Hunting in the Trenches

Abstract

British military writers typically championed foxhunting (or "riding to hounds") as ideal preparation for cavalry service—an idea that retained its vitality after the Boer War but became a nostalgic trope following the Great War. Chapter 5, "Hunting in the Trenches," compares and contrasts British foxhunting with trench warfare, as explored in two semi-autobiographical works of fiction by the Great War poet and memoirist Siegfried Sassoon: Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man (1928) and Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (1932). The chapter contends, one, that Sassoon invoked military writers who advised current and future cavalry officers to hunt in order to enhance both field skills and leadership qualities, and two, that he, in the end, ambiguously affirmed while reproving that advice.