The
Dump: A Trench Journal
During
times of war, when the serving troops are suffering great hardship through
situations they can’t control, keeping morale high is one of the biggest
challenges the Army faces. One example
of a great morale booster is this wonderful magazine one of our stallholders
showed me. A magazine or “Trench
Journal” written for the enjoyment of troops serving in the trenches of the
Western Front during The First World War.
The idea of a magazine written by your fellow soldiers was brilliant and
I imagine it offered some much needed comic relief to the poor souls stuck in
the trenches.
Some
are better known than others such as The Wipers Times (named after soldier
slang for Ypres where it was first printed.) of which a BBC dramatisation was
produced in 2013. Others, such as The
Dump are very much unknown. While doing
some research I found only one mention of this same edition of the journal on
an old auction listing, but no information at all.
It
seems that the journal had always been planned to be published once a year, at
Christmas, until the end of the War.
However it is my assumption, and please correct me if you believe me to
be wrong, that this was the one and only published issue of The Dump. The XXIII Division, under the command of
Major-General Sir James Melville, was sent to France in August 1915 and this
edition was published in Christmas of that year. It is my opinion that so much happened on the Western Front
during 1916, including the Battle of the Somme, that the XXIII division was no
longer able to produce the magazine.
Being one of humanity’s bloodiest battles, it is more than likely that
some of the main contributors of the journal were killed or wounded at the
Somme.
Produced
in the winter of 1915 by the XXIII Division, The Dump begins with a message
from the editor in which he talks of various limitations, which have been
overcome in the production of the journal, including time, materials and means
of illumination. He goes on to say that
all ranks have contributed in some way towards the publication and the generals
and staff officers have been just as ruthlessly sub-edited as the rank and
file, if not more so.
Contrary
to what you might expect from a war journal, it is full of humourous cartoons
and anecdotes. Obviously it was aimed
at the troops living in the trenches; keeping hold of your sense of humour when
in such poor conditions can be all you need to stay sane.
On
the first page an advertisement for “Wisquerine” appears; “The latest invention
for raising hair on the most beardless youth’s cheek.” One of the testimonials reads, “Your
Wisquerine made me a terror to look at in less than a week.” It is a product I can find no mention of
anywhere else and am quite certain it is a tongue in (hairy) cheek advert,
simply for amusement.
I
have included some pictures of my favourite parts of the journal but here I
think I will leave you with a poem by “A Recruit” that seemed to stick with me.
Alex Rogers
AN APPEAL
From
a Recruit.
I’ve eaten my stew with my fingers,
And
drunk the juice from my plate,
I’ve
tasted mud with the humble spud
I’m
given to masticate.
I’ve shared a bowl with the stranger,
Whose
face wore a two-day’s coat;
I’ve
quaffed my tea in which I could see,
Strange
bodies bob round and float.
I’ve
slept in a whitewashed barrack,
With
friends of unfragrant kind;
In
a luscious rug, where the sporting bug
Was
not a strange thing to find.
I’ve
sat in a growing puddle,
In
my one and only pair;
Wild
nights I’ve spent in a leaky tent
Where
twelve had the floor to share.
I’ve
tried my hand at some laundry,
When
my shirts I’ve managed to rinse;
They
were hung to dry, but the wind was high,
And
I’ve never seen them since.
But,
bless you, I’m not grumbling,
What
Briton would ever dare!
When
over the way, in a ghastly fray,
There’s
shrapnel and blood for fare.
So
come, you chaps, from your downy beds,
It
isn’t all nice, no doubt;
But
you’d better die eating English dirt,
Than
live to eat Sauerkraut.
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