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[Rods2]

Very well written, so it take you there and makes you realise that the majority of us have a very easy life in comparison.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2491760/Harry-Drinkwaters-lost-diary-Great-War.html

[Lizzie_Zoom]

Very interesting Rods2, but without wishing to devalue this great account of the conditions, none of this is new or unknown to those who read and study the Great War.

The conditions were appalling with the continuous stench of rotting flesh and putrid water, in life sucking mud everywhere, which at any moment the soldier could 'join', as did my Great Uncle Wally, 13369, of the 53rd Coy Machine Gun Corps, at Ypres on 30th July 1917.

In fact read any account by witnesses, including the great poems by Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, and no-one can be left in any doubt about the conditions so many men lived and died in.  We will remember them.    

[Rods2]

Yes, there are personal accounts of the first world war, but the majority of the history books I have read have been military and strategic accounts, rather than personal ones, but that might also be as I tend to read much more of the former than the later.

WWI was the first total war on an industrial scale and both sides had to learn many painful and tragic lessons, before they had the technology and skills to break the deadlock, like the effective use of tanks, and creeping artillery barrages.

[albitz]

My uncle George was wounded three times in WW1.I would imagine no-one wanted to be on sentry duty with him in the trenches as he was either very unlucky or bloody careless.
Grandad was also wounded once,but he obviously learned to be more careful.

[jerry]

For those with an interest in the subject the "forgotten voices" book is well worth a read. I've personally known a few veterans from WW1 and their conversations about the war were exceptionally moving. But I guess the topic is emotive whichever war youre talking about. Books like "The Forgotten Highlander" or "The Brave Japanese" about the war in the East in WW2  or "Dispatches" , "Nam" and "Boys of 67:charlie company" about the vietnam experience or "the yellow birds" about Iraq. All are moving and thought provoking and deal with the memories and experiences of those who fought in those conflicts , but I must say that one of the most moving of all "war" books I have read is "A woman of Berlin" written by an annonymous journalist about the fall of Berlin and tells the story from a civilians -and woman's-point of view. Made recently into a film, needless to say it is far from as moving as the book, which she only allowed to be published after her death- not least because of fear of German male reactions to the revelations of rape and virtual prostitution under the onslaught of the Russians. Heartily recommend.