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Transcript

Diary of a WWI soldier

Diary entry 1 - Preperation

Diary Entry 2 - Arrival and first impressions

Diary entry 3 - Preperations for going over the top

Diary Entry 3 - Over the top at Somme

Diary Entry 5 - Home

War poem:

The mass death door.....

Never to re open the mass death door

THE END

Training

The training was very hard. At some stages I thought that I was going to collapse. Lots of people dropped out either because they quitted or because they were injured in the hard and exhausting training, but me and my friend kept on going for the good of our country. We were pushed to our limits in stamina and endurance exercises and we were taught some first aid and how to handle a rifle and a machine gun.

The government posters and the fact that

my best friend was going persuaded me to go fight in WWI. I was afraid that I will never see my family again but people were saying that the war will soon be over. After all the persuasion I was determind to fight for my country.

Persuading

Kit

The Officer at the training academy issued us all kit bags containing:

-coats -a Lee Enfield Rifle

-caps -150 rounds of ammo

-spare socks -a bayonet

-service cap -water bottles

-regiment cap badge -carriers

-a shovel -resperator and gas mask

-a towel -darning kit

-a toothbrush -mending kit

-a soap

-a fork, spoon

-a mess tin

-ID tags

It was very heavy and uncomfortable

The officer said we will be shipping out the following day.........

Saying goodbye

I couldn't wait to get to the front and kill some Huns, the thing I worried about the most was that the war will be over before I could train my rifle on a helpless Hun. My commanding Captain said that it is going to be very easy and we will be home by Christmas........

Expectations

It was very hard saying goodbye to my family, but at last my mom stop hugging and holding me back. Although I knew I was going to war and there was a big chance that I will not return home, but I had this inner feeling that I will see them again.

Lieutenant Stephan Dijkstra

Age:22

Regiment: Seychelles Pioneer Corps

Serial number: 708872

Please world always remember

The fighting of the First World War

Death of thousands surrounding

The battlefield of trench warfare

Shells exploding, machine guns rattling

At front line stations everywhere

We landed at the French port Le Havre in the middle of the night and we were transported to a temporary camp in trucks. We practised walking in formation and did some endurance exercises the following day, all the time hearing the big artillary guns booming to the east. The next morning we marched along a road to Wipers (or Ypres as the French call it). The road's surroundings were green to begin with but as we got closer to the front it transformed to barren ground with dead trees and shell holes dotting the landscape. Broken houses and fences were everywhere and smoke was rising from the trenches on the horizon. We arrived at the front late that evening.

As we got to our trench my men took up their positions in the soaked trench among the rats and dead bodies. The Captains, my fellow leutenants and I went to the Company HQ to recieve our shift orders from the Colonel. It was decided that my company will take the first shift of two weeks while the others rest. My men and I was moved to the front line trench. I got my first glimpse of no mans land trough my periscope. The black dead trees surrounded by smonking grass and shell ditches. I saw the German trenches protected by barbed wire and parapets. I looked back at the messy trench with it's foul smells and sights. I HOPE this is over fast.

In the trenches

Arrival

Problems in the trenches

My company of 300 men and I slept in the cloth hall that night and marched to relieve the previous company the following morning. They were all worn out and some of them had infections like trench foot and theirs legs were going to have to be amputated. Others had their arm or leg blown off by a srapnell blast. The rest of the men were had at least a desease like trench fever, teