World War 1 Trench Art

Modern Day Trench Art

kitwood — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:47:26 +0000

A trend from the First World War seems to be making a revival amongst the troops in Afghanistan. Trench Art was first created in 1914, when soldiers used scrap metal and empty casings from the battlefield to craft souvenirs for home. We spent the day with one of the engineers at Camp Bastion who is remodelling used shells into art work, with a modern twist including wine coolers, cufflinks and ashtrays.

WW1 Diary 13th. Jan. 1917.

kitwood — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:21:10 +0000

A WW1 Soldier’s Diary

13th. Jan. 1917.

Did another turn as signal clerk in the office of the “13th Bde” in an empty house down Bearton Rd. As the afternoon was free, Scotty and I went up to the workhouse[which is now the camp hospital] and had a bath apiece. Cost you nothing to go in, but the interest the attendant displays towards you, just as you are about to get inside your overcoat, generally results in you slipping, magnanimously, a few stray coppers, into his palm, which always, when that event approaches, is surprisingly close at hand. It commenced to snow when we had partly put into action a suggestion to “do” the town, so we turned back to billet where I stayed for the night. Scotty was stiff- caught fatigue for half an hour at the stables – watering and feeding up, he slipped off to the pictures after tea, I missed him somehow at that stage of the day.
A bit of excitement prevailed at tea in the mess hut tonight. Two inebriated sons of Australia came into their meal a bit silly and as they were on the way to take their seats at a table which was full, spotted one of those useful but seldom used articles known as a “fire extinguisher” on a bracket on the wall. One of them apparently preferred to regard it as an impudent impersonation of an infant, for he carefully took it down from its comfortable and safe position on the bracket and laying his arms around it, let it recline in an oblique fashion against his front, rocking it gently, evidently considering that he was assisting it to the land of slumbers; His bibulant friend however, professing to be a critic on that art, was not at all satisfied with the way the execution was being effected and perhaps without sufficient warning of his desires to give an exhibition of how it should be done, rather hastily attempted to force his possession of the article, which resulted in the struggle to upset somewhat rapidly the delicate internal organ of the disputed cylinder; for, from a short pipe, which according to the prominent instructions given on the body, you are requested to point at the bottom of the configuration when put to use, came a decidedly energetic and unpleasantly drenching stream of chemically accelerated water, which threatened to annoy those who were most adjacent and but for one clear-brained individual who swiftly obtained possession of the nozzle and with it directed the stream to the floor, it might have made it very uncomfortable for those who were the cause of the trouble. The Sergeant of the hut went absolutely rotten and had the pair who unfortunately forgot the necessity to keep their plaything in the perpendicular attitude during their turn, were put in the guard room for the night. Next day they, as punishment, had to scrub the whole hut out.

WW1 Diary 11th. Nov. 1916.

kitwood — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:23:24 +0000

A WW1 Soldier’s Diary

11th. Nov. 1916.

Saw he medical head this morning – told him I wasn’t too sound in the throat, so he gave me two days in the billets. Soon as I got back I went to bed and stayed there all day. My head was very crook, but the lady of the house was very kind to me and looked to my comforts as much as possible.

(Sunday) Wasn’t feeling any better or worse, only a little weaker if anything.

(Monday) Managed to make the camp and saw his nibs again- he had a look at my throat, gave me some medicine and two more days billets. I felt some weak and was glad to get home to bed again.

(Tuesday) Felt a little better when tonight came and glad to hope I would be fit for duty in the morning. However, I had every comfort- but nobody likes being sick.

WW1 Diary 1st. Nov. 1916.

kitwood — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:15:37 +0000

A WW1 Soldier’s Diary

1st. Nov. 1916.

A WWI diary entry written by my grandfather during his service in France with the Australian army:

“Great indignation felt through the ranks of the Anzacs this morning when the announcement came out through orders at early morning parade that a tattoo roll call must be attended at 9.45pm in front of the Town Hall. A conference was held after breakfast to decide whether we would turn up to it or no, and on considering things, a resolution was duly passed in favour of turning up tonight just to see what would be doing. We are unfortunate to have in charge of us two orderly sergeants who do not or cannot claim to be favourites with the boys. They are what we term “narks” – that is to say – would just as soon put you in for the least trivial breach of discipline or regulation – one wouldn’t object to that at all, if their methods were at all consistent, but when you know that an N.C.O. in charge makes glaring oversights in the irregular conduct of some intimate acquaintances of his and “sticks the knife” into the other fellow for the same offence, it encourages a fair- minded individual to foster feelings of supreme contempt for him and his office.

