Taken by Chinese photographer L. Yuk Sun probably in late 1914, this image shows a South Wales Borderer on guard duty in the Chinese city of Tsingtao (modern day Qingdao). This was the scene of a major Anglo-Japanese effort to lay siege to the city’s German occupiers in the early months of The Great War.

The soldier’s coat is made from goat skin, and although very warm, it smelled dreadfully when it got wet. The men were often forced into making a difficult choice of either putting up with the smell or getting cold.