Life the horror faced by Tommies in the WWI trenches




Discovered after 90 years: Diary complete with paintings and drawings that bring to life the horror faced by Tommies in the WWI trenches

A fresh insight into life in the trenches in World War One was  discovered in a series of amazing sketches and drawings found in a soldier's diary hidden away for 90 years.

Lieutenant Kenneth Wootton's 120-page journal vividly brings to life the horror of major WWI battles, and even includes detailed ink drawings of tanks and battle movements.

Lt Wootton, who was awarded the MC for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty, kept a diary from 1915 until 1917, when he was sent home to England after being injured in an explosion.

In excerpts from the diary Lt Wootton mentions fellow soldiers, including a driver known only as Fagg. Wootton recalled the bloody reality as his tank broke enemy lines at the 1917 Third Battle of Ypres, in Belgium.

He wrote: 'My driver Fagg could be seen anxiously peering through the half open window in July 1917 at the Third Battle of Ypres. I lit a cigarette as my mouth became quite dry, I lit another, it tasted rotten but I smoked it somehow as we got nearer the lines of burning shells.'We escaped with nothing more than lumps of earth falling around us. The German front line had been smashed almost out of recognition as we passed through shell holes and most were filled with filthy water and bodies.

'Up the hill Fagg and I felt we were in for it as the Germans still held Westhoek and Gelncorse wood. I was kept busy dodging from side to side on my tank as a great many shells fell around us. I should have got inside but I hate being boxed up in the stifling heat of a tank. I felt safer in the open.

He wrote: 'I found  one of our own infantry lying wounded with a bad gash in his head, I gave him some water and told him the stretcher bearers were coming up, I hope it was true.

'I dodged him but I was obliged to drive over a dead German and I shall never forget the sight of his face after it had been pushed in to the mud by a 40 tonne tank.

'The awful mud made it a hopeless mess. Our tank fell in a crater and we fitted the unhitching beam. By the 10th try Fagg crawled out exhausted in trying to work the clutch and brake. He revived himself with some whisky.

'A poor lonely German without boots or socks and shot through both legs kept us company. He spoke little English and told us his comrades had removed his boots and socks when he was wounded and so left him.

'At a dressing station and on foot I was given a tin of peaches all of which I ate before falling asleep.'

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