A Long Walk to the Front Line

Sunday 2nd January 1916: Sergeant A Brawn, D Squadron, Bedfordshire Yeomanry, now in France, has written to his wife at Laburnum-road, Sandy, that he is now enjoying a rest out of the trenches and had been to a picture show run by some of the Army Service Corps and the Division. He goes on: “How nice it will be when it’s all over: it will be worth waiting for the end, but it will come one of these fine days when we little expect it. I cannot tell you the part of the line we are holding when we are in the trenches but the trench we go in by is 24 miles long and it takes us over an hour from the time we get in the trench to the time we reach the firing line and it’s about eight feet deep, so we relieve each other in the day-time(1), some of the Bedfordshire Yeomanry were out in front of one of the saps putting wire entanglements up only about 20 or 40 yards from the German front line the other night, and I can tell you that out boys are quite as good soldiers as the Regulars, and perhaps better than some of them. The officers in charge of our Brigade spoke very well of our Regiment while in the trenches. Remember me to all in Sandy who enquire after me”.

Source: Bedfordshire Times 28th January 1916

(1) The Yeomanry were in the front line at Loos.