Tag Archives: One Writer’s Voice

Excerpts from a WWI diary

16 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by in Historical Fiction, Writing about WWI

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A close friend of mine loaned me a WWI diary she had in her possession – I believe she bought it at an auction, perhaps even on eBay. When I hold it in my hands, the look and feel imbues a strong sense of reality. This man was soldier in France. He fought, dug trenches, fired machine guns, watched friends die, suffered the noise and confusion – and wrote about it. Some days he writes in pen, other days in pencil. Almost 100 years later both are faded.

On the front cover he wrote: No 56132 (his regimental number), A.M. Mackenzie, 19th Battalion, Machine Gun Detachment, 2nd Can. Exp. Force, 1915.

Martin Devlin, one of the main characters in my third novel, Blind Regret, serves in the 19th Battalion, a choice I made with Alistair Munroe Mackenzie in mind. As a result I researched the whereabouts and experiences of the 19th Battalion and know that Alistair would have landed in Southampton in early June of 1915, gone to Le Havre in August, and fought near the Ypres salient all fall and winter. Like many soldiers, he wrote with great understatement of ‘difficult times’ and ‘unpleasant conditions’. I promised my friend that I would not replicate Alistair’s diary, however consider a few sentences:

Mond morning, Sept 20th    We are now in Belgium about 3 miles from the firing line and are pretty sure to go into the trenches tonight.

Friday night Sept 24    Things have been very quiet on our lines but not so on the G’s.

Monday Oct 4th – 4:30 PM    There has been nothing doing on our front except the occasional bombardment.

Sunday Oct 10th, 10:30 PM   Our lines at this point sort of bulge into the G’s so that they are on 3 sides of us and the bullets come in from all directions pretty thick.

Sat. Dec 11/15    We hear all kinds of rumours about getting leave or being sent back as reserves but we are at the stage now where we don’t believe anything until after it has happened.

Friday, Jan 4/16    Have had so much rain that where there aren’t trench walks the mud is knee deep and we sure long for some cold weather that will harden things up … am going out on a patrol tonight and expect to have some excitement.

The day to day of serving your country in the trenches of WWI. At the end of Alistair’s notebook are a few blank pages which make me wonder what happened. Did he begin a new diary? Was he wounded? Was he killed sometime in January 1916? I hope for the best and fear the worst.

WWI Trench Standing Orders

10 Thursday May 2012

Posted by in Historical Fiction, Researching historical fiction, Writing about WWI

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Having spent much of the past four weeks analyzing and reporting on my historical fiction survey, I thought it time to offer something different. This post originally appeared in my other blog, One Writer’s Voice. It seems to have garnered quite a lot of interest so I thought I would reproduce it here.

Military organizations went to incredible lengths to provide rules and regulations in World War I. My research constantly uncovers intriguing (and chilling) details governing the lives of soldiers. When exploring trench warfare for an understanding of living conditions, I found a copy of Canada’s trench standing orders. Put yourself in a deep, muddy trench waiting for orders to attack or merely trying to get through yet another day of your six day rotation.

  • while in the trenches, rifles will at all times be loaded and magazines charged
  • .. rifles will always be in the immediate reach of every man and bayonets will be always fixed
  • Company and Platoon commanders will insure that rifles are always clean by holding inspections frequently
  • one hundred and twenty rounds will always be carried in each man’s pouches (wonder how much that weighs)
  • … fire steps have a tendency to sink and parapets to rise (hence an instruction to check the height when taking over a trench)
  • all ranks … should not expose themselves higher than the bottom of the third sand bag from the top of the parapet (or risk getting their heads blown off)
  • constant care must be taken to prevent enemy bullets penetrating at any point through the parapet
  • forty percent of the Battalion Strength (note the capitals) … should always be on duty by night
  • no NCO or man will be permitted to leave the fire or the support trenches except by the direct order of an Officer
  • wire and listening posts are the best protection against an attack by night; listening posts, which as a rule should be in front of the wire, should consist of two men lying down; a small communication trench should be provided; also a tunnel through the parapet
  • .. all empty tins refuse and latrine excreta must be buried by night well in rear of the trenches
  • any dead animals lying about must be buried (also at night)
  • in the unlikely event of any portion of it [the fire trench] falling into the hands of enemy, on no account will the garrison or adjoining portions fall back (optimistic use of the word unlikely)
  • there should be one listening post per platoon
  • reconnoitring patrols should be sent out at intervals to ascertain if there is any movement of a part of the enemy
  • as patrols and listening posts will be out, there must be no firing by night except by order of the Company Commander
  • troops will stand to arms an hour before daylight, and remain standing to arms until daylight, also a quarter of an hour after sunset for half an hour

