WWI instruction booklet
This small but highly practical guide to soldiering was issued to British troops on the Western Front
The WWI Tommies’ companion booklet
Trench warfare was a terrifyingly modern experience for soldiers in WWI. In 1914 Britain’s regular army only numbered around 100,000 men, but during the war these soldiers were largely replaced by millions of civilian volunteers and conscripts who needed to be rapidly transformed into fighting men. The result was a plethora of hastily produced but accessible guides to soldiering, including this fascinating instruction booklet.
Measuring only 6.5cm x 10.3cm (2.6 x 4in) and containing 62 thin pages, The Soldiers’ Companion could easily fit into a British soldier’s breast pocket. The booklet provides military definitions and diagrams to help the average ‘Tommy’ fight and survive. Definitions include military terminology, abbreviations and rifle instructions, as well as a list of useful French phrases.
The most appealing parts of the booklet are the various diagrams that cover all manner of military activities. There are illustrations on day and night directions, knots, the position of main arteries, the semaphore alphabet and a Morse code chart. Musical notation is also provided for recognising bugle calls. The most striking illustrations are arguably the silhouettes of British and German aircraft to identify biplanes, monoplanes and airships.
This pictured booklet was issued on 23 July 1916 to Corporal Frederick Astley of the Third Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. Astley was actually from Warwickshire and had been fighting on the Western Front since 1914. He became a sergeant and was honourably discharged from the army on 30 March 1917 after being wounded in action.