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Collection Veterans History Project Collection

World war i: diaries and memoirs.

There is a particular comfort in putting down one’s daily experiences on paper—particularly if those experiences take place in a war zone. For many who served during World War I, keeping a diary offered an outlet, a place into which they could unload their fears and frustrations. Today, these diaries stand as unparalleled historic documents, providing readers with a wealth of information about the day-to-day lives of service members. Whether they consist of brief notes about the weather conditions or the chow, or more elaborate entries about losing a comrade, original diaries stand as unmediated records of the war. In the years following World War I, these diaries were often used by veterans (or their family members) as the basis for memoirs. These retrospective accounts place the events of the war in the context of what came next, and answer the question of what remains memorable many decades later.

Featured Story: Quincy Claude Ayers

“It is remarkable how the birds still sing in the war-swept forest.” (Diary, 3/2/1918)

Boarding the USS Pocahontas on December 3, 1917, for the trip overseas, First Lieutenant Quincy Ayres made daily entries in his diary for the next eighteen months, narrating his arrival in France and his journeys and experiences throughout. He was sustained by letters from his wife, Mary, whom he addresses in his diary as “honey presc,” an abbreviated term of endearment. Quoting a comrade, he writes that “letters from home are like the heavens breaking through depressing clouds.”

• Contributor: Shroyer, Sally - Ayres, Quincy Claude

• Contributor: Bayon-Hauser, Grace T. - Bayon, Edward J. - Daughters of the American Revolution, National Society - Hughes, Marianne McWhirter

• Contributor: Brennan, Jane E. - Brennan, John Joseph

• Contributor: Carpenter, Albert John - Carpenter, Shirley Linn

• Contributor: Franz, Hillie John - Hornaday, Ella Nora

• Contributor: Groessl, William D. - Groessl, Quiren M.

• Contributor: Harrison, Alfred C. - Steitz, Steve

• Contributor: Kissel, Gustav Hermann - Brooks, Eleonore Eaton

• Contributor: Kohls, Theodore - Torii, Marlene J.

• Contributor: Ballenger, Nancy - Lee, Elliott Hugh

• Contributor: Martin, Ronald S. - Martin, Morris Albert

• Contributor: Kullman, Dorothy McCave - McCave, Mark Lewis

• Contributor: Platt, James N. - Platt, James Nelson

• Contributor: U.S. Senate/Richard Lugar - Lugar, Richard - Rogers, Orville F.

• Contributor: Rosenblum, Joseph - Sparrow, Rachelle

• Contributor: Russell, Reese Melvin - Estes, David R.

• Contributor: Taylor, Priscilla Sheppard - Sheppard, George Brown

• Contributor: Spamer, Earle E. - Smith, Earle Covington

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• Life on the Front Line: Diaries, News, and Letters from the First World War, 1914–1919
• Collections

First World War diaries, letters, and news bulletins from the Imperial War Museum and the Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History

In spite of the shells and snipers I came back the next day safely...I have often read of the romance of war; now I have experienced the horrors and reality of modern warfare.

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Experience the First World War through the eyes of those who fought.

Life on the Front Line is composed predominantly of  diaries and letters written by British military personnel who served during the First World War (1914–1918). Consisting of nearly 15,000 images , it provides a fascinating, albeit poignant, survey of what everyday life was like for soldiers, supplying compelling insights into the realities of warfare. The personal accounts in this collection offer sustained — and often profound — reflections on the morality of war, and on the harsh military discipline demanded of combatants. They likewise illustrate the disturbing effects that warfare had upon mental health. 

Additionally,  Life on the Front Line contains a complete run of the  Westminster Training College Monthly War Bulletin from November 1914 to June 1919. A Methodist institution, Westminster College was established in 1851. Its War Bulletin printed numerous letters written by former pupils and staff — “Old Ws” as they were known — who served. This valuable source also supplies vivid accounts of military life while stationed in British territories, including India, South Africa, and Malta.

Alongside these resources, the collection contains the diaries of British combatants who were captured by the Central Powers. These provide detailed insights into the experiences of those who were held as Prisoners of War  (POWs) in Germany, and even as far afield as East Africa. The collection also sheds light on the experiences of non-combatants . The diary of the Reverend Ernest C. Crosse, chaplain to the 8th and 9th Battalions Devonshire Regiment, details his care of the wounded during the Battle of the Somme (1916). The translated diary of N. Hersent, a French civilian, likewise captures his experiences of living near the German front line during the early stages of the Somme offensive.   

Life on the Front Line  provides a wealth of vibrant, firsthand accounts of one of the most consequential conflicts in world history. Naturally, it will appeal to students and researchers who are keen to examine the history of the First World War. Yet it will also be of interest to those wishing to explore associated themes and topics, such as military history, experiences of imprisonment, and the social influence of Anglicanism and Methodism. 

Life on the Front Line: Diaries, News, and Letters from the First World War, 1914–1919...

Licensed to access The Diary of Lieutenant Colonel I. Colquhorn – Christmas Truce 1915

Lieutenant Colonel Colquhorn's diary recounts the famous Christmas truce of 1915. He describes the moving interactions that he had with German soldiers and even gives details of the Christmas decorations that soldiers put up throughout their trench. Interestingly, Colquhorn reflected on how his superiors reacted to the truce.

Licensed to access The Diary of Corporal A. H. Roberts – Reaction to the Introduction of Tanks during the Battle of the Somme, 1917

Industrialisation facilitated the creation of new military technologies. This diary excerpt captures the exhilaration experienced by British forces as they witnessed the first ever deployment of tanks during the Battle of the Somme.

Licensed to access Private G. E. Waymark, 1918 – “The Diary of a Prisoner of War”

During the First World War thousands of British and Commonwealth soldiers were captured and became Prisoners of War (POWs). G. E. Waymark's diary depicts the often brutal treatment inflicted upon British combatants whilst being held in prison camps.

