LIGHT-HEARTED AND BRAVE.

“The readiness and endurance, and again the light heart, among their men, is marvellous. They don’t stop to argue about things. They are agreed that the only good Bosch is a dead Bosch, and they joyously and zealously do their best to make it so. I think their abundant health and poise (it’s a vile word, but you know what I mean) and ‘devil’ struck me most. Next to that was the state of their trenches, which are built and drained and kept as though the war was going on for the next five years. The trenches are full, too, of useful little ideas and gadgets, which I mean to talk over with you when I come back. “I had the luck to see a very rare thing in this war – the review of an army – 40,000 on parade. There was no ceremonial. It was simply the passing of hard-bitten fighting men, and that made it all the more impressive. Once more, it was their radiant health and fitness that made me so happy. Also, I have watched the 75s. They, too, do not deal much in ceremony, but their work is beautiful, and the breech mechanism is a dream of simplicity and efficiency. So, too, is the sighting. Their officers are a cheerful folk, who can work to thirty yards’ clearance over their own infantry. …. “But when all is said and done it is the men and the women who are the wonders. I could fill a book with details of the life behind the lines and up to the lines – how would you like to graze a cow under big-shell fire? – and the patience and the fervour and terrific industry of all the land. But you must see it to believe it: and when you have seen it you must testify, as I hope to, that nothing that England can do is enough to keep abreast of such an Ally.” The Telegraph’s coverage of the First World War up to this point can be found at: telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive