The front-line triangle
Field post
Envelopes were scarce at the front, so letters were folded into triangles with the address written on the outside. No stamp was needed. Every home waited for these “triangles”, the main thread linking the front and the family. Many are still kept by families today.
A letter was folded from an exercise-book page: two corners first, then again, and the tip tucked inside, making a triangle. Censors checked every letter, so soldiers never wrote where their unit was. Instead they wrote about what mattered most: “alive, well, beating the enemy”, and asked their families to look after themselves and the children.
The worst thing for a family was to receive not a triangle but an official envelope: a death notice. So every letter was waited for and reread until the lines wore away.
Wait for me, and I'll come back. Only wait for me with all your heart…