A Muddy Trench: A Sniper's Bullet

The recent discovery of a wooden chest, unopened for 100 years revealed a treasure trove of eloquent trench diaries, letters and poetry. The author was Hamish Mann, a young Black Watch subaltern killed in France in 1917 just five days after his 21st birthday.

Thanks to Mann’s outstanding literary gifts and prodigious output, this book re-lives his fateful journey from the declaration of war, his voluntary work at a military hospital, his training and commission and, finally, his service with 8th Black Watch on the Somme.

The daily hardship and trauma he experienced at the Front were shared with countless thousands of his comrades. But Hamish’s extraordinary gift was his ability to record the traumatic events and the range of his emotions, writing often in his dug-out ‘by the light of a guttering candle’.

A century on, thanks to the Family’s discovery and Jacquie Buttriss’s sensitive commentary, Hamish’s tragically short life can be celebrated and his literary legacy given the recognition it so richly deserves.

---

Some books that may interest you

The Forgotten Few By: Adam Zamoyski	Hitler Strikes North By: Jack Greene, Alessandro Massignani	Photographing the Fallen By: Jeremy Gordon-Smith
Tracing Your Great War Ancestors: Ypres By: Simon Fowler	A History of Jungle Warfare By: Bryan Perrett	The Campaign of Waterloo By: Sir John Fortescue
M12 Gun Motor Carriage By: David Doyle	Battles and Battlefields of Ancient Greece By: Dr Matthew A. Sears, Dr C. Jacob Butera	Crossing the Rapido By: Duane Schultz