I Embarked for France - The War Diaries and Letters of an English Family in the Great War

The War Diaries and Letters of an English Family in the Great War. In this book the Ansell family’s diaries and letters tell the story of their war from north London and the Western Front. In 1917 Evelyn joins the 19th King’s (Liverpool Regiment). A nineteen-year old Second Lieutenant, he patrols in no man’s land, writes of soldiers killed, describes the desolation of the battlefield. In 1918 he fights in the German March Offensive; in May he is wounded after the Battle of the Lys. Evelyn’s parents and sister write to him with news of family and friends. John Evelyn observes local bomb damage; Ada packs parcels for Prisoners of War; Enid is a VAD. The letters reveal their anxiety as the battles rage across the Channel. Evelyn’s is a new voice, taking the reader without foreknowledge to battlefields long familiar to historians.