The Best of the Wipers Times

In February 1916, Captain F. J. Roberts of the 12th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters produced the first edition of the trench newspaper The Wipers Times. Often produced in hazardous conditions, at one point only 700 yards from the front line, it acted as the voice of the average British soldier, relaying his experiences, grief and anger during the entire conflict.Taking its name from the army slang for Ypres, where it was first produced, The Wipers Times was similar to Punch, but contained a more specific type of comedy relating exclusively to the soldiers on the Western Front. The satire and humour of the paper helped reinvent the situation in the trenches – diffusing the conditions of war by ridiculing and exaggerating them.At times irreverent, at times hysterical, its humour and satire provide an excellent insight into life in the trenches in the First World War.