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At first glance, Churchill's handwritten letter home to his wife Clementine, is a touching expression of their mutual love. It also reveals the horrors of war as he knew it in France, fighting on the Western Front, during the First World War.
However, a deeper understanding of the circumstances behind Churchill's role in the war is necessary to full grasp the significance of the letters he wrote home.
(Left) Winston Churchill and Clementine Hozier, just before their wedding in 1908.
(Right) Lieutenant-Colonel Winston Churchill, seated on right, commanding the 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers, in 1916.
Churchill had been a Member of Parliament since 1900. In 1911, he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty while serving in the Liberal government.
In 1915, he was one of the political and military engineers of the disastrous Gallipoli landings in the Dardenelles.
Taking much of the blame, he resigned from office on 15 November 1915, and promptly rejoined his army regiment, at the age of forty.
On 18 November, Major Winston Churchill of the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars, left London for the Western Front, across the English Channel.
Two days later, on 20 November, Churchill joined the Grenadier Guards as it went up to the frontline for a twelve-day spell in the trenches; forty-eight hours in the frontline itself, and forty-eight hours in reserve.
It was in the filthy, muddy and wet conditions of the trenches, in the thick of battle, that Winston penned these touching letters, the one dated 21 November, being reproduced here.
We ought also to understand that Churchill was also likely making some attempt to restore his drooping reputation after the Dardenelles tragedy.
Reading the letter below, what kind of conditions did Churchill face while fighting on the Western Front?
Why do you think he volunteered to go into battle at the age of forty, willing to be deployed to the thick of battle?
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