The Amateur Army. London: Herbert Jenkins, 1917. Third Edition. Pp 122, [6]. Good copy in cloth boards.

First published in 1915, The Amateur Army is a collection of essays recording life as a raw recruit. Giving a journalistic account of war, the sequel, The Red Horizon, was published in 1916 and describes his first days at the war front.        

With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, MacGill joined the London Irish Rifles as Rifleman No. 3008 of the 2nd Battalion of the London Regiment, he was wounded at the battle of Loos.