Four years on the Western Front - By a Rifleman

There are some truly memorable books on the Great War from the pens of men who served in the ranks. 'Old Soldiers Never Die"  and, more recently, "The Journal Of Private Fraser", are two that come easily to mind. Four Years On The Western Front is another that measures up to that high standard. First published in 1922 and very to come by, this reprint deserves to find a place on the shelves of any Great War collection lacking the original.

Aubrey Smith, the author's true name, enlisted in the 5th (London Rifle Brigade) Bn The London Regiment in August 1914. In January 1915 he landed in France and joined his first line battalion, 1/5th LRB, then with 11 Brigade 4th Division, in front of Plugstreet Wood. He served in the trenches with them for the next few months being present throughout Second Ypres in which the battalion suffered some 400 casualties, until in September 1915 he was persuaded to join the battalion transport (horse) section with which he stayed for the rest of the war until his demob in January 1919.

In the Foreword his CO remarks that he would sooner sit in a trench than drive twice a night through Ypres which often required greater courage, and Smith's narrative frequently shows why the Colonel spoke as he did. And it wasn't just Ypres that kept the nerves at full stretch. With the battalion in 56th (London) Division from the latter's reconstitution in February 1916, the author saw action at Gommecourt, the Somme, Arras, Third Ypres, Cambrai and in the German Offensive and the final battles of 1918. He was awarded the MM in August 1917 and a bar in November 1918.

Although based largely on the author's letters home the book reads as a continuous narrative, and fascinating reading it is too. There are many moments of humour as he wrestles with the fractious behaviour of the horses of which he had had no experience whatsoever before September 1915. There are poignant moments as well, and the descriptions of the journeys to and from the front line and of the conditions under which man and horse lived and worked are as vivid as any of the appalling conditions that prevailed. One of the marvels of that war is how, starting from anything up to three miles behind the firing line, these supply wagons managed to make their way in total darkness through featureless wastes and innumerable shell holes, having to cope not only with in-discriminate and sometimes deliberate shell and machine gun fire but also with a couple of terrified animals, and reach the spot where their battalion was. And then they had to make the return journey and prepare for the next run. This book is an invaluable contribution to the picture of the life of an infantry battalion on the Western Front.