Life on the Front Line: Diaries, News, and Letters from the First World War, 1914-1919 - Volumes
Volumes
5 volumes in Life on the Front Line: Diaries, News, and Letters from the First World War, 1914-1919
Officers' Diaries, August 1914 - October 1919
These diaries feature a concerted focus on the Battle of the Somme between November 1915 and November 1916 with accounts of action in Beaumont Hamel, Flers-Courcelette, the Fricourt sector, Ginchy, Les Boeufs, and Transloy Ridges. They also contain a secondary focus upon the fighting around the town of Ypres between 1915 and 1917, through accounts from the second and third battles of Ypres including the Ypres Salient and battle for... Read more →
Non-commissioned Officers' Diaries, September 1914 - November 1918
These Diaries provide Non-commissioned Officers' perspectives on some of the same battles described by the Officers' diaries in previous documents. The battles these accounts share with the Officers' include the Somme and some of the battles around Ypres. In the Ypres area NCOs joined Officers in recording details of the third battle of Ypres, including action at the Ypres Salient and the battle for Messines Ridge. Accounts of the Somme... Read more →
Privates' Diaries, August 1914 - February 1919
These Privates' recollections provide both details of wars where their Officers have also provided accounts and forthright descriptions of events for which officers' diaries included here do not provide details. They add to the combination of voices included here which discuss the battles of Ypres and Ypres Salient with a particular focus on the third battle of Ypres. They also provide additional perspectives on the battle of Loos, the battle... Read more →
Others' Diaries, May - September 1916
These narratives are the voices of two people in non-combat roles and yet living through all of the violence of a war which others had chosen to fight. The first, Canon E. C. Crosse, served as a Church of England Chaplain at the Battle of the Somme; part of his diary from the Somme and a copy of his essay on the work and achievements of Army Chaplains are included... Read more →
