I got a odd (ish) book today published in 1941 called Through The Dark Night by James Lansdale Hodson. He was a war correspondent in France and Flanders and its a collection of long and brief accounts said to him by BEF soldiers during his time with them. Here's a couple of accounts from the Welsh Guards at Arras chapter: I asked how they got on for food. A sergeant said to me, "Well, at my road block I got a frying pan and put in all the fat I could find-butter, lard and what not-and I made a pan of chips, with cold ham and tea. But the fight started too soon-we'd no time to eat it. After Fritz retired, one chap complained his chips were cold". I asked the sergeant how he became to do the cooking. He said, "Oh, I was a officer's servant then". And another: The Welsh Guards are great singers. I asked what they sing. "Oh hymns," one man said. Another said: "When there isn't a girl about you do feel lonely' goes well, too!" One more: A Guards Sergeant said to me, "You'd never believe this, but the German tanks put a shell through a house roof. The explosion threw tiles into the road and on the opposite footpath, and a man who lived there brought out a brush and , as shelling continued, began to sweep them up. It made us laugh." He chuckled again as he told me.