Licensed to access The Letters of Second Lieutenant J. Stephenson – Life in the Trenches, 1916

In this diary entry, Second Lieutenant J. Stephenson describes life in the trenches. He gives us a detailed picture of daily activities, the weapons that were used during trench attacks, and the solace found in correspondence from home.

Between 1914 and 1918, 7.9 million French citizens served in the armed forces. The sheer scale of the war disrupted the lives of countless families. This collection features a diary belonging to a French civilian named N. Hersent. It was found by a British soldier in the bombed-out ruins of St. Leger, a small town outside Arras. Translated into English, it describes aerial bombardments, gas attacks, air raids, and the treatment of POWs. The 55-year old’s diary evidences the intense level of disruption experienced by civilians living on the Western Front. Penned between May and August 1916, Hersent’s diary also provides a detailed account of the beginning of the Somme offensive, highlighting the destruction and brutality of a battle that claimed the lives of over 300,000 men.

The letters and diaries in this collection provide firsthand accounts of many of the most important battles of the First World War, such as the Somme offensive (1916) and the battle of Passchendaele (1917).

Priests and ministers played a crucial role on the Western Front. They offered spiritual support and comfort to soldiers. Religious services, prayers, and counselling provided soldiers with solace and a means of retreating, if only fleetingly, from the brutal realities of war. Clerics risked their lives to tend to the wounded and to administer the last rites to the dying. The diary of the Reverend Ernest C. Crosse, chaplain to the Devonshire Regiment, is perhaps one of the most interesting documents in the collection. It reveals his thoughts and experiences whilst serving during the Battle of the Somme. He laments how he would be of much more use if stationed with the men “at work” in the trenches, rather than back at a Field Ambulance. One also finds him reflecting upon the evolving role of Anglican chaplains during the conflict, describing their impact on troop morale as they developed more active roles in the trenches.

Technological advancements radically altered the dynamics of the battlefield. As trench warfare became the dominant mode of combat, both sides sought to utilise developments in artillery and chemical weaponry to gain the upper hand. The letters and diaries from the collection feature extensive firsthand accounts of soldier’s experiences of these new, typically horrific modes of warfare.

Founded in London in 1851, Westminster College trained teachers destined for Wesleyan Methodist schools. Upon the outbreak of the First World War, teaching was disrupted as many students and staff volunteered for service. Westminster College established the Westminster Training College Monthly War Bulletin . This was distributed to its staff, students, and alumni. The publication included updates detailing former students and staff who had joined the war effort, and those who had been killed. Students from Westminster College were stationed throughout the globe. Their correspondence, published in the War Bulletin , offers rich insights into the course and consequences of the conflict across the British Empire, such as in India, Egypt, Malta, and South Africa. The college’s War Bulletin also printed letters penned by the parents of students fighting in the war. These documents provide glimpses into the challenges faced by those on the home front.  

Related Collections

Licensed to access Military Intelligence Files: Land, Sea & Air, 1938-1974

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Licensed to access Conscientious Objection During World War 1

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• Writing to Inform, Explain and Describe

Imagine you were a soldier in World War One. Explore your feelings in a creative way.

Clinton Woollams

The sky is murky and grey. The clouds are black, moving above us like symbols of death, reminding us of our mortality. The war planes are whizzing through the sky, moving at rapid speed compared to the clouds that moved at their own natural, God given pace, no matter what else was happening beneath them.

The heavens opened and the rain was lashing down. The lightning bolts were terrifying, like knives attacking the sky as though they are determined to murder nature. Everywhere was gloomy, no matter where I look and I do look, searching out one drop of beauty to cling on to. As the bombs are dropping, the sand is hitting our faces, slapping us and laughing at us, stinging our eyes like tiny needles stabbing at our drawn pale faces.

As the rain poured into our trench, the mud and slush was agonizing when it hit our raw bodies, already in pain from the attacking sores and scabs.

The boards that we had to stand on were now sliding from the rain and mud, and everytime you tried to move, you just slipped and ended up drowning in more mud. As a soldier, you could only think about the possibility of attack, and making sure I was ready for any enemy attack. Being covered in the dragging slime hampered my ability to be able to defend myself or my fellow men. It was the worst possible position to be in.

As the moon shone from behind the clouds, and we gazed at the wide open sea, it was like a fresh blood bath. Outside it was silent, desolate, and bleak. Was it all over?

Had I died and didn’t even know about it?

No. Death wouldn’t be that easy for any of us.

That night, rats woke us up in our trench scurrying in groups among us. We lived in absolute squalor. It stunk of human faeces, the first thing war took from us was our dignity.

This is a preview of the whole essay

People are starting to get very ill. People were hallucinating and convulsing with various diseases. The situation was getting worse and worse. I thought it had got as bad as it gets, but then no, it actually gets worse than I ever thought it could be.

The trenches were swarming with lice. They were crawling over the corpses of decaying bodies and even trying to plague live people. They crawled and slithered around every part of your body. It was disgusting; when you should be sleeping a peaceful sleep you are repetitively bit instead. By morning, you are full of scabs and marks.

People are starting to develop trench foot and it is an increasing problem. Feet are getting extremely swollen and the smell is appallingly bad. The stench of demise is in the air, made worse when boots are removed. I’m surprised it doesn’t kill off all the rats and lice in an instant!  

There is a man, roughly my age, next to me, and he has developed severe trench foot. The smell is unbearable, starting to make me feel ill; his feet look contaminated and disfigured. His case of trench foot has got so bad that he can no longer walk and just sits there all day, all night, awake, crying and complaining, until we all want him to disappear.

As I looked up, I could feel and hear the roaring flames. The fire blazed and burned, creeping closer and closer to our trench.

Everytime a bomb hits the ground, more fire is unleashed, spreading wildly. Sometimes soldiers that were too close to the edge would be severely burnt by the fire and couldn’t move afterwards, skin blistered and raw.

Thomas was out on the front line. I had been in this with him from the very beginning.  I  heard a horrific wailing noise. It was excruciating. I peered over outside to see what had happened, scared to see the truth.

