The Wipers Times was a trench magazine that was published by soldiers fighting on the front lines of the First World War.
It was produced by English soldiers from the 12th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Nottingham & Derbyshire Regiment), 24th Division British Armies in France.
In early 1916, the 12th Battalion was stationed in the front line at Ypres, Belgium and came across a printing press abandoned by a Belgian who had, in the words of the editor, "stood not on the order of his going, but gone." A sergeant who had been a printer in peacetime salvaged it and printed a sample page. The paper itself was named after Tommy slang for Ypres itself.
The names of the staff involved in the paper are mostly unrecorded. The editor was Captain (later Lieutenant-Colonel) F. J. Roberts, the sub-editor was Lieutenant F. H. Pearson. A notable contributor to the paper was Artilleryman G. Frankau. Also worthy of note are the engravings by E.J. Couzens: his portrait of a chinless platoon commander clutching his cane and wondering "Am I as offensive as I might be?" became the paper's motif.
Most other contributors from the Division used pseudonyms: some now obscure; some intended to satirize contemporary newspaper pundits such as Beach Thomas (Daily Mail) and Hilaire Belloc; and some ironic, such as P.B.I. (Poor Bloody Infantry).
The paper consisted of poems, reflections, wry in-jokes and lampoons of the military situation the Division was in. In general the paper maintained a humorously ironic style that today can be recognised in satirical magazines such as Private Eye, Le Canard enchâiné and The Onion.
Read more about Wipers Times: Adverts, Contents, Poetry, Miscellania, Publication History, Published Editions, Acronyms and Slang
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