO's ' Old Soldiers Never Die ' by Frank Richards is justifiably lauded, and then there is this extraordinary effort, - ' There's a Devil in the Drum ' by John Lucy. Lucy was a Catholic from Count Cork who enlisted in the Royal Irish Rifles just prior to the outbreak of World War 1. Not only does the book give a detailed account of Lucy's part in the Great War especially covering 1914 & 1915, but by virtue of Lucy being a Catholic serving in a largely 'Orange' regiment, it gives a powerful insight into the ' troubles ' in Ireland from the viewpoint of an ordinary soldier..The writing is clear, descriptive and in places extremely moving. I'll try to give a couple of quotes. This is Lucy's comment about his decimated regiment after emerging from fierce fighting at Sanctuary Wood, Ypres: - ' Proudly and sorrowfully I looked at them, the Macs and the O's and the hardy Ulster boys joined together in death on a foreign field. My dead chums '. Or this, referring to a doomed 'charge' in the Ypres Salient: - ' I know no braver men than these......All epics of old heroes pale before their straightforward gallantry and simple self sacrifice. I feel unfit to write of them '.This is a simply outstanding book - maybe out of print at the moment, but worth seeking out in Secondhand Bookshops etc.

With the centenary in 2014 there will be increased interest in the Great War. There will also be an increasing number of publications about it, and, over recent years an increasing number of newly discovered soldiers diaries and memoirs. I have read many of them, but Corporal John Lucy's account of his war is exceptional both in style of writing and the manner in which Lucy captures the action, the moment, and the events around him. I have read nothing that matches his accounts of the Aisne and La Bassee in 1914. A must for every GW interested person, be they military historian or casual reader. If you want to know something of 1914 from the point of view of an NCO from the 'Old Contemptible' BEF, this is it. My interest in the GW is not in the Royal Irish Rifles as such, but it gave me an excellent idea of what the regiment I am interested in endured over the same ground and at the same time.Whatever is published between 2014 and 2018, and a lot of it will be very good, by the likes of Peter Barton, Peter Hart, Richard van Emden and others, Lucy's 'There's a Devil in the Drum' will still be up there with the very best. You'll be missing out if you do not read this.Only down side: such a good book deserves a much better cover!! But it's the words inside that countGood reading!!

I've read a good many WWI books, with undertones of war, goodbye to all that, being two I rate highly; Devils in the drum easily sits along side these and adds interesting new insight in the form of the loss of original professional army as they are thrown into the grinder. Touches on court martials, and actually has someone describing how they took precautions in the trenches, a very insightful look at one mans experiences during the Great War, highly recommend it.