He had been repeatedly shot. He was moaning and groaning. He just lay there staring into the sky. I could tell that his life was slowly fading away. I was holding him when his eyes closed and his body went limp. I had held him while he was dying.

I laid him down to rest. I realised that this was far from over, he was just lying there lifeless, motionless and killed by war; I was absolutely devastated. He was my best friend and I have just lost him. The shock of it is beginning to sink in when I realised, he is gone forever.

I don’t know how I am going to cope now my closest comrade has gone. I have no one, but when you have been here as long as I have, you start to get used to it.

Sometimes I just sit there staring at the sky, thinking that I could have done more for him, but what’s happened has happened and he’s gone.

I am here and he has gone. He would want me to live.    

Letter Home

Part B Original Writing

Dear Mother,

I am missing you dearly; I wish I was at home with you. I miss everything - I miss your love - I miss home life. I can’t wait to get home and see you, but the letters and photographs you are sending me keep my spirits high and remind me of why I am here and why all of us are doing this.                        

Well mother, I am fine and in good health. I haven’t developed any diseases, even though I will have to be careful because there are some deadly things lurking out there.

There has been one fatality that has devastated me.

Do you remember Thomas, my friend? Well, I am afraid that he has been killed. I was gravely shocked. It was very difficult to experience this but it has made me realise how important life is to me.

One thing that I am really missing is your home cooked meals. I only have to think about them and I am starving! The food that they give us here is very inadequate and it is not enough to feed a mouse, never mind a man. Actually, the mice and rats often end up eating our food instead of us! When I return, I want one of your classic meals mother, it would be most gratefully received.

I guess it’s not that bad being here, the only thing is that it can be very lonely here, especially now that Thomas has gone, but I have a good strong team around me and I am pretty confident that we will win this war.  I am so very glad to hear that you are well and please keep sending photographs to me as they cheer me up to see your face.

Sometimes though I do get very scared, but I find something to do and focus on, and I just get through it. The daytime is not really that bad. It is just night time that can be very lonely, but it’s soon over and the sun rises again.

Mother, if I don’t make it please remember that I died fighting for our country, but please don’t worry about it because I am holding my head up high and I am fighting strong.

Hopefully I will see you soon.

 Your beloved son

Clinton  

Document Details

• Word Count 1260
• Page Count 4
• Subject English

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WWI Diary Entries

• November 19, 2014
• Research Tips & Techniques , Writing about WWI , Writing Historical Fiction , Writing Process

Last Friday I wrote about Killing My Darlings which resulted in deleting the first eleven chapters of Time & Regret. But then I had another thought. Perhaps some of the materials would make a good blog post or two.

Within those eleven chapters were excerpts from a WWI diary written by Grace Hansen’s grandfather, Martin Devlin. To build a convincing diary I read many other WWI diaries, researched aspects of WWI training programs and studied the battalion records for the 4th Brigade, 19th Battalion of the Canadian army. I had decided that the 19th Battalion would be Martin’s home for the duration of WWI.

Feb 5, 1915

Enlisted today. A whole mess of forms to fill out. Looks like I’m signing my life away. Guess I shouldn’t joke about that. Went down with Bill Jackson who has been chomping at the bit to get in the fight, as he says. In September everyone thought the war would be over in a few short months. Reality is somewhat different.

Yesterday, Mother said Jim Smithers has been sent from France to England with severe wounds. She won’t be happy to hear that I’ve enlisted but I feel it’s my duty. If we don’t stop the Hun who will? Bonnie won’t be happy either but I think I can talk her around. The enlistment officer told me that with my education I’ll likely be selected for officer training. Next step is a medical exam.

Feb 8, 1915

I was right about Mother and Bonnie. Neither woman is happy although at least Mother is talking to me. Jane says she’s proud of her older brother and Father says it’s the manly thing to do and he wished he were young enough to join up.

Mar 1, 1915

Had a letter from Bonnie yesterday so I hope that means she’s forgiven me. Most of it concerned her comings and goings, although she did say that she now understands why I signed up. And she ended it ‘with affection’ which is very positive. I probably won’t see her for some time.

After a few weeks living in tents in High Park, my battalion has gone to the Exhibition grounds for training. I’m all kitted out with uniform and insignia though I won’t get my 2 nd lieutenant stripes until I’m officially commissioned. Must be more than two thousand men here. Rather chaotic but I’ve heard that it was much worse last fall when the camp was initially formed. Hardly any training occurred then, they were in such a state of confusion. Captain Butler still complains about it. Some of the officers say Hughes is a pompous ass and favours his cronies to the detriment of our troops. Shocking if it’s true.

Mornings are regular training and afternoons are officer training. I prefer the practical stuff of mapping, communications, artillery and rifle practice. Drills and marches are a necessary evil. I’m getting used to the rules and rigidity but a few men have been put on report for disobedience or sloppiness. This afternoon we paraded for inspection by General Dawson.

Must read a bit of the drill manual before bed.

March 22, 1915

We’ve just heard the news about Armentieres. The PPCLI sustained severe casualties. Can’t help but think that I will be there soon. I wonder if I will distinguish myself. Perhaps merely getting through it will be enough. My tent mates don’t talk much about this sort of thing although I sense more intensity than before.

I share a tent with five other cadet officers. John Stanley keeps to himself, Bob Morrison is the self-appointed spokesman and somewhat pompous, Michel Diotte is fluently bilingual (English mother, French father) and a good sort, Pete Vanleuven is second generation Canadian of Dutch heritage (he knows Bill Jackson) and then there’s Bill. We get along which is good in such confined space. The army puts great emphasis on maintaining order and this applies to all things from the precise angle of a salute to the fold of a blanket. Mother would be proud. [Note: Michel, Bill and Pete become significant characters in the story.]

