Extracts from an Officer's Diary

Monday 22nd March 1915: The following extracts from the diary of an officer of the 1st Bedfords gives us some idea of the conditions under which our front line troops have been fighting.

“What price chicken, pork, greens, paté de fois gras, grapes and plenty of tinned stuff for dinner, not two miles from the firing line? As our Job’s comforter says, “It may be our last decent meal””.

“Every now and then bullets keep going through the roof of our barn, but where we are is quite safe, for the bullets are mostly high here. I’ve got the reserve trenches for tonight. They are apparently dry, which makes up for any amount of shelling”.

“These trenches are the best I’ve had yet, I’ve got about fifty men, two to each dug-out, for the trench consists of a series of bomb-proofs with a layer of about six inches of dry straw to lie on in each. My hole is about five yards in the rear and has at its side a miniature coal cellar which, being quite full, will be useful, as it’s jolly cold”.

“There is nothing to do in these trenches except to sit tight on the off-chance of the Germans breaking through, in which case it’s “Fix bayonets” and do your best. Let’s hope they don’t break through, for their sakes, for we’re in a pretty strong position and bayonet fighting is so messy and looks unpleasant when it’s all over.. And I don’t want another spell of taking the men out to make another German cemetery, of which there appear to be a lot round here”.

“Most of the dug-outs have a pail used as a fireplace. The poker is usually a bayonet – usually French – as the men save the German ones for souvenirs. There are plenty of unopened bully beef tins round about, so we shan’t go short of food”.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 26th March 1915