Author(s): Andrew Roberts

Military

A legacy of an empire and a nation at war, "Love Tommy", is a collection of letters housed at the Imperial War Museum sent by British and Commonwealth troops from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa from the front line of war to their loved ones at home. Poignant expressions of love, hope and fear sit alongside amusing anecdotes, grumbles about rations and thoughtful reflections, eloquently revealing how, despite the passage of time, many experiences of the fighting man are shared in countless wars and battles. From the muddy trenches of the Somme to frozen ground of the Falklands to the heat and dust of Iraq, these letters are the ordinary soldier's testament to life on the front line.