Mar 29, 1915

Regular letters arrive from Mother and Jane and irregular ones from Bonnie. I find it difficult to write back because it’s such a different world. A world that women wouldn’t understand. We’ve heard rumours that we’ll soon go overseas, although we’ve heard that before. Machine gun practice today. The noise takes some getting used to. In the afternoon we had a hockey game. Quite a contrast but the men need an outlet for all their energy. Officers did not participate but I was asked to help coach. We didn’t win – much joking over too many beers tonight.

Still cold and wintry, we wear overcoats and mittens on every parade. Firing rifles is difficult in this weather. The men rise at six and often we are up before them. Roll call is at six-thirty. The sergeants berate any man who is late.

Have to stop now and write a few letters.

Apr 22, 1915

Not much of a diary! The days have so much similarity, although if I think back to February I realize that our battalion has come together and learned a lot. The men drill properly, load and unload their rifles with ease, carry 50 lb packs as though they were nothing. For my part, I’ve led several mock actions and conducted parade drills with success. We now know that we will depart May 12 and I have a five-day leave to visit home.

So, at least these darlings aren’t totally dead.

M.K. Tod writes historical fiction and blogs about all aspects of the genre at A Writer of History . Her latest novel, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE is set in WWI France and is available in paperback from Amazon and in e-book formats from Amazon ,  Nook ,  Kobo ,  Google Play  and iTunes . Mary can be contacted on Facebook , Twitter and Goodreads .

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Brilliant. Thanks for posting. The diary is priceless, and I now understand why those chapters had to go. It is terribly hard to know where to start a book since you have to know how the characters got to the moment you touch off the story. You have courage!

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From The Trenches To The Web: British WWI Diaries Digitized

Ari Shapiro

The British National Archives has digitized and posted online about 1.5 million pages of diaries from soldiers and units that fought in World War I. Here, a photo of the 12th (Prince of Wales') Lancers Group. From a private collection, provided courtesy of the National Archives hide caption

On the outskirts of London, in a basement room of the British National Archives, a historian delicately turns pages that have the brittle feel of dead leaves. Each is covered in text — some typewritten, some in spidery handwriting from a pen that scratched across the page 100 years ago.

"Saturday, the 26th of September, 1914," reads one. "The most ghastly day of my life. And yet one of my proudest, because my regiment did its job and held on against heavy odds."

This diary was written at the start of World War I. It's one of 1.5 million pages in the archives' collection. In honor of the war's centenary, archivists have now begun to make the entire collection available online .

"All the hedges are torn and trampled," reads another page. "All the grass trodden in the mud. Holes where shells have struck. Branches torn off trees by explosions. Everywhere the same hard, grim, pitiless sight of battle and war. I've had a belly full of it."

That entry, from Capt. James Patterson, was written on Sept. 16, 1914. It ends: "I must try and write to my mother now." Patterson died six weeks later.

Personal journals like Patterson's make up a small part of this collection. Most of this trove consists of official diaries, recording the day-to-day activities of British army units in the first world war. The scale of death is huge. Nearly a million British soldiers died in the war, half of them on the Western front in France and Belgium.

In this excerpt from his diary, Capt. James Patterson writes about his experience and reflections on the first battles of Marne and Aisne. His diary ends abruptly on Oct. 25, and he died of his wounds on Nov. 1, 1914. British National Archives hide caption

The daily routine was not all explosions and gunshots. These diaries include cold, clinical descriptions of marches, and of boredom. Sometimes they record sports, says historian William Spencer.

"It's usually soccer," he says. "So for example, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the first of July 1916, at least one regiment are known to have advanced towards the enemy kicking a football [soccer ball]."

"If you want to get your people pointing in the right direction," says Spencer, "you kick a football over the top, and they followed it."

Caroline James was an amateur family historian before she recently began working at the archives. Reading these accounts, she says, "really does change how you feel about it. I suppose they're no longer just images in photographs."

James unearthed the story of one of her own relatives in the World War I diaries, a man named Charles Alfred Hunt. She says that experience changed her perception of the war.

"You think, those were real men. They had mums, they had brothers and sisters and girlfriends and wives and children," James says.

The diary entry for the day her relative died sounds almost clinical.

"After a tiring march at 11:30 PM, B squadron captured a German car," the passage reads. "Casualties: 2nd Lt RFT Moore and 11 men missing."

Caroline James, an amateur family historian who recently went to work for the British Archives, unearthed the story of one of her own relatives, Charles Alfred Hunt, in the World War I diaries. Courtesy Caroline James hide caption

One of those 11 men was her great-great-uncle. He died less than two weeks after arriving in France, at age 26.

Many older people in Britain knew veterans of World War I. But the diaries provide a different level of detail, says Michael Brookbank, 84. On a recent day, he was drinking a coffee in the archives cafeteria. He had come to learn more about his father.

"My father very rarely talked about the war, and I think that is common with most of the veterans of the war," says Brookbank. "The experiences that they went through and the conditions that they lived in were just something that, unless you were actually there, nobody could really comprehend."

Now that the diaries are online, anyone in the world can read them. At Operation War Diary , the British National Archives is recruiting what it calls "citizen historians."

It's a way of crowdsourcing the research, so people at home can classify and tag some of the 1.5 million pages. Of course, these diaries only tell one side of the story.

Spencer, the historian, hopes that someday Germany digitizes its remaining World War I diaries. That way, he says, someone would "be able to just pick a given day, say, in the autumn of 1918 and look at that one day through the records of all the belligerent parties."

Spencer imagines soldiers from Britain, America, France and Germany, each telling the same 100-year-old story from their own point of view.

Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences

WWI Document Archive > Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences

Alphabetically arranged by name of memoir writer (if available) or by title keyword(s).

Robert R. Abercromby . Lest we Forget – a personal self drive experience

Eugen R. Aichele . Return to the Western Front. A German Artillery Soldier's Story.

Frederick and Evelyn Albright . An Echo in My Heart: Diaries of Fred Albright , ed. and comp. by Lorna Brooke.

History of the American Field Service in France, 1914-1917, Told by its Members.

