Telephone Dug out Vermelles, 20 June 1916

Pen and ink by Paul Sarrut (1882-1969), dated verso, '20/6/16', 1916.

Showing a British soldier near a telephone post near Vermelle in Pas-de-Calais, France. A web of telephone and telegraph wires had been installed behind the Allied front lines on the Western Front. This enabled real-time communication and direction of the war.

Camille Georges Paul Sarrut was born in Grenoble in May 1882. He was an artist and engraver who studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1909, under the name Paul Sarrut. Having undertaken national service in 1903, he rejoined the French Army in 1914 as a corporal and served during the First World War (1914-1918). That same year he was posted to the British Army as a Military Liaison Officer and interpreter for the French, Indian and British troops on the Western Front and was promoted serjeant in July 1915.

The Indian Army Corps started to arrive in Marseille from 30th September 1914, and from 1st October Sarrut sketched their arrival, life in camp and departure for the Western Front. His drawings of Indian troops from this period include his iconic portrait of Sepoy Harnam Singh of the 34th Sikh Pioneers. In 1915 Sarrut moved up to the front and continued to sketch the Indian soldiers there. He was promoted serjeant in July and continued to sketch the Indian corps until they were sent to Mesopotamia in November 1915.

The National Army Museum holds a large collection of original sketches that Sarrut drew during this time. He continued in the role of interpreter and was appointed adjutant in 1917 before he was demobbed on 6 March 1919. After the War, Sarrut had a selection of his drawings engraved and issued as a portfolio, 'British and Indian Troops in Northern France, 70 War Sketches, 1914-1915', published by H Delépine of Arras, France, in about 1920.