Entry 4 - Gas Attack

Today was just another day after the Battle of The Somme, we had a gas attack from the Germans, it started off as a greenish, yellowish cloud coming towards us, blown by the wind. One of the members of the machine gun crew saw it, and started banging an empty shell case with his bayonet, everybody heard it and everybody got into a mad scramble for the gas masks. I luckily got on to one of then as I was near the Tommies, soldiers who always had a bag of gas masks on him, even when he was sleeping. For some of the others, it was too late, I saw one of the men near me, he clutched his throat, fell down to the ground and twisted around, then he died. We all waited for the gas to disperse for a few hours then we took our masks off, it felt so good to have cold air in your lungs.

Entry 3 - "The Battle of The Somme"

It is July 1st, 1916, the start of the Battle of the Somme, we had to go out of the trenches and walk into No-Man's-Land and through the French river in the north called the Somme. The aim of this battle is to draw German forces away from Battle of Verdun, where the French forces are suffering severe losses. We are going to get out of the trenches and charge to the enemies. I hope that our machine gunners hold the Germans off, as it is not a good idea to be overwhelmed and taken out by the Germans. I heard from the Commander that we were going to shell the German dugouts. When the whistles blew, we rushed out through the ladders, some of the men in our platoon were shot down just as the climbed up the ladders, it was a really horrible sight, seeing so many men die in just a few seconds. My diarist, who was walking within a meter with me, was shot in the arm, where he immediately fell down so I helped him back down to the trench so the medics could bandage him up.
Battles like this continued, it started to wear me and the other men down. Throughout the 4 months in the battle, we pushed on forward like this, it really is starting to wear me down, it made me really regret joining the army.

At last, the battle ended on 18th November, with 5800 troops (a third) killed on the first day. Our total losses were 420000, the French had 200000 casualties, while the Germans had 500000. I did not think that the battle was a success, even though we won. We lost too much men and it wasn't very rewarding.
It was not worth the effort and the casualties.

Entry 2 - Conditions in the Trenches.

Im successfully recruited in the British Army, I am sent to the Western Front, Luxembourg, we had to dig a trench in the cold, wet soil. It was something I definitely sign up for. Life was hard, we had to stay in the soil when it rained, we had to keep out heads down, we cannot put our heads up without risk of being sniped. Life was very hard, the toilets were very messy, the housing was, we lived in small houses dug out into the soil right behind the trenches called "Dugouts". It was very difficult to keep clean, I've seen my comrades have trench foot, where their foot grows strange poxes or something deforming their foot, eventually killing them. Our sergeant told us to change socks when possible, as trench foot was caused by really wet feet, without drying. We only had tinned meat called bully beef, which was hard to eat. Many of my comrades have died on their first day as a result that they have been sniped. Lots of the other soldiers were killed because of diesease. Rats were also a problem, lice were also infesting in the soldier's clothes. There was usually blood everywhere in the trenches, sometimes there were corpses of dead men inside the trenches and outside at no-man's land. Despite the food being bad, it always felt so good to have something to eat.
I thought that life was better, where we stayed in barracks rather than in trenches, now I start to regret to join the army...

Entry 1- Why I Joined the British Army

The war was started. Im not even 18, I was only 17. I had no choice, though I wasn't sure.  I couldn't find a job or work. I could die anytime during the war. But this is war. I had no choice, it is the only way I could get an income, though maybe small but is better than nothing. I think that the war will end soon, just as soon as I arrive to the front lines, I hope. I knew how the war started, it was on the news everywhere. Headlines showed that the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Serbian Nationalists, which sparked a war between Europe, making the largest war so far. The Germans want to invade through Belgium, where we had a treaty with Belgium that we will defend them. This eventually made the entire Europe join the war. Eventually the war was fought by two sides of Europe, the Triple Entente and the Central Powers. My mother and father are proud that I am going to war, they think that it is the right choice to make, they support me on this choice. I've seen posters on the street with a picture of a general pointing at you with a caption saying "Your Country Needs YOU!" I went to the town hall to recruit into the army, there was a large line of men, all of similar age to me. I think that life in the army would be tough, this makes me think how long this war would be? I hope the war would not be too long.