Also see the website on AFS in World War I prepared by Alan Albright as a part of his American Field Service site .

Dikran Andreasian . Comment un drapeau sauva quatre mille Arméniens .

In Memoriam - The Last Anzacs

The Archive of War Diaries Online (Interfaces in English and German)

Arizona's War Dead: WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Southwest Asia

Armistice à Cap Pelé

Australian Army War Diaries - First World War

Samuel E. Avery , Soldier's Mail: Letters Home from a New England Soldier

Harry E. Barnes , Leopold Berchtold, Alexander Hoyos, Friedrich von Wiesner, Gottlieb von Jagow, Wilhelm II von Hohenzollern, Alfred Zimmerman, Michael T. Florinsky,

Belgian writer, Stiijn Streuvels . In oorlogstijd. Het volledige dagboek van de Eerste Wereldoorlog .

Olga Bing . Gestes d'Infirmières, Croquis 1916 1917 .

Battle of the Somme , a web portal of the Imperial War Museum .

British & German rations

Leslie Buswell . With the American Ambulance Field Service in France. Personal Letters of a Driver at the Front .

Joseph G. Butler . A Journey Through France in War Time .

John Bruce Cairnie .

Canadian Letters From the Front

Canadian War Diaries

CEF: Canadian Troop Strength in Siberia,

Harold Chapin . Soldier and Dramatist .

Christmas Truce 1914: Operation Plum Puddings

Georges Clemenceau . Discours de Guerre .

Georges Clemenceau . Grandeurs et misères d'une victoire .

Ella Cordasco . Recollections of the Russian Revolution .

Fred G. Coxen . My Diary: From Notes and Well Remembered Incidents

Benjamin E. Cruzan . A Soldier's Diary .

The War Diary of George Culpitt , Royal Welch Fusiliers

Edward E. Cummings . An Enormous Room .

Marine Flyer in France: The Diary of Capt. Alfred A. Cunningham .

Kenneth Sydney Day .

Kirkland H. Day . Camion Cartoons .

Declarations of War

Diary of Section Eight .

Gerhard Friedrich Dose . Das Infanterie Regiment 187 in den Vogesen 1915-1916

    Gerhard Friedrich Dose .     Infantry Regiment 187 in the Vosges Mountains, 1915-1916

Gerhard Friedrich Dose . Das Infanterie-Regiment 187 im Rumänienfeldzug 1916/17

    Gerhard Friedrich Dose .     German Infantry Regiment 187 in the Romanian campaign, 1916-1917

Gerhard Friedrich Dose . Das Infanterie Regiment 187 in Lothringen und bei Reims 1917

    Gerhard Friedrich Dose .     German Infantry Regiment 187 in Lorraine and at Reims, 1917

Gerhard Friedrich Dose .

    Gerhard Friedrich Dose .     German Infantry Regiment 187 in Flanders, at Arras and Cambrai, 1917-1918

Ralph Dorchell Doughty . Lieutenant R.D. Doughty, M.C.

Norman Cecil Sommers Down

General Lionel Dunsterville . Diaries - 1911-1922

Stapleton T. Eachus . The Great War Diaries .

Sherwood Eddy . With Our Soldiers in France .

Anonymous. An Eye-Witness at Louvain .

Fred A. Farrell . The 51st (Highland) Division - War Sketches .

I Figli della guerra .

Fliegertruppe

Maréchal Ferdinand Foch . Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la guerre de 1914-1918 .

Lieutenant Elmer J. Focke . A Young Lieutenant in War

War Prison Barracks Three: Fort Douglas, Utah

Friends of France . The Field Service of the American Ambulance, described by its members.

Ruth Gaines . A Village in Picardy.

Ruth Gaines . Helping France.

Gedenkbuch des Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten

James W. Gerard . Face to Face with Kaiserism .

James W. Gerard . [American Ambassador to Germany]

Anonymous. Translated by J. Koettgen.

German Verse from the Trenches

The War With Germany :A Statistical Summary .

Hugh Gibson . A Journal from Our Legation in Belgium .

Un veteran se rapelle : Gould Interview

Remy de Gourmont . Pendant l'orage .

Charlie and Wally Gray . Letters

Basil J. Green . World War One Diary

Herbert Halliday : From the Western Front to Salonika

Donald Hankey . A Student in Arms .

Alexander J. Hemphill . "Belgium Under the Surface" .

Paul B. Hendrickson . The Letters, Diary, Postcards and Pictures of a World War I Soldier .

Aubrey Herbert . Mons, ANZAC & Kut .

Col J. Bentley Mott. Myron T. Herrick , Friend of France .

George A. Hill

Memoirs of Daniel Holmes of the Royal Engineers .

Albert Huet

Letters of Jean Hurpin - A French Soldier in the Trenches Writes to New Hampshire .

James H. Hyde . Avanti Savoia: impressions du front Italien .

William D. James . Calendar Diary and Handwritten Journal Notebook

Edwin E. Jones . Memoirs & Diaries: France, Egypt, Mesopotamia .

Charlotte Kellogg . Women of Belgium .

Dora Lourie Klein . Stranded: A Young Boston Teacher Stuck in Switzerland as Europe Erupts into War.

Burton W. Knight . His Diary of the Great War .

Josef Kobza . "Návrat" ("Return")

Fritz Kreisler . Four Weeks in the Trenches. The War Story of a Violinist .

Lucien Lambert . Souvenirs de Lucien Lambert: Guerre de 14/18 .

William H. B. Lamin . WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier .

Claude Léger . Le 165e Bataillon d'Infanterie d'Outremer

David Lindsay . The War Diary of David Lindsay

Thomas Fredrick Littler . First World War Diaries, 1914-1919 .

George O. Lunn . 36 days in 1915 .

Rosa Luxemburg Letters from Prison to Sophie Liebknecht

Rosa Luxemburg Five Letters from prison)

John McClintock . Notes from a Diary Kept by Private John McClintock .

