The back parts of war

the long version

The record of the British churches in the First World War is still mired in caricature and controversy. This volume represents an account of the work of the Young Men's Christian Association with the British Army in France, Belgium, and occupied Germany from 1915-1919. The story that Baron Barclay tells through his memoirs and letters is as salutary as it is unfamiliar; far from being ineffectual onlookers, through the YMCA in particular the churches provided a ubiquitous, unstinting and even heroic service to the British soldier in the months and years of the First World War.