Free Letters From the Trenches: A Soldier of the Great War by Bill Lamin

things. Write back as soon as you receive this letter. Address 32507, 9th Batt York and Lancs C company L. G. Section 12 Platoon BEF France. I think
     this is all just now will write again soon
    yours truly
    Harry
    On the following day, the war diary records: ‘7th July The Bn less Bn HQ moved to the line on the night of 10/11th to work under supervision of the R.E.s [Royal Engineers] completing the
work on the night of 12/13th.’ For troops on the Western Front, a normal part of active service was to provide the labour for developing, strengthening or repairing the trench system. The
soldiers would move up through the communication trenches to the front line (and sometimes beyond), work through the night as instructed by the Royal Engineers, and return before the dawn
‘hate’. As has been said, for obvious reasons most activities in and about the trenches took place at night.
    War diary, 14 July: ‘The Battalion moved to billets in the STEENVOORDE area by motor lorry arriving in billets about 5 p.m.’ Steenvoorde is about fifteen miles (24km) from the front
line. Despite its Flemish-sounding name, it lies just over the border in France, a couple of miles west of Boescheppe, and, being so far from the fighting, would have been a haven after the last
few weeks spent in and just behind the front line. There, the sound of the guns would have been only a distant rumble. On arriving, Harry wrote another letter to Kate.
    July 14/1917
    Dear Kate
    I have received your parcel it came in very nice. we were just getting ready to move when I got it, we went in lorries so I did not have to carry it far I can tell you
     there was not much left as me and my pals were short and we could not get anything where we landed. It is a country place a few miles behind the firing line. The weather is lovely, we are all
     enjoying the ride. I’m in good health but we have had a rough time this last week or two going on working parties at night digging trenches and one thing and another. One night we were
     between our lines and the Germans but we all came out alright. It’s a bit rough but it might be worse. My address is the same. Will write again soon. Glad to hear they are all right at
     home.
    Yours truly
    Harry
    Evidently, the parcel contained some welcome food.
    After that cheerful note to Kate there were no more letters from Harry until September. This led me to believe that he had been allowed leave at some time between the middle of July and the
start of September. I had no ‘hard’ evidence, however, and it wasn’t mentioned in any letter. But the circumstantial evidence was quite strong. In theory, soldiers were entitled
to two weeks’ leave each year. When and if it actually happened was something of a lottery, though, and very much depended upon the operational demands and the administrative efficiency of a
soldier’s unit.
    For the rest of July, through August and into September, the battalion tramped around Flanders from billet to billet. There were short periods supporting the line, but mainly
there was training, drill, and more drill and training. Soldiering in the Great War, as all soldiering, would seem to have consisted of short intervals of unbelievable terror separated by periods
of utter boredom and pointless movement.
    At this point we can pause to celebrate Harry’s thirtieth birthday on 28 August 1917. The card from Willie and Connie (in Ethel’s handwriting) is impressive, but it raised some real
concerns when I came across it. It could hardly have survived the battlefield, or even just the general wear and tear of active service, in such excellent condition. On the other hand, if Harry
was, as I then believed, home on leave at around the time of his birthday, he might have been given the card and then left it with Ethel for safekeeping when his leave ended and he returned to the
front. This was, I thought, a reasonable theory, and would explain how the card came to survive. But it simply wasn’t