Year 5/6 have been writing letters from the trenches of WWI.

Scarlett C

Dear Mother,

So far the trenches are filthy, brutal, cold and uncomfortable. Well, at least I’m alive, although the trenches are boring me to death. Everybody is so lifeless and gloomy. My legs feel paralysed with pain. I haven’t showered in many months. It’s so unhygienic in the trenches.

The weather here is as gloomy as the trenches: cold, rainy, muddy and worse! Good job the sandbags are below us. If they weren’t here, the mud may have swallowed me! It’s like a swimming pool here – it rains almost every day.

Soldiers don’t get much food here either. Last night we did get cold soup and stale bread even though it was revolting, it’s a good meal for the trenches. I also got weak tea today instead of water.

I’m having a bit of fun, so you don’t need to worry at all. I do miss you all back home, even the dog. Make sure you keep everyone safe. Miss you lots.

Lots of love,

Bob

Freddie

Dear Mother,

The food in the trenches is not like your cooking because it is very cold and dreadful. You will not believe how bad my uniform is – it’s very mucky and filthy. They had to shave my head and it was very cold. (They shave our heads to make sure bugs don’t stay in our hair). I don’t know why it’s called The Great War because it’s not great.

It’s amazing how we communicate to each other. We send birds or we walk through the communication trench. Every morning all I hear is guns being shot and tanks going over my head, but one day on a snowy morning, we all heard the Fritz shouting, “Happy Christmas Tommy.” So we shouted back, “Same to you.” We thought that was it but they were walking across No Man’s Land…

Daniel

Dear Father,

I saw a soldier get shot a few times but four soldiers brought a stretcher to carry the soldier back to the communication trench to recover. Tomorrow I’m going to the front line trench, so I might not come back, although I might go to No Man’s Land so I’ve got a 95% chance that I’m not coming back.

When I was in the front line trench, I stood on the fire step and poked my head out and a bullet went straight past my head. I saw a big machine gun that killed a lot of people. We call the German’s Fritz and the Germans call us Tommy.

I had a nice warm dinner which was very lucky for us. We had some tea, but it was very weak…

Dhiya

Dear Mother,

Today was very exhausting. It was cold and dark and wet, and also very dangerous. The Fritz kept charging at us continuously! I was very, very frightened, but don’t worry, I’m fine now. The bombs kept dropping at us. Luckily, we were hiding out in the trenches.

The food we had was very nauseating. We had cold, stale bread for breakfast, tomato soup (which was also cold) for lunch and tinned beef for dinner. I can’t wait until the war is over. I really need a normal supper.

You will not believe how filthy and uncomfortable my uniform is. Every day I stink. It isn’t just me, all of my friends stink too! I just can’t take this brutal uniform!

Right now I am sitting in a trench. They are smelly and dirty and about every day they get infested by rats, slugs and horned beetles. It is even possible to catch a disease! If you look over the parapet, you could even die! It is much safer to stay down below.

I cannot believe what happened! We had a few hours when the war was over! We dropped our weapons and shook hands with each other. Us and the Fritz becoming friends! One of them got out a football and we had a friendly game of football. Unfortunately Germany won, but it didn’t matter. It was the best ever bit of the war!

Your beloved son,

Raymond

Josh T

Dear Mother,

Today this morning I had to get up early to go on duty. The weather is miserable. Me and my friend had to break the icicles and one hit me. My fired Jon pulled it out. My uniform is torn, so the lady sewed it up and it is muddy and it stinks. The Fritz came walking unarmed with a white flag. I ran to the front trench. One of the Germans said Merry Christmas. My friend said it is a trick but I went up with Jon. We had beer and cake. I took my muddy and smelly uniform off and used it as a goal post. Fritz got a ball and we played football. I scored but they came back and said good bye and we sang carols.

From Josh