L.C. McCollum . History and Rhymes of the Lost Battalion .

Patrick MacGill . The Great Push

Patrick MacGill .

WWI Diary of Robert Lindsay Mackay .

A Family at War: The Diary of Mary Martin

Mémoire des hommes. Journaux des unités (1914-1918)

Christian Meurer and Fernand Mayence.

The World War I Diary of A. W. Miller

The diary of Fred Mitchell , an artilleryman.

Percy Mitchell . The American Relief Clearing House: Its Work in the Great War.

De Eerste Wereldoorlog door Nederlandse ogen = The First World War through Dutch Eyes.

Martin Niepage . The horrors of Aleppo . . seen by a German eyewitness.

James Oakleaf . Some Notes on the 108th Infantry.

The O’Mahony Bulgaria and the Powers: Being a Series of Letters on the Balkans written from Sofia, Dublin, Sealy

Burton J. Hendrick. The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page .

Maurice Paléologue . [Last French Ambassador to the Russian Court].

Walter Pfeffer . World War One Diary .

Lettres du front d'Athanase Poirier .

Frederick A. Pottle . Stretchers .

G. Ward Price . The Story of the Salonica Army .

Percival W. Probert . East African Campaign Diary - Tanzania & Mozambique .

R.P. Joseph Raymond . Froc et Epée .

The Diary of Thomas Reginald Part :

William Hard. Raymond Robins' Own Story .

James Rennell Rodd [British Ambassador to Italy before and during the Great War].

Charles Rooke . A Few of My Experiences Whilst "On Active Service" .

Testimony before the 102nd US Congress, November 1991, concerning the AEF experience in Russia

Admiral Reinhard Scheer . Germany's High Sea Fleet in the World War .

William Schira . Personal Diary .

John E. Schroeder . World War I Through the Lens of One Private's Camera .

Alan Seeger . Letters and Diary

Alan Seeger . Poems .

Henry Sheehan . A Volunteer Poilu.

Clayton M. Sherwood . "Writing by Moonlight." An American’s Diary of Foreign Service, August 1917 to February 1919 .

James T. Shotwell . At the Paris Peace Conference .

The Smith College/Sophia Smith Archivesof World War I

La dernière lettre écrite par des soldats tombés au champ d'honneur 1914-1918 .

Events, Commemorations and Accounts of the Somme

Cecil Sommers . Temporary Crusaders.

Cecil Sommers . Temporary Heroes

Josef Šrámek Diary of a Prisoner in World War I

David R. Stanford . Discharge Certificate from the Great War era.

Clair Stanley . In Memoriam, The Great War

William Yorke Stevenson . At The Front In A Flivver .

William Yorke Stevenson . From "Poilu to "Yank" .

Ronald Storrs . Lawrence of Arabia, Zionism and Palestine

Friedrich Graf Szápáry . Das Verhältnis Österreich-Ungarns zu Rußland .

Friedrich Graf Szápáry Aus den Krisenjahren

Oberst von Thaer Aus den Tagebuchnotizen

A. C. M. Thomson . Field Diaries of the First World War

Thomas Tiplady . The Cross at the Front:

Laura de Gozdawa Turczynowicz . When the Prussians Came to Poland: The Experiences of an American Woman During the German Invasion.

The Sinking of the Tuscania , February 5, 1918

Demetra Vaka . In the Heart of German Intrigue .

Verlustlisten des 1. Weltkrieges

A War Nurse's Diary. Sketches from a Belgian Field Hospital.

Herbert Ward . Mr. Poilu. Notes and Sketches with the Fighting French .

Robert D. West . MN Doughboy 1918 .

C.H. Weston . Three Years with the New Zealanders .

Letters of Herbert H. White .

William B. Whitmore . England & The Somme .

Memoirs of Fred Rothwell Wigglesworth .

Albert Rhys Williams . Through the Russian Revolution .

John Caspar Wister . Experiencing War .

Henry James Wright . One of Ten Thousand: Letters home from Henry James Wright, an Australian soldier serving with the AIF .

Jack Morris Wright . A Poet of the Air. Letters of Jack Morris Wright, First Lieutenant of the American Aviation in France, April 1917-January 1918 .

The Great Zeppelin Raid .

See additional first-hand accounts at FirstWorldWar.com.

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Remembrance Day - Life in the trenches creative writing lesson.

Subject: English

Age range: 11-14

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

5 November 2021

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• A lesson which looks at life in the trenches for soldiers during WW1.
• Students are given information about trench life including a diary entry and a poem.
• Students will write a description based on trench life from the perspective of a soldier during WW1.
• Differentiated using aim/challenge/super challenge.

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Find out more about written accounts in this quiz.

When one thinks of war diaries, images are conjured of men huddled in the trenches writing their own personal accounts of the war. Many of these exist and they give a valuable insight into the personal experiences of soldiers during the First World War. But another kind of war diary exists. The British Army war diaries were kept by each unit and record daily operations, losses, awards and other such material. Some of these have recently been digitised and made available to the public on the National Archives website. This quiz is about both kinds of diary, which together help historians to understand life on the frontline in the First World War.

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• World War I and Australia
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Diaries and letters 1914-1919

• War begins for Australia
• Recruitment and conscription
• HMAS Sydney and SMS Emden
• Maps of Gallipoli
• Maps of the Western Front
• Middle East Campaign
• Indigenous Australian soldiers
• Women at war
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• How we acquired our WWI diaries and letters
• Other archives, library and museum collections

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visitors  are kindly advised that this website includes images, sounds and names of people who have passed.

All users  should be aware that some topics or historical content may be culturally sensitive, offensive or distressing, and that some images may contain nudity or are of people not yet identified. Certain words, terms or descriptions may reflect the author's/creator's attitude or that of the period in which they were written, but are now considered inappropriate in today's context.

Key to library resources

Diary and letter collections

There are around 500 diary and letter collections in the Library's manuscript collection. Visit the Library's World War I Collection website for a list of the diary and letter collections.

