"Drawing Fire" by Private Len Smith

[Nozzer]

I thought I would continue the recent London theme and recommend the above book.

Len joined the 7th London Battalion early in the Great War, arriving in France in early 1915. The book is copied directly from the diary that he wrote on scraps of note paper that he kept hidden and put together after the war. He was also a talented artist and the book is illustrated throughout with his work. Without giving to much away, Len ended up in the Royal Engineers working on various camouflage projects.

The work is copied word for word, so has none of the niceties of editing. As it was written as Len saw it, you can get a feel for what he was going through. The emotions of fear, boredom and sometimes pleasure.

Andy