There's an interesting line in The Tolkien Family Album By Priscilla & John Tolkien, following on from the one I gave earlier:
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'Years later he would compare these experiences with those of his son Michael, a soldier in the Second World War, who endured his share of horrors but was at least part of an army with motorised transport.'
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Interesting enough, but what follows is perhaps more relevant:
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Some remarkable relics survive from that time: a trench map he drew himself; pencil-written orders to carry bombs to the 'fighting line.'
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John Garth comments:
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At the same time Tolkien was appointed battalion signal officer...Tolkien was put in charge of all the unit's communications,...He needed to know the locations & station calls of all coordinating units; to be au fait withthe plans & intentions of Lieutenant-Colonel Bird, the CO; & to keep the Brigade informed about any unit movements or signals problems. But all this information had to be kept a close secret...
One Monday morning Tolkien was ordered to go with one other Subaltern ... & five sergeant majors to set up battalion headquarters in trenches yet further north...They found the front line itself badly blown in & impassable by daylight...
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Proving what? Well, he compared his wartime experiences to those of Michael - seems likely they discussed their experiences together; he drew maps of the trenches, so its at least possible that he went out personally to survey the territory - possibly on horseback; he was responsible for providing vital information to his superior officers about troop locations & what the enemy was up to; He was ordered right up to the front line to set up Battalion HQ - how did they get there? Horseback?
Again, not a shred of proof that the incident described actually happened, but enough to make it a possibility at least.