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Description: | A varied and interesting collection of correspondence exchanged between him and soldiers on active service whilst he was at school in Cambridge during the First World War, comprising 71 ms letters written (in English) by Soldat Alphonse De Handschutter, 2nd Regiment Chasseurs à Pied (5th Division) of the Belgian Army, whilst recovering from wounds at a Red Cross Hospital at Linton, Cambridge (November 1914 – March 1915) from where he maintained a regular correspondence and personal meetings with Stubblefield to improve his English, discussing various matters relating to the course of the war, his participation in thirteen battles and many skirmishes before being wounded, his desire to become an interpreter in the British Army, his fears for his family’s safety in Belgium; his subsequent service in the frontline at Dixmude, at Nieuport and near the river Yser (March 1915 – July 1918), his faith in God and in the Allies’ ultimate victory, the routine of trench life and reliefs, his several trips to Cambridge and London on leave to meet Stubblefield, and his irregular correspondence with his aged parents. Together with 4 ms letters written by 2nd Lieutenant George Ellsworth Sydenham Fursdon, 1/5th Battalion London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade) (4th Division) on the Western Front (February – September 1915), describing trench life and briefly mentioning his role in the 1914 Christmas Truce, where he arranged a ceasefire with the Germans opposite to bury the dead and celebrate the festival; and 12 ms letters written by A C Comer Stone, a former school colleague, whilst serving with the YMCA in Malta (March 1916 – April 1917) and then in Salonika (July 1917 – June 1918) discussing the fate of mutual friends and his long held wish that the war would quickly end. Included in the collection is a small diary (14pp) belonging to Private Vogel, 105th Regiment Silesian Reserve of the German Army, with ms translation (3pp), covering his service during August 1914 and describing guard duty at Ernolsheim, near Strasbourg, a lack of information as to French and Russian movements, considerable marching during the middle of August followed by heavy fighting against the French Army on 22-24 August 1914; a brochure for a Navy, Army and Air Force Tattoo at Wembley Stadium (undated); and a large selection of souvenirs including field dressings, shrapnel and bullets sent home from the front, mainly by De Handschutter.
Cataloguer AS | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Stubblefield, James | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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