Souvenir des tranchèes de CHAMPAGNE 1914 - 1915 [Souvenir of the trenches of Champagne, 1914 - 1915]

This sketchbook belonging to Paul Prangère was found on the WWI battlefields in France by Private Charles Edward Goldspink M.M., 17th Infantry Battalion. The sketches enclosed depict life in the trenches during the first two costly battles of Champagne. The first battle took place between 10 December 1914 - 17 March 1915 and during which some 90,000 French men were injured. The second battle took place between 22 September 1915 and 6 October 1915. Many of the illustrations are of a jovial and describe a glamourised version of life for the soldier in the dugouts.

The second half of the sketchbook portrays the injured soldier on leave spending time with his wife or girlfriend. Despite the grim nature of life in the trenches, the artist portrays a lyrical and poetic existence. The simplicity and humour in the artists' style predate Hergé's Tintin (first published in 1929).

• [Frontispiece '1916 Paul Prangere']
• 'Souvenir des tranchèes de CHAMPAGNE 1914 - 1915, 1916'
• [Soldiers in trench surveying the battlefield]
• [Reading the newspaper]
• [Procession carrying food]
• [Sleeping in the dugout]
• [Writing a letter to the wife]
• [Wife writing to her husband at the front]
• [Letters from home]
• [Directing digging in the trenches]
• [Mishap while making fortifications]
• [Two friends regarding one another]
• [Nocturnal visitation]
• [Delousing the soldiers]
• [Manoeuvres at night]
• [Maintenence of the trenches]
• [Preparing food in a dugout]
• [Near miss]
• [Driving back the enemy]
• [Wounded]
• [In the hospital]
• [Permission for leave]
• [Wife receives notice of leave]
• [Reunion at the train station]
• [The kiss]
• [Promenading through the streets]
• [Eating in a restaurant]
• [Home at last]