Trench Newspapers and Magazines

An example of creative resilience

This cartoon was published in the first edition of Aussie. Cambridge University Library

The name of this blog is The Trench Press as a play on words and an homage to trench newspapers and magazines. These were unofficial publications that soldiers wrote, produced, and read during the First World War.

When we think of the First World War, we often think of the chaos of battle and bombardments. The constant presence of death and danger. That’s all true. But what we often overlook was the long periods of boredom in between the action. Soldiers had to find ways to keep busy and to keep sane. Reading and writing newspapers and magazines created by soldiers for soldiers became a popular pastime that served as a sort of therapeutic outlet (Duché and Laugesen, 2021).

Britain, Canada, Australia, France, and Germany all had trench publications. Even the United States, despite being a latecomer in the war, had a popular trench paper called The Stars and Stripes (Balkansky, 2019). One of the most famous British trench newspapers was The Wipers Times (Wipers being the Anglicized nickname for Ypres) which was produced on an actual printing press soldiers found in the war torn ruins of Ypres (Crook, 2022). There was even a movie made about it.

My research into World War One is centered around an ancestor who moved to Australia from Scotland. He fought in the Australian Imperial Forces. It turns out the Australians had their own well known and well produced newspaper called The Aussie. This publication was so popular, it stayed in production after the war until 1931, going by the peacetime name “Aussie The Cheerful Monthly Now in Civvies” (Sir John Monash Center, 2023).

Nelson (2014) breaks down the most common trench newspaper topics on either side of the line as “Daily life, humor, the enemy, and women.” These papers contained stories, poetry, cartoons, and jokes. Humor, especially dark humor, was very prevalent (Duché and Laugesen, 2021).

I am fascinated by these wartime soldier produced publications because I think they are an interesting example of human resilience through creative expression. In my day job, I’m a therapist. I’m also a creative person. Both personally and professionally, I am constantly reminded of how valuable creative expression can be in helping us express and process emotions and relate to each other.

There is something beautifully poignant about soldiers in the midst of humanity’s first experienced horrors of industrialized warfare taking the time to create something despite all the destruction around them. They produced and enjoyed stories, poetry, jokes, and drawings. It gives me hope to see that even in some of humanity’s darkest and most tragic events, there is creativity and resilience.

So if you are a creative person, keep creating.

References and Further Reading:

Balkansky, Arlene. (2019 December 11). Wallgren and Baldridge: Illustrating World War I in The Stars and Stripes Newspaper. Library of Congress Blogs. https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2019/12/wallgren-and-baldridge/

Crook, Peter. (2022 January). Hodge in the the Wipers Times. The Western Front Association. https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/hooge-in-the-the-wipers-times/

Duché, Véronique and Laugesen, Amanda. (2021 April 22). The comfort of reading in WWI: The bibliotherapy of trench and hospital magazines. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/the-comfort-of-reading-in-wwi-the-bibliotherapy-of-trench-and-hospital-magazines-158880#:~:text=Stories%2C%20verse%20and%20jokes%20were,Cambridge%20University%20Library

Neslon, Robert. (2014 October 8). Soldier newspapers. International Encyclopedia of the First World War. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/soldier-newspapers/#toc_conclusion

Sir John Monash Centre. (2023 November 30). Aussie: The Australian soldiers’ magazine. https://sjmc.gov.au/aussie-the-australian-soldiers-magazine/