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Soldier of the Territorial Army

A serious face, almost sorrowful, with a markedly sad down-turned mouth under a straggly moustache. He is an elderly territorial, one of the last categories to be called up. He had experienced the monotonous life of a worker in the muddy billets at rear of the front lines, three-quarters destroyed; on moonless nights lit only by sudden bursts of shellfire, through collapsed trenches, through tragic fields of craters he carried supplies, munitions and re-provisioned the front lines. This continual effort which never interrupted the perfect rest of the troops made these old territorials the most indispensable and valued auxiliaries. The war had dealt them hard blows, had taken them along rough paths, where young and old shared in the same hardships, and in equal honour.