The songs sung by the British soldiers between 1914 and 1918 have left us an unique record of the folklore of the trenches. All the alternating moods of scepticism, cheerfulness, disillusion and self deprecating courage that moved the soldiers are reflected in their songs. Many of the songs existed before the war, some have survived the war and found their way into the body of inherited English vocal lore, but the majority belong specifically to the trenches.

This article is located in the History of the First World War Volume 6 (REF D522 .H58 1969 V.6).