The British 'easter eggs' in West Flanders April 1916

[trajan]

From Rudolf Binding's Aus dem Krieg for 23 April 1916, p.144, somewhere in West Flanders (freely translated)

 

"The 108 English prisoners mentioned in the newspapers - not all captured by us [= his unit] we could have hidden as Easter eggs, they were so clean. They had beautiful steel helmets and exquisite leather jerkins, leather outside, wool inside, that we immediately kept for ourselves". Apart from the cleanliness aspect(!), this must be one of the earliest mentions of the Brodie and the leather jerkin also?

[Uncle George]

Not so early, but an interesting perspective here from Raymond Asquith, from May 23 1916. From Peter Vansittart’s ‘Voices From the Great War’ (1981):

 

 

[mancpal]

Neither comfortable cap nor steel helmet helped him a great deal ultimately.

 

Simon