Ben’s time in France with the 2nd Battalion Royal Berks was spent in trenches halfway between Armentieres and Bethune, switching between reserve and front-line duties. They were under continual fire, with the German front line as close as forty yards away in places. Conditions were unpleasant, with the wet trenches needing to be constantly pumped out, and men were despatched daily to hospital, many suffering from frostbite and trench feet. At some point Ben too went to hospital, his condition serious enough for him to be sent back to England to the military hospital at Cambridge.
On 31 December 1914 the Newbury Weekly News reported: