Letters From World War One Trenches

Writing Letters from WWI Trenches

Soldiers often wrote letters to their families back in Britain, but they usually didn't talk about how scary and awful the trenches were. There was a law passed in 1914 that said officers had to check the soldiers' letters to make sure they didn't share secrets or too much about the war.

Harold Chapin wrote a letter to Calypso Chapin on May 23, 1915,

He was super busy since a big attack started. He was supposed to work at night in a medical tent, but with so many injured soldiers, he worked all the time. He barely slept for three days. Then, he had to help carry injured soldiers across muddy fields, which was really hard and tiring. He mentioned how much he and the soldiers hated the mud because it made everything more difficult.

In the 1930s, Guy Chapman wrote about his war experiences.

He looked at an old list of his platoon and remembered the faces of those who died or disappeared. He remembered their nicknames and how they looked. As he censored their letters back then, he skipped over their personal thoughts and dreams without really thinking about it.

Arthur Savage shared his memories of the Western Front.

He talked about being really scared and seeing soldiers cry because their feet were so badly injured from the wet and cold that they might lose a leg. He remembered the itch from lice, the big rats that weren't afraid of people, and the endless mud. He also mentioned seeing dead bodies everywhere, which was something he had never experienced before the war.

Philip Gibbs, a journalist, talked about shell-shock.

He said that seeing soldiers with shell-shock was really upsetting. At first, some generals thought shell-shock was just an excuse, but they hadn't seen what he saw. Strong men were left shaking and unable to speak because of what they went through. It wasn't just about being scared; it was a deep and terrifying experience that affected them physically and mentally.