A soldier serving with the Royal Field Artillery in France during the First World War described the daily hardships he and his comrades faced.

In a letter published in The Oxford Times or Oxford Chronicle, Gunner J Bowerman, of Woodeaton near Oxford spoke of constant shelling by the Germans and shortage of food.

He wrote: “It was terrible at Ypres. Our guns were shelled every day. Have had many narrow escapes. Many a time, we have had to lie on our stomachs for half-an-hour.

“The Germans, if you show yourself, send about 100 shells over.

“We cannot get enough food. We get enough for breakfast and the rest of the day we have large biscuits which is not enough to keep a cat. I should be very pleased with some books.

“I am about to wash a shirt. It is about time as I have had this one on five weeks. We get no time for washing. Only on a Sunday we get hours off and then we are stitching buttons on and doing a few odd jobs.”

Gunner Bowerman said he supported conscription for single men. “From what I see in the papers, there are young men walking the streets of London. They ought to be made to join!”

A copy of his letter has been sent in by E Cross, of Crosslands Drive, Abingdon, who found it in his father’s belongings.