A riveting new book unearths wackiest inventions from WWI

A century on, our respect for the sacrifice and the heroism of the Great War generation is undimmed.

Witness the queues for last year’s poppies at the Tower of London, the dignity of this year’s remembrance ceremonies or the international events planned for next year’s centenary of the Battle of the Somme.

But now a fascinating new book reminds us that this was also a war which set new standards in terms of innovation, deception and downright eccentricity.

With access to the Imperial War Museum’s extensive archives, the author of Weird War One reveals the increasingly desperate quest — on both sides — for any bright idea which might offer the tiniest advantage over the enemy. They also show some of the bizarre scenes which passed for ordinary life behind the front line.

Some ideas were audacious and brilliant, not least the tank and a giant periscope. Others — such as a human observation kite or an early air-raid warning system involving a flock of parrots at the top of the Eiffel Tower — were duds from the start.

Some owed their inspiration to warriors of antiquity, such as the Brewster Body Shield, a latter-day suit of armour. Others were closer to 21st-century battle tactics, not least an early (and extremely unreliable) Sopwith aerial drone packed with explosives.

All, however, remain an endearing reminder that, when it comes to war, anything and everything is worth a try. Just don’t always expect it to work.