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Memoirs & Diaries - Introduction

Romanian cavalryman Many of the combatants of the First World War recorded the daily events of their experiences in the form of a diary.  Some were subsequently published after the war and have become celebrated.  Many more, however, remained tucked away in cupboard drawers for years, unpublished and unseen.

With the advent of the world wide web, an opportunity arose for the descendants of many survivors to publish fragments of diary entries for the education and interest of others.  This section of the website brings together a collection of such pages.

Also featured within this section are personal narratives written by survivors who relate a given aspect of the war, be it trench conditions, or their part in a specific attack or action, as well as the testimony of such participants as nurses and chaplains.

Diaries
ArticleThe Diary of Robert Lindsay Mackay
ArticleThe Diary of Thomas Fredrick Littler
ArticleThe Diary of Edwin Evan Jones
ArticleThe Diary of William Whitmore

Collections
ArticleThe Best 500 Cockney War Stories

First-Hand Account Author
ArticleA Letter from Paris, 11 Nov 1918 Charles S. Normington
ArticleTorpedoed in the Aegean Sea Reginald Huggins
ArticleDefeat at the Marne, July 1918 Kurt Hesse
ArticleA July Day at St. Julien Alfred Willcox
ArticleWar is War A. M. Burrage
ArticleThe Russo-German Armistice Kamaneff
ArticleGerman Assault on Fort Vaux Anonymous
ArticleThe Evacuation of Suvla Bay W. H. Lench
ArticleAt a Sap-Head David Phillips
ArticleAugust to November 1918 Harold F. Taylor
ArticleThe Struggle for Thiaumont General Millerand
Article"Stand To" on Givenchy Road Thomas A. Owen
ArticleRetreat R. G. Bultitude
ArticleA Night Counter-attack F. W. Watts
ArticleNoyon - 23rd of March, 1918 Dr. F. O. Taylor
ArticleAt Messines Ridge in 1917 E. N. Gladden
ArticleThe Devil - My Friend Charles Trehane
ArticleBulgaria's Treachery Against Russia Princess Radziwill
ArticleA Territorial in the Salient Frank L. Watson
ArticleAn Old Contemptible R. G. Hill
ArticleA Wireless Operator B. Neyland
ArticleTrenches at Vimy Ridge Harold Saunders
ArticleBravery in the Field? Alexander Paterson
ArticleA Highland Battalion at Loos Thomas McCall
ArticleThe Abdication of King Constantine I Auguste Gauvain
ArticleA Runner's Story, 1916-1918 R. W. Iley
ArticleA Casualty Clearing Station Dr. John A Hayward
ArticleIn a Billet Harry Drake
ArticleDelville Wood S. J. Worley
ArticleRations C. Goddard-Chead
ArticleThe Battle of Loos S. Walker
ArticleThe Carnoy Cows T. S. Williams
ArticleThe Invasion of Romania Queen Marie
ArticleA Labour Company at Ypres J. Cumming Morgan
ArticleA Boy at Gallipoli Fred T. Wilson
ArticleThe First Battle of Ypres I. F. Bell
ArticleOrdinary War on the Somme Fred Ball
ArticleRetreat to the Hindenburg Line Karl Rosner
ArticleVarieties of Trench Life A. A. Dickson
ArticleThe Struggle for Fort Douaumont Anonymous
ArticleDestructive Technology at the Somme Alfred Dambitsch
ArticleA Gunner's Adventure N. H. Bradbury
ArticleThe Sinking of the Lutzow Anonymous
ArticleThe Fall of Warsaw and Kovno Princess Radziwill
ArticleIn a Kite Balloon W. Sylvanus Lewis
ArticleThe First Gas Attack 1915 Anthony R. Hossack
ArticleThe End of Bulgaria N. C. Powell
ArticleA Sapper in Palestine H. P. Bonser
ArticleTell-el-Sheria William G. Johnson
ArticleThe End of the Siege of Kut Major Charles Barber
ArticleThe Corridor T. Clayton
ArticleThose Desert Days Robert Harding
ArticleThe Casualty Rev. John Haswell
ArticleThe Circus F. Suckling
ArticleTwo Nights P. Hoole Jackson
ArticleThe Battle of the Carpathian Passes Octavian Taslauanu
ArticleAugust 1914 Esmee Sartorius
ArticleThe Great Retreat in Serbia M. I. Tatham
ArticleThe Story of a W.A.A.C. A. B. Baker
ArticleWar at Sea J. Willey
ArticleFirst Days of Imprisonment Reginald Morris
ArticleCaptivity in the Ardennes Victor Denham
ArticleOn the Belgian Coast George Brame
Article17-21 George F. Wear
ArticleThe Armenian Massacres Dr. Martin Niepage
ArticleGerman Attack on Le Mort Homme Anonymous
ArticleA Boy's Experiences C. J. Arthur
ArticleA Cavalry Brigade at Cambrai Chris Knight
ArticleLa Vacquerie W. R. Dick
ArticleIn a Highland Regiment H. E. May
ArticleThe Retreat From Mons Bernard Denore
ArticleA Nightmare Alan F. Hyder
ArticleThe Flood at Suvla Bay F. W. D. Bendall
ArticleOpening of German Offensive Alfred Grosch
ArticleThe Battle of Jutland Anonymous
ArticleWhen Tank Fought Tank F. Mitchell
ArticleArtillery Devastation at Third Ypres Max Osborn
ArticleThe Recapture of Fort Douaumont Anonymous
ArticleMessines, October 1918 A. B. Kenway
ArticleZeebrugge W. Wainwright
ArticleHungarian View of Brusilov Offensive Anonymous
ArticleAustrian View of Brusilov Offensive Anonymous
ArticleThe Battle of Caporetto G. M. Trevelyan
ArticlePolish View of Brusilov Offensive Anonymous
ArticleA Padre's Story Anonymous
ArticleDead for 44 Years T. Henderson
ArticleMons and Loos T. C. O'Donnell
ArticleMy Time as German Ambassador Prince Lichnowsky
ArticleThe October Revolution Alexander Mosler
ArticleRetreating to the Hindenburg Line Georg Querl
ArticleThe Fall of Liege Anonymous
ArticleThe Flight of the Goeben and Breslau Henry Morgenthau
ArticleService in the Germany Army, 1914 Capt. Henry Huebner
ArticleSinking the Aboukir, Cressy & Hogue Lieut. Otto Weddigen
ArticleThe Zeebrugge Affair Capt. Alfred Carpenter
ArticleThe German Gas Attack at Ypres Anonymous

One in five of the Australians and New Zealanders who left their country to fight in the war never returned; 80,000 in total.

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