Below is the original Foreword to the 1977 Edition. It was written by WW1 veteran writer and journalist, Eric Hiscock. He was then in the public eye for his supposedly realistic and autobiographical account of his WW1 experience as an under-age soldier, The Bells of Hell Go Ting-a-Ling-a-Ling, also published that year. Today it is rated as highly exaggerated, controversial, somewhat unreliable factually, and, among other criticisms, obsessed with homosexuality. It is still a cracking good read – and he was actually there!