Yours Sincerely, A Superstitious Digger

BELIEFS IN superstition and fatalism were common amongst civilians and combatants alike during the First World War. Many soldiers carried charms and nearly every war memoir since has a story of someone who was saved by a cigarette offered at the right moment, or by a cigarette case.

Many members of the 1st Australian Infantry Force also held unswervingly during — and after — the war to the belief that it was bad luck to light three cigarettes with the one match,