World War I Quiz - War Diaries (Answers)
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.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Part of the entry reads, "Our cavalry, which has already crossed, is fired on by the R. A. Silly asses. It is quite obvious that they are not the enemy... We find 18 cavalry wounded by our guns. The officer of R. A. responsible ought to be shot in my opinion"
|
Here is the passage in question. "That night I had been asleep in a dugout about three hours when I woke up feeling something biting my hip. I put my hand down and my fingers closed on a big rat. It had nibbled through my haversack, my tunic and pleated kilt to get at my flesh. With a cry of horror I threw it from me"
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
The entry says, "...disembarked 22nd May, 1915. Proceeded up country the same night and following morning, detraining at St Omer on 23rd May 1915 and thence by route march to billets at La Cloche. During this journey one Gunner of C Battery fell out of a truck and was killed"
|
His entry reads, "A German bullet came in last night through the doorway of our billet and embedded itself in a sandbag just over a chap's head. Found a lot of watercress growing in a stream today - had some for tea. It went all right with the bread and cheese." In the trenches simple things such as watercress would have been considered as luxuries
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
The diary entry also records the number of non-officers who were casualties - 35 killed, 239 wounded and 167 missing - but they are not mentioned by name
|
In other parts of his diary MacKay describes the horrors of Ypres. On 20th August 1917 he says, "Wandered right up to the front line. No communication trenches here, no trenches of any kind - only MUD! Don't think that hell itself can be worse than this place"
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Baths were very rare for soldiers in the trenches. Most washed by filling a container - often their helmet - with water and using this to shave and wash. The diary entry says, "The morning was devoted to interior economy, and 50 men from each company had a bath. In the afternoon the battalion marched to the divisional training ground to practise carrying out the attack." The attack they practised for came six days later, cost the lives of 360 men, saw 1,100 injured and gained no ground whatsoever
|
Jones says, "...to be put into a bed with white sheets was like being in Heaven. It was eleven months since I had been in a bed." He also appreciated the food, saying on 26th June, "At nine o'clock we were served out with cocoa and bread, the best meal I had received for at least 9 months"
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
The diary also records that on 12th October 1918 Bosvile was wounded and his command was taken by Major J. McGaven-Greig
|
Littler became ill on 2nd November 1918 but still reported for duty and marched a total of 18 km (11 miles) before he reported as sick. He spent almost 3 weeks in hospital but was back by late November, after the war had ended
|