“Sometimes nothing happens for hours on end; then – all of a sudden – ‘over she comes!’”
“You must keep yourself in by hanging your arms and legs over the sides. Mustn’t hang your legs too
low, or the rats gnaw your boots”
“You never saw the blasted mess those fellows left the trenches in. Dugouts smell like cess-pits;
rusty bombs; damp rifle grenades; its perfectly foul”
“must have your revolver to shoot rats”
“She doesn’t know that if I went up those steps into the front line – without being doped with whisky
– I’d go mad with fright”
“I couldn’t bear being fully conscious all the time”
“I have to censor all letters”
“Better die of pain than be shot for deserting”
“I’d have you shot – for deserting. It’s a hell of a
disgrace – to die like that. I’d rather spare you the
disgrace”
“Ever since I came out here I’ve hated and loathed it. Every sound up there makes me all – cold and
sick”
“It’s damn ridiculous making a raid when the Boche are expecting it”
“There’s no need to tell him it’s murder”
“Meanwhile the Boche are sitting over there with a dozen machine-guns trained on that hole –
waiting for our fellows to come”
“he’s only a lad”
Man's inhumanity to man
“They simply blew us to bits yesterday”
“Next day we blew each other’s trenches to blazes”
“As long as we stick here when the other companies have given way, we can fire into the Boche as
they try and get through the gaps on our sides – we’ll make a hell of a mess of them”
Patriotism
“I’ve seen him on his back all day with trench fever – then on duty all night”
“He’s never had a rest. Other men come over here and go home again ill, and young Stanhope goes
on sticking it, month in, month out”
“I only left school at the end of last summer”
“Shall we see if we can stick it together”
Politics
“It’s all a damn nuisance, but, after all – it’s necessary!”
“Oh, no, Stanhope. I – I can’t let you go”
“It’s rotten to send a fellow who’s only just arrived”
“It’s damn ridiculous making a raid when the Boche are expecting it”
“They can’t have it latter because of dinner”
“Don’t forget to empty your pockets of papers and things”
“Still it’ll be awfully nice if the brigadier’s pleased”
Role of women and the homefont
“She doesn’t know that if I went up those steps into the front line – without being doped with whisky
– I’d go mad with fright”
Consequences
Physical
“I’ve seen him on his back all day with trench fever – then on duty all night”
“It’s this beastly neuralgia. It seems to be right inside this eye. The beastly pain gets worse every day”
“Another little worm trying to wiggle home”
Mental
“He’s stuck it till his nerves have got battered to bits, he’s called a drunkard”
“You mustn’t expect to find him – quite the same”
“I couldn’t bear being fully conscious all the time”