In many cases, diarists kept more than one volume of their writings. Most of the diaries measure around 9.5 cm x 15 cm in size, small enough to fit into a top pocket. Some diaries are hard to read, with tiny script. Some are very clear and could have been written yesterday. Many have next of kin details written on the first page.

Additional material is stored with the diaries. George McClintock’s diary includes a fragile pressed poppy. Alfred Morris’ includes his own set of diaries, as well as a diary taken from a Turkish officer at the Gallipoli Peninsula, along with his copy of the Koran.

Some of the diaries are by well-known men of the time. Noted photographer, Frank Hurley , fresh from his Antarctic adventures, travelled to France and Palestine in 1917–18 to photograph scenes of war. His diary contains vivid descriptions of trench warfare and his work of creating composite photographs, a controversial technique, much criticised by the Official War Historian, CEW Bean.

Other noted diarists are Charles Laseron , who in 1911 joined the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Sir Douglas Mawson, as general scientific assistant. In 1914 he joined the AIF and survived the war, being wounded and repatriated in 1916. Sir Charles Rosenthal , with his 3 volume set of diaries, provides an officer’s insight into war. A much decorated war hero, he ended the war a Major-General.

Archie Barwick diary, 22 August 1914–September 1915

Digitising the diaries and letters

We are progressively digitising the Library's World War I collections. If there are no digitised images on the catalogue record, you may need to visit the Library to view the material.

Finding items

Search the Library's catalogue  under Manuscripts   to find diaries and letters.

Search by the name of the service person and use the terms:

Soldiers, World War, 1914–1918 -- personal narratives

Copying, publishing or purchasing digital copies

You can make copies of pictures for research and study purposes by:

• using a digital camera
• using our microfilm reader printers 
• ordering paper or electronic copies
• ordering high quality digital scans  

You need to contact us for  permission to publish  our original materials. You must also acknowledge the Library and provide the correct location details. 

Find out more about  copying  and  purchasing digital copies .

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• Next: How we acquired our WWI diaries and letters >>

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Letters from the First World War, part one

How did these men experience the conflict (1915), teachers' notes, introduction, external links.

About this classroom resource

Download documents and transcripts

There are 32 letters and 16 photographs in this resource. All letters have been transcribed, and selected letters have an audio version too. The documents should offer students a chance to develop their powers of evaluation and analysis. Teachers may also wish to use the collection to develop their own resources.

You may spot spelling or grammatical errors in the transcripts as we have transcribed the letters as they stand. Unusual or technical terms have been defined within the text. However, we have not included full images for several letters as these would have proved too difficult to read online. In such cases we have shown part of the letter in order to provide a sense of the original.

Across the online resources Letters from the First World War, part one (1915) and Letters from the First World War, part two (1916-1918)   it is possible to find more than one letter from the same person, or find references within the letters to those who have written. For this reason is it is helpful to see the letters as a whole group to get the most out of them and appreciate the nature of the collection.

Letters from the First World War, part one (1915) is based on the first half of the RAIL record. We have labelled each letter according to a theme from the First World War. For example, some letter writers have detailed their experience of the trenches, injury, or active service in the Dardanelles and India or training prior going abroad. Others have touched on the technology of war, the movement of troops or conditions at the railheads in France. There are three accompanying PDFs, each containing a collection of letters on the themes of the  Dardanelles , training and the trenches .

Railheads were the nearest points to the front from which men and supplies travelled by train and were then taken to the battle line by motor vehicle or horse. The Great Western Railway Company formed four companies of Royal Engineers as many men from the company, including these clerical workers from Paddington, had enlisted to serve. Due to their knowledge and understanding of the railways, many became Railway Troops based at railheads.

Unsurprisingly, in the letters many men showed a keen interest in all matters connected with railways or engines, other Great Western Railway ‘fellows’ and the Great Western Railway Magazine. Some soldiers mentioned having received the magazine or asked for it to be sent out. It included photographs of all those who served in the First World War from the GWR as a whole and employees could catch up on company business and news of sporting or social events.

How to use this resource

• Discuss any of the suggested questions below on a group/individual basis.
• Assign groups of letters on a given theme to groups/individuals in order to explore and interpret.
• Students could curate their own exhibition on the letters based on a theme/question of their choice using additional original material/secondary sources.
• Carry out research on the life of an individual soldier. Our  research guide  can help get you started.
• Use this resource in conjunction with our second online resource including letters from the later war period  Letters from the First World War, part two (1916-1918)  to consider further themes and ideas.
• Student work could be presented via various media for example Powerpoint Presentation, video film, radio documentary, newspaper article, role play interview, poster, blog, web page or classroom exhibition.

Suggested questions:

• How does their experience of the First World War vary among these letter writers?
• What training was carried out before they were sent to fight?
• How did the men feel about their experience of training?
• What can be found out about tactics/weapons/equipment used in combat?
• Do you get a sense of what these soldiers miss from home? Is this unsurprising/shocking?
• Describe conditions for those in the trenches on Western Front.
• What were conditions like for those who were sent to the Dardanelles?
• Can you get a sense of the experience of those who fought in Greece, India or Egypt, East Africa?
• How was the treatment of the sick or injured organized at home and abroad?
• Is there evidence of what the men thought of those whom they fought/or of their comrades?
• Do any soldiers give their opinion about the war?
• Do you think these men are typical of those who went to war?
• Can we find out anything about the characters of the men who fought from these letters?
• Have you found anybody who has written more than once, or spot any links between the letters which highlight particular friendships?
• Considering who the soldiers are writing to, can you explain if this has influenced the tone or style of the letters? Give examples.
• Is it clear if any details have been left out/put in for particular reasons?
• Can you discover a difference between what is being said and how it is being said in any of the letters?
• Which letters have you found the most interesting/funny/moving to read?

Working with written documents

For help on how to work with the letters you could take a look at the  student section  of our website where you can also find a brief guide on working with records.

