1910s: Maurice's life on the front

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My dearest beloved, 

I do not know how to start this letter. I suppose by telling you that I have arrived all right and that I am still in the land of the living. Life in the trenches is what I remember it to be, but so much harder this time as I keep thinking of you. Last time I had no wish for anything but to fight for my country, but now I worry for your safety, and long to be with you again. 

Conditions are as bad as ever, but we soldier through the best we can. It turns out some of the fellows here are actually quite good story tellers, which help. A fellow named Gaston told such a fantastic horror story that we all went to bed a little more frightened than we probably have ought to be. 

Oh! How I love you and as I sit here waiting I wonder what you are doing. I must not do that. It is hard enough sitting waiting for whatever comes next. The bombardment is constant, but then you know that. You can hear it well enough in Glimmerbrook. How hard it is to be so close to you and yet so far away. 

The faces here are almost entirely new. Of my own comrades most are gone in one way or another, dead or wounded or sent elsewhere. The fellows are new, some so very young and all terribly frightened. We who have been here before try to calm them, tell them that as long as they keep their heads down they are comparatively safe. Of course some shelling do land in the trench themselves, and it's a matter of time before they, we, are ordered over the top. 

But enough of that. How are you, my love? I cannot wait to receive news from you, to hear how you are fairing. I will see you again, and this hope keeps me warm at night. I picture you waiting for me, working as hard and bravely as ever. Now that your fellow countrymen has decided to be as brave as you and join this retched war perhaps this war can finally come to an end and the Germans be pushed back once and for all and France be free again. Then I too will be free. Free to return to you. Then I will come with you to your home, introduce myself to your family properly, and never leave your side again as we explore the world together. 

Even in the gray dullness of the trenches I see jungle and color wherever I look, because you sold me a dream I cannot shake. I long to see the jungles of Selvadorada, to paint those colors as you discover its secrets. What a life we will lead! I will enclose one of my drawings, bleak in comparison to what I dream of, but something which shares a bit of reality of what I am seeing here. I must draw or I will truly loose my mind, and someone ought to see the reality that is life here. 

And now I must sleep. I have the early morning watch, and then drills with the new recruits all day. Know that you are forever in my thoughts, forever in my dreams. 

Always your most devoted, Maurice


Actual artwork from the front:

Death toll by game:
  • Karl Becker (Ger-military)
  • Bjorn Bjergsen (Ger-civilian)

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