Ian Ronayne at the war memorial in the grounds of St Martin’s Church. Soldiers whose stories appear in Mr Ronayne’s book are commemorated here

THE German Occupation ensured that the Second World War looms large in the minds of Jersey people, but we should not forget that the First World War also made a tremendous impact on Islanders’ lives.

Conscious of this, a Jersey author, Ian Ronayne, has written a very fine account of the role our soldiers played in the ‘war to end all wars’.

‘Ours’, subtitled ‘The Jersey Pals in the First World War’, traces the history of the men who at first volunteered and were then conscripted into the British Army to fight on the Western Front.

The circuitous route to France travelled by the first Island contingent took in a camp in Buttevant near Cork in Ireland and then a period of training in Aldershot.

It was not until late December 1916 that our men were posted to France, as part of the 7th Battalion of the Irish Rifles, ready to move into the line on the Loos front.

If training felt like phoney war, the trenches were all too real and the Jersey pals soon lost men in action.

After that, the pace scarcely slackened, and Islanders fought – and distinguished themselves – in some of the great battles of the war, including the Somme and the Third Battle of Ypres.

And battles within battles, such as the bloody engagements at Guillemont and Ginchy, took their terrible toll.

It is in the telling of the tales of heroism and suffering that Mr Ronayne excels.

Like many other Island-inspired histories, his book is strong on fact, but unlike so many others it is equally strong on atmosphere and drama.

Far from being a mere record of facts, dates and military detail, ‘Ours’ is a genuine literary work, written with style and pace as well as respect for historical accuracy.

And never far from the centre of the story are the men themselves – men like Sgt Charles Laugeard, the former policeman who won the Distinguished Conduct Medal at Ginchy, or Regimental Sgt Major Jack Le Breton DCM, MM, who singlehandedly took the surrender of a German dugout near Wytschaete on the Ypres front.

If there is any gap in Mr Ronayne’s first-rate account of Jersey soldiers in the Great War, it is its silence on the subject of the many Islanders of French extraction who joined the French Army and also served with distinction in the most awful conditions. That, however, could be the subject of another work.

In the meantime, ‘Ours’ is to be commended to anyone with an interest in Jersey history, military history or, indeed, humanity tested to the limits of courage and endurance.