You could also use the  Start here  section of our website  The Victorians  as an introduction on how to work with the sources, although all the examples in the site relate to the Victorian era.

Working with images

When studying the photographs and postcards in the collection, it is helpful to explore the idea that they were produced to provide a particular message. Pupils ought to consider the purpose and audience for which these sources were intended.

Thus for photographs it is useful to look at key aspects of their composition such as lighting, pose, background, foreground, formality, lack of formality and so on and evaluate the original caption if given. A further group of images from this National Archives record can be viewed on our Flickr board  First World War letters .

Connections to the curriculum

• Key stage 3: Challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day.
• Key stage 4: History B Modern World OCR: Depth Study The causes & Events of the First World War.
• Key stage 4: History (A) Edexcel: The Making of the Modern World: Unit 1 Peace and War International Relations 1900-1991. Teachers could use these letters to support contextual study.
• Key stage 5: A/AS Level English Literature courses with options to study the ‘War Poets’. Teachers could use these letters to support contextual study.

‘ Well old chap, I am glad I am wounded to get out of that hell, and if you ever meet a chap that says he wants to go back call him a liar ’

These few words written by Albert Edwin Rippington, from a hospital in England, come from this collection of letters from staff at the Audit office for the Great Western Railway (GWR) based at Paddington, London, who had enlisted to fight in the First World War.

What makes this collection of soldiers’ letters so different from all others is the fact that it reveals the stories of a particular group of men who varied in class and education, who were writing back to their colleagues and bosses in the office while on active service during in the First World War. Many men enlisted from the GWR to fight, but these letters come exclusively from those worked at its Audit office. Staff at Paddington covered a range of different roles in insurance, accounting or ticketing for the Great Western Railway.

The letters (catalogue reference  RAIL 253/516 ) belong to the RAIL series (which includes the records of the railway companies) at The National Archives. They are arranged in 12 carefully bound folders, rather like a series of scrapbooks. Starting from August 1915, each part represented what was known as the office newsletter, a collection of letters, photographs postcards, field cards and contemporary newspaper cuttings from those who had gone to fight.

Every newsletter opened with a news section listing those who had written and sent photos to the office and those who recently left to company to serve at the front. The totals of all men in khaki from the Audit office were given too. The news section also provided information about those who had died, been injured, visited the office on leave or been promoted.

The newsletters were circulated within the office departments and read by men when they came home on leave. Friends or relatives who had been sent their own letters or photographs often lent them or typed them out to be circulated as part of the regular Audit office newsletter.

The Audit office raised enough money through collections and the sale of Christmas cards, to create a temporary roll of honour for the office at Paddington to commemorate those who had fallen in battle by August 1915. Photographs of the Roll of Honour were sent out to several employees as their correspondence reveals.

After the war had ended and troops had returned, the GWR was able to quantify the contribution that it had made to the cause. The contribution made by the Audit office was high: 55.5% of male staff enlisted, whereas the average rate of enlistment across the GWR was 32.6%. This amounted to 184 men, 17 of whom lost their lives.

On 11   November 1922, The Great Western Railway War Memorial, dedicated to all 2,524 staff who had died in battle was unveiled on platform 1, Paddington station.

The First World War Digital Poetry Archive includes primary material from major poets Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg, Robert Graves, Vera Brittain, and Edward Thomas.

The National Archives Teaching the First World War , highlights The National Archives and other resources from the web.

The ‘ A Street Near You ‘ project maps individual soldiers’ records to their homes, globally, allowing us to see who served in the war on a local level.

Related resources

These are all aimed primarily at KS3 and KS4 students.

Letters from the First World War, part two (1916- 18)  Part two of this online resource, which covers the later period of the war.

Great War soldier’s record  is a lesson for use in the classroom.

Great War 1914- 1918 website on the themes of outbreak, experience, peacemaking and remembrance.

All Pals Together . National Archives video conference session.

Soldiers practice stretcher and bandage drill

Somme tales, great war 1914-1918, great war soldier’s record, letters from the first world war, part two, medicine on the western front (part one), medicine on the western front (part two).

Resources you can trust

Diary of a WW1 soldier – writing activity

This differentiated diary writing activity for upper key stage 2 is perfect for Remembrance Day or for a WW1 history topic.

It features two writing frames (labelled A for low-middle attainers and B for higher attainers) and a sheet of sentence starters and key vocabulary. Having begun by revising the features of a diary, children are asked to consider the order of events, what the soldier might see, hear, smell and touch and what they might be feeling. Each writing frame features scenario cards to help children pinpoint a moment to write about and a planning grid. It also includes a striking poppy-themed writing template on which children can write their finished diary entry. 

Writing frame B also includes scenario cards from different perspectives, for example from a wife seeing her husbnad off to war and from the mother of a son fighting in the trenches. 

You may also like our Remembrance Day resources .

An extract from the resource:

Imagine that you are a soldier from the First World War, a time when the world was engulfed in one of the most significant conflicts in history. Through the turmoil and horrors of war, you find strength in the pages of your diary where you can capture the moments of courage, fear and hope that you experience along the way. Today, you will write your latest diary entry reflecting on a key moment before, during or after the war.

Sample scenario:

It is the 11 November 1918 and you have received news that the war is over. You are ready to leave the trenches and make your way home to be reunited with your loved ones whilst remembering the friends you have lost in the war.

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creative writting diary entries world war 1.

jlion234 1 / 4   Apr 3, 2013   #2 For entry 1, you can elaborate on a battle that he gets sent out to. Maybe talk about the Battle of Marne or Gallipoli. If anything, you go in chronological order using 1 and 3 and then as a side entry, write about the progress of the battle and the effect it's having on the captain which has him question the purpose of the war in general which in turn affects his ability to lead his men.

OP SAAN chips 2 / 2   Apr 3, 2013   #3 ok thanks? but there's a word limit so i want to keep it consices and good... it doesnt have to be accurate.. we have to write as if were the soldier ,so yea.. :)