For the soldiers in the trenches of the First World War, the comforts of faith were essential. Indeed, so bravely did the French priests serve – often enrolling as humble squaddies (poilus) – that even the anti-clerical French leader Georges Clemenceau thanked them profusely after the war, and relaxed his formerly aggressive brand of secularism.
Among the British troops, a small edition of the Bible was issued with their kit, and it surely provided spiritual support to the soldiers who experienced so much suffering in the theatre of war.
