Background information and commentary by Andrew Carroll: To research BEHIND THE LINES I traveled for several years throughout the U.S. and across the globe (thirty-five countries in all) to seek out wartime letters from virtually every major American conflict. While visiting museums and archives around the world I was asked, “What exactly are you looking for?” I've never been able to answer that question satisfactorily because people are always surprising me with unexpected types of war letters I could never have imagined. One of the archivists at the In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres, Belgium was a bit exasperated when I asked to see the “best” letters in their collection of WWI correspondence. “We have thousands of great letters,” he told me. And then I noticed one of his colleagues starting to giggle, and she said: “Let's show him the First World War German wife sex letter.” Needless to say, this got my attention, and the letter, which they copied for me, was a keeper. To put this letter in context, during WWI millions of German men left their wives with the enormous burden of maintaining their households by themselves, which often included raising children and tending to farmland. There were, of course, other, more personal needs that also required the presence of a husband, and these matters were usually addressed euphemistically in the letters. But then there were those who simply could not hold out any longer and didn't care who knew about it. (The full text of the letter is believed to have been published for the first time in BEHIND THE LINES.)

Treuen, January 2, 1917

Dear Leader of the Company!

I, the signer below, have a request to make of you. Although my husband has only been in the field for four months, I would like to ask you to grant him a leave of absence, namely, because of our sexual relationship. I would like to have my husband just once for the satisfaction of my natural desires.

I just can't live like this anymore.

I can't stand it....

I would like to ask you very kindly to grant my request. I will then be able to carry on until we are victorious.

With all reverence,
Mrs. S

The officer who received the letter did not grant the leave.

NEXT WEEK: An American Civil War letter that is even more surprising.