Letters From World War One Trenches

Letters from WWI Trenches

During World War I, soldiers were asked to write letters to their loved ones back in Britain. They often chose not to share how terrible life in the trenches was. A law passed in 1914 meant all the letters they sent had to be checked and sometimes parts were removed by officers.

Harold Chapin wrote a letter on May 23, 1915, where he talked about how busy he was because of a big attack that had started. He had been working day and night, helping wounded soldiers. He described how hard it was to carry injured men across muddy fields and how much he disliked the mud because it made everything more difficult.

In the 1930s, Guy Chapman wrote about his memories of the war. He looked at an old list of soldiers from his platoon and remembered the faces of those who had died or disappeared. He talked about how he used to check their letters quickly, not really focusing on their personal messages or hopes.

Arthur Savage shared his memories of being on the front lines. He remembered feeling very scared and seeing men upset because they were going to lose a leg due to trench foot. He talked about the problems with lice, rats, mud, and seeing dead bodies everywhere. It was shocking for him, especially since he had never seen a dead body before the war.

Journalist Philip Gibbs reported on the war. He said that seeing soldiers with shell-shock was very upsetting. At first, some generals thought shell-shock was just an excuse and called it cowardice because they hadn't seen its effects. Gibbs described how it was a big shock to see strong men shaking and unable to control themselves because of what they had experienced.