Clearly a difficult, deadly activity.

Documents like these add authenticity to the scenes I write in and around WWI trenches. Apologies for being unable to provide the link. Collections Canada has moved this document and I cannot find it.

Notes: photo source Wikipedia; italics in the orders were added by me

WWI Fashion – a time of change

27 Friday Apr 2012

Posted by in Researching historical fiction

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Source: Henry Madden Library

One of the popular posts on my previous blog – One Writer’s Voice – is a post about WWI fashion. Many of the sites referred to below have helped me write the small details that add to a novel’s authenticity.

Lies Told in Silence, which is currently in the hands of my agent, is set in WWI France with characters representing three generations. Matters of fashion were important considerations in numerous scenes and I found it fascinating to see the changes in women’s clothing that occurred in that time period.

Helene Noisette, the main character, is fifteen when the novel begins in 1913, Lise is her mother and Mariele her grandmother.

According to www.fashion-era.com , the  French called the era from 1895 to 1914 La Belle Époque,  a time “of beautiful clothes and the peak of luxury living for a select few – the very rich and the very privileged through birth”.

Monica Fusich created a special collection for the Henry Madden Library at California State University. She has the following comments about styles in 1898:

The large sleeves have deflated to small puffs on the shoulder, with the rest of the sleeve being fitter. Hair is worn in the ‘Gibson Girl’ style, puffed around the face and pulled into a pompadour.

I like to imagine that Mariele – the grandmother – would have worn clothes such as these and might feel conflicted about new fashions of the early 1900′s and beyond.

Styles changed from the S-curve of the turn of the century to straighter, simpler lines and as WWI began skirt lengths rose to six or eight inches above the ground, simpler styles took over, bras were introduced and women even began to wear pants. It seems to me that Lise would be open to these simpler styles.

While the suffragette movement had considerable influence, many of these changes came about because women took over jobs previously done by men. A site called Fashion of the Ages has an interesting article about changes to women’s clothing.

During the war, a dye shortage and fabric shortages encouraged a certain utilitarian drabness in dress, but the most noticeable change engendered by the war was a relaxation of the formal rules of attire which had bound men and women’s dress since early in the Victorian era. Not only did women’s hemlines rise to mid-calf length, but more exciting yet, women wore these shorter styles with sexy heeled shoes and flesh toned silk stockings, not high button boots.

Source: Fashion of the Ages

Helene, the youngest of the three women, is a teenager when the story opens and eager to try new styles.  As war unfolds, she takes on adult responsibilities including duties that men would normally handle.  This character even adopts men’s trousers as both a practical and comfortable style of dress.

In my travels I have found other websites with WWI photos and fashion information.

Victoriana Magazine 
http://www.victoriana.com/edwardianfashions/

The Costumer’s Manifesto 
http://www.costumes.org/History/100pages/1910links.htm

From the search engine Bing a collection of WWI photos 
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=WWI+France+women+pictures&FORM=IGRE
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From ww1photos.com, a section on the homefront illustrates women’s fashion, particularly through images of the kind of work women did during the war
http://www.ww1photos.com/TheHomefront.html