21/10/1916

Dear Diary,
Today was my first day training and seeing the trenches. It was exiting but quite shocking
actually. The training went fine, I think I’m getting better since the past two weeks. I’m not
even short of breath after the harder exercises! We met the new chief of our squad, the
sergeant Jones, it is him who showed us around the trenches. It was the first time I saw ones; I
would have imagined them bigger, they were so narrow! I have to leave you diary, this is my
last night in a proper bed for the next three weeks. I’m going to rest now, today is going to be
a tough day, I’m not sure I will be able to write.
29/10/1916
Dear Diary,
It has been a week since I wrote to you. For now, life in the trenches is not too bad; the front
is very calm, we haven’t shot any bullet yet. I hope it stays like this. It’s none too warm but
my coat warms me up enough so I don’t think about it. The food is really disgusting tough,
but we haven’t much of it so I eat it anyway. I talked with some of the other fellows, I’m the
youngest with another guy called Robert, I think he is French.
02/11/1916
Dear Diary,
I can hear the bombs of a fight at 10 kilometres from us. The sergeant says it shouldn’t reach
us. I hope he is right. I’m heading with the other guys at the first line in four days. If
everything stays like this, all should go without a hitch.
04/11/1916
Dear Diary,
There was an attack during the night. Some big explosions woke me up, I didn’t know where
it came from, I was scared as hell. Soon I heard the other’s voices and then the colonel’s. He
seemed calm, and it reassure me a little; he told us we had to stay calm and wait until the
attack ends. I stood awake all night hearing fire and heavy noises, the most petrified as I could
be. This morning while the guns are still shooting, we have to fix the damages and evacuee
the dead and the injured. A report says 130 men died yesterday.
05/11/1916
Dear Diary,
It is early on the morning, the sun hasn’t rose yet, it must be five or six. The guns are still
shooting they haven’t stopped once in three days almost. I’m preparing with the other guys to
go on first line, I’m scared, I think we’re all, but no one will let it show. I know death is
probably waiting for me there, but what else can I do ?
10/11/1916
Dear Diary,
It has been five days. Five days in this hell. Five days shooting I don’t even know where; five
days wading in the mud, five days thinking today is the last one, five days that I didn’t sleep,
five days seeing my fellows dying, five days in this cold, five days in the deafening noise of
the cannons, five days I’m terrified. Rats are eating my clothes a little bit more every night in
my sleep, they are everywhere, I’m so cold I don’t even feel my foot. I’m so thirsty too, we
don’t have any water left. I think more than a half of us died already, I don’t even know how I
survived, I can’t believe I am still alive. I can’t wait all of this is finished, that I can go home
and leave this hell behind as a bad nightmare.