257718 Pte. Bertie Baker British Army 5th Btn. South Wales Borderers from:Tiverton From the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 7th of January 1916:
"Pte. Bertie Baker, of the Welsh Borderers, son of Mr Baker, of Prospect Place, Tiverton, writing home from the firing line, describes the scenes in and around the trenches in the locality in which he was placed during Christmastide. "The bursting of shells", he says, "lighted up the country for miles around, and I expect the Germans thought the end of the world had come. We are sending over thousands of shells every day, and for every twenty we fire across the Germans reply with two or three. It is evident the Kaiser intends to fight until he has not a man left, but as for peace, there are no signs of it." Pte. Baker then gives the menu for Christmas Day. They had for breakfast fried bacon and bread and butter; for dinner, roast beef, carrots and potatoes, oranges, apples and chocolate. Afterwards they received 15 packets of Woodbines and two packets of tobacco, a shirt and pants, two pairs of socks, handkerchief, gloves and scarves. For tea, they had cake and biscuits and bread and butter."
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