It is one of the hardest of many military pills one has to swallow when the rank and file have to bend to the will of an unscrupulous N.C.O. whom he knows to be illiterate, inconsistent and an ignorant “bully,” not so much that he is not acquainted with his work, but that he endeavours to impress you with the fact that the disclosure of a certain rule or regulation is only the outcome of his generosity as a result of your trifling infringement, generally spoken in a tone, which galls a man’s feelings of reason and respect. Surely because that a little idea of fairness and pleasantness be expected by a man in the ranks, he need not, when gently suggesting same, be pounced on, with a coarse reproof only natural with the species of animal life. The lads turned up in force at the time ordered and these two most unpopular sergeants had no easy task to fall them in and number them off- let alone call the roll. A pronounced feeling of resentment was evident through the whole mob and their efforts to create a disturbance were partly successful . About 120 names were on the roll and when at last the chaps did form into some sort of a line, an attempt was made to number them off, but talk about a farce! Charley’s Aunt wasn’t a place in it. You must remember it was as usual at that time of night well into being pitch dark, and as the men in the rear rank heard the men they were covering declare their number they broke away, ducking their heads, doubled along to the left flank reaching and taking a position there, continuing the numbering to such an extent that the parade proclaimed themselves to be larger in comparison to the numbers on the roll.

The sergeant in charge of course was as wild as a wet hen, which only pleased his unruly mob the more and they continued their nonsense when he started to call the roll; as a man’s name was called, about a dozen would answer it, galling him to distraction, and I’m sure that everybody went nap that he was glad to get to the end of it, as the townspeople had , being attracted by the unusual noise, gathered in surprising numbers and were inclined to be amused at the behaviour of the boys and the sergeants unsuccessful efforts to obtain order. He dismissed us with a tone of sullen defiance and immediately was vigorously counted out by all, then they just as cheerfully counted out the other sergeant, after which having dispersed, things quietened down to absolute normal state. Although my sympathies were wholly with the absurdity of turning a fellow out to a tattoo at this time of night from a nice warm fire and interesting book, the way the fellows went on was a bit over the fence as it didn’t do any good and only gave the ones in charge an incentive to put in the dirt, as revenge is defined here, which intention was declared and heard by fellows (corporals) who were billeted at the same abode as the ill-used victims of an hour or two previous. I expect there will be something doing on early parade in the morning, I think one or two names were taken for disorderly conduct. It might be mentioned here that some have a good half mile to walk to this tattoo business and whatever is the reason of turning us out it can’t be wholly justifiable to the certain result by which it is attained. The Tomes are nearly all billeted in large unused houses holding anything up to 200 and of course have simply to report to an N.C.O. who is given the duty at the respective billeting dwellings. Anyhow the poor old Colonials are always getting rubbed up the wrong way aren’t they?”

Rare footage of the First World War

kitwood — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:30:06 +0000

Rare footage of the First World War.

The Trench Art Authenticity Question

kitwood — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:41:23 +0000

There seems to be some confusion as to exactly what trench art encompasses, it’s certainly not just single pieces produced by a soldier in a front line trench in 1914-1918. For an item to be considered trench art the general consensus is it was created by a single soldier during active fighting in a theatre of war.

Some art was created during the war in the rear areas or towns by locals or engineers for sale to soldiers. The production of trench art really became a means of surviving in times when money and housing would have been in short supply. The vast majority of trench art was not produced by individual soldiers in the front line trenches, but after the war for sale to tourists and pilgrims. Most of this trench art was created in a cottage industry setting, rather than a factory.

Items made in factories were mostly pairs of vases; these were made by placing empty shells in a special press to make the indented shapes. These could not be made by a soldier in the trenches, in the numbers seen, unless there were thousands of soldiers all following the same design with great precision. In some ways they are too perfect and the trench art made by soldiers has a very basic look and feel about it, similar to “outsider art” as we know it today.

The post-war production of trench art for the pilgrim and tourist trade was more generic in nature, the non-descript ‘flowers and leaves’ designs are very common. These designs may well be made by locals but they lack the interest of more authentic hand crafted pieces. However, they resonate with the period, perhaps not on the individual, unique basis that the ‘made by my grandfather’ examples do, but still an important segment of the social history of the war.

The items that are not considered genuine are more often than not mistakenly identified as from WWI by the owner who found the object stored away in a relatives home or for sale in a junk shop.

The vast majority out there is genuine and not difficult to find, you can build up a fine collection in quite a short time, but as always, caveat emptor.

Origins of Trench Art

kitwood — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:35:35 +0000

The battlefields of history are littered with artifacts that shed light on the distant past. These objects can help us understand the life and times of these soldiers; how they fought, how they passed the time between battles and occasionally the causes of the conflict.

Most of the artifacts we unearth today are only small fragments of a soldier’s personal offensive or defensive equipment. These weapons and shields are sometimes adorned with artistic embellishments identifying the owner, and more often than not, his rank or status within the army. The more elaborate etchings or paintings were reserved for the nobility and aristocracy and were created by master craftsmen. However, the rank and file soldiers were allowed some individual expression on their battle kit. In addition to the army colors or insignias, solder’s would commonly decorate their weapons themselves with carvings or drawings representing a family name or home village – almost always something tribal.

The artifacts we find in museums today are usually from the higher classes of various countries and were well preserved in family or national archives. Few weapons of the common soldier have survived the test of time, but the items that have survived show a vibrant and creative expression of the soldier’s self.

WW1 Diary 25th. July. 1916.

kitwood — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 03:15:23 +0000

A WW1 Soldier’s Diary

July 25th. 1916.

We are rewarded this morning by a very distant view of Western Australia – A few isolated sandy hills around the vicinity and throughout the day fresh peaks and rises produced themselves to our gaze- naturally we were all very excited at the novelty up to a late hour at night- the lighthouse set on one of the Capes was very conspicuous. It seemed disappoint to me to be only a few hundred miles now from Auntie Aggie and not to be granted the opportunity of seeing her, for we are not going to touch coast until we reach South Africa.

I borrowed a developing tank and ran my film through – didn’t get a crook negative in any pictures, I hope they will prove interesting to those who will have the pleasure of looking at them. There is not anything of much interest to be taken on board, but I will be able to let a little light into the camera when we get to South Africa. We found a very useful room in our search for a secluded spot to carry out our photography which in times of strife is used for giving a man complete rest and quiet for any length of time should he be looking for it. One or two good methods of obtaining admission are to disagree with an Officer and draw your hand and arm around and up in a swinging motion until it comes in contact with any part of his face or push an Orderly downstairs as the latter is carrying enough dinner for a dozen and you are not allowed to rock the boat. Anyhow, we will talk sense – so without going to the trouble of committing any offense we are allowed to use this particular room which suited our requirements well. During the evening we went through a course of Progressive Euchre. It wasn’t bad – I won four games out of nine so I lost my 3d. There are some hard doers here. By the time the contest had only two or three games to play there were only about half the original number playing for as soon as some found they had no chance of winning they dropped out and consequently upset the system= unsportsmanlike action on their part was very much resented and they will be left out next time I hope. Anyhow, the winner caught 15s/- for having won every game on the card. Well, I expect we will leave Australia behind tomorrow.

WW1 Diaries

WW1 Diary 24th. July. 1916.

kitwood — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:58:50 +0000

A WW1 Soldier’s Diary

July 24th. 1916.

Last night was the roughest night we’ve had on the trip so far – it was a weird sound to hear the wind moaning through the halyards like someone drawing a bow across a fiddle and running the other hand up and down the gamut. Two waves broke over the boat at about 1am. Some of the water finding its way down the mid-ship gangway and drenching three or four fellows who were camping on the hatch underneath. However, I didn’t get wet so it’s all in a lifetime. I’m getting quite a nob at steadying myself a load of tucker up and down stairs and along decks, but it gets you ready for a rest at night- you seem to have a constant strain on the muscles of your legs. Its funny you get quite used to fellows running around so many degrees right or left of the perpendicular of the boat and gone in the knees. To see people (& most of all a female) walking and moving in the ordinary manner will be quite a novelty.

A Sports and Concert Committee has been formed and we are to open things in the form of a Euchre Party tomorrow night – entrance-3d. Winner 12s/6d Runner-up 2s/6d – Booby gets 3d back.

We are to site Albany tomorrow but we are not to call again on Australia- The old tub threatens to leave our native land behind on Wednesday. A Wireless came through this afternoon to warn the Captain of the approach of very dirty weather for the next 36 hours- but it does not amuse us as we are getting used to it.

A little luxury in the way of stewed figs came to light for tea and they went down without any trouble. I finished up a film yesterday but haven’t had a chance to develop same yet. In conclusion I notice that the number of men seeking repose on the sea-washed hatch of last night are conspicuous by their absence, so they can’t be fond of getting their blankets wet through in the centre of darkness.

WW1 Diary 23rd. July. 1916.

kitwood — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:57:49 +0000

A WW1 Soldier’s Diary

July 23rd. 1916

Sunday on the water- just the same as any other day as far as we are concerned only that we had a sort of a church parade about 10.30 at which function I officiated at the piano. Canteens are open just the same and men can do anything they like. Now we are out at sea we get cigarettes for 2d (pence) and 4d a packet, boxes of 50, 1s/9d. (three Castles), tobacco 1s/- per 4oz . tin, 1s/9d in Melbourne.

I played cards and read all the afternoon so I have nothing very important to record for the day. I expect the passing of time to be rather strenuous before long- some fellows are sick of it now. What will they be like when we are another month or two on the way? At the rate the boat is traveling now I don’t think we’ll make England until October.
After tea we were herded around the piano by the parson for a Hymnal sing-song -whilst this was in progress it was not uncommon to hear the clink of money on the tables behind the scenes by the lads playing cards, which in my opinion was rather off- anyhow the two didn’t sound very well.