We Were Young and at War: The First Hand Story of Young Lives Lived and Lost in World War II
By Sarah Wallis & Svetlana Palmer
Collins £18.99, 346 pages
FT Bookshop price: £15.19

The letters and diaries of 16 young people from all sides of the 1939-1945 conflict are assembled here. Their concerns, often serious and war-related, can also be banal, which, when we discover their fates, makes them all the more poignant.

Micheline from Normandy describes meeting “a very young, very handsome and distinguished” English soldier in April 1940, adding that “unusually for an Englishman, he had magnificent teeth”.

British teenager Brian wants to know whether US pen pal Trudie has a suntan and what colour her new dress is, itching all the while to be old enough to enlist.

And Klaus “quite enjoys” Hitler youth camp, despite the obligatory castor oil and “really terrible” mosquitoes.

The decision to class the writings chronologically rather than by author is somewhat confusing – but Wallis and Palmer’s commentaries offer insight and perspective.