Couple Vince Schurhoff came from a Birmingham business family that was German on his father's side. He joined the British army in 1914 and served with 16/Warwicks until 1916. He was then seconded to signals intelligence work and later transferred to the Royal Engineers (Signal Service). Employed in a variety of intelligence roles, he was awarded the Military Medal in 1918. His diary provides an excellent window into the physical and mental worlds of a middle- class junior NCO on the Western Front, recording the nuances of life in the trenches and behind the lines. He also offers a rare contemporaneous account of grassroots intelligence work during the First World War.