In World War 1, how did soldiers send letters back home?

Answer 1

You don’t mention which of the armies you are most interested in. But on the Western Front, all the armies used similar methods to get mail to-and-from the soldiers. So this is a generalized answer that describes the methods that were typical for all of the armies.

Receiving letters from home is one of the simple but effective morale-boosters for any soldier in a combat zone. Military leaders in WW1 recognized this, and all armies organized special arrangements and made strenuous efforts to keep Mail flowing to-and-from the Western Front. In most circumstances, Mail was given a high priority in the mass of rations, ammunition and other materials being carried to-and-from the Front.

But Mail was only delivered to and collected from the actual Front Line trenches during exceptionally quiet periods. For the most part, Mail addressed to soldiers was held for them in the base / rest areas to which they rotated behind the Front Lines.

The physical conditions and lack of off-duty time in the Front Line trenches also meant that ordinary soldiers had little opportunity to write letters home while holding the Front itself. Officers were usually provided with a dugout within which they could write letters – but again, they usually did not have time to do that. So most letters from soldiers were actually composed and mailed from their base / rest areas behind the Front.

All armies were concerned about the possibility that soldiers’ letters home might contain secret military information that could fall into the hands of the enemy; and that adverse comments about the state of the war in soldiers’ letters might impact civilian morale at home. For these reasons, all letters written by Enlisted Men were supposed to be read and censored by the Company Commander before they could be mailed. (Officers’ letters home were not subject to this first-stage censorship, because it was assumed that Officers could be trusted!) As a further precaution, all armies employed official Censors, tasked with opening, reading and censoring a random selection of letters before they were delivered home. The Censors tended to err on the side of caution: it was quite common for soldiers’ families to receive letters that had been so mangled by the Censors as to be virtually meaningless.

Actually, most armies discouraged their Enlisted Men from writing lengthy letters home anyway. That is why they made available pre-printed postcards for the use of the soldiers. All that the soldier had to do was to address the card to the recipient, and delete those sentences that did not apply. So, for example, the soldier might delete a sentence that read “I am well”; but leave in a sentence that read “I have been wounded, but not seriously.” In the British army, these ready-made postcards were officially termed “Field Service Post Card (Army Form A2042)”. The soldiers, however, called them “Quick Firers”.

Mail from soldiers to home was delivered free-of-charge. For British, French and German troops, it was generally delivered to its destination within a few days. But letters from troops from more distant parts of the world - such as America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – could take several weeks or even months before they arrived. Consequently, there were numerous tragic instances in which a family received a letter from a soldier long after they had been informed by telegram of his death.

Answer 2

Send Letters To Soldiers

Answer 3

She would probably need to ask a family member. Are we talking British soldiers here? For security reasons often the family did not know where a soldier was based and the soldiers were certainly not allowed to tell their family. All letters home were censored and any details likely to be of aid to the enemy were removed. You would need the soldiers name, his number and his regimental HQ. There was eventually a BFPO system (British Forces Post Office) where letters were addressed to name and then BFPO plus a number (BFPO 332 or similar)

Answer 4

The usually used an Indian runner. Unfortunately, that killed off many of our red-skinned brethren. One of the biggest problems was that after we delivered all of the runners to Europe to do their jobs, when they ran into the ocean (trying to deliver their messages back to the U.S.), many of them were eaten by sharks while swimming across the Atlantic. The government finally got together and put a stop to the practice and decided to put all the remaining Indians together in bunches on the reservations we have today. They still like to run a lot though, but most of them just run amuck these days! Bet you didn't know that ... did you?

Answer 5

The same way they still do it today. The military has mail collection and distribution systems that work in conjunction with the U.S. Postal service to provide mail service for our military men and women. Part of the logistics of any military campaign includes supplying the troops on the front lines. Along with bringing in needed supplies, the supply corps will also carry mail out.

Answer 6

By field post office

Answer 7

Carrier Pigeons!!!!

Answer 8

they crossed the ocean on ships. took a while, didn't have big planes back then.