Ninety-three year old letter tells of horrors of war

6:26pm Friday 14th December 2007

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A 93-year-old letter discovered in a Hampshire attic and written by a soldier during the First World War has told how his own side arrested him as a German spy.

The four-page letter from 24-year-old Second Lieutenant Trevor Bird to his father was penned on Christmas Day 1914, and described the horrific life on the muddy battlefields of the Western Front.

The letter was sent to his home in Guernsey and was recently found in a trunk of family documents at a house in Milford-on-Sea.

Second Lieutenant Bird later rose to become Col Bird, and died 15-years ago in his 102nd year.

Now his grandson, 49-year-old ex-Guardsman Stephen Birley, is trying to find out more about where his grandfather was serving when he wrote the letter, of which he has a copy.

Mr Birley, from Bradninch, near Exeter, Devon, said today that his aunt, Pat Bird, who lives in Milton-on-Sea had the original letter after discovering it in her attic.

In the letter, the young officer described how he had been having a ''a fairly hairy time'' since December 20, 1914 as he was dug into trenches.

Mr Birley, who stayed with his grandfather when he lived in Bradninch, said he did not mention the ceasefire when opposing sides played football - one of the most famous stories to have come out of the conflict.

"They did not all play football. Where he was they did not have a ceasefire, because he did not mention it," said Mr Birley.

The letter also described how a controversial bayonet attack ordered on the German trenches was "a criminal order on the part of the man who ordered it".

He also wrote of spending 26 hours up to his waist in water, then being sent out on patrol and expected to fight.

When he reached British trenches he wrote: "To cap all my troubles, I was arrested as a German spy.

"It was not until I was taken before the CO with a rifle muzzle in the small of my back that I was allowed to depart," he said.

He also spoke of suffering from "a pair of feet like balloons and an attack of neuritis and chill" after a 25-mile march.

"Well we get well paid so mustn't complain I suppose," he wrote.

Mr Birley said: "It is an amazing story, but the dear old man never talked about it. It is a shame he did not."

"It is a diamond of a letter that says so much about our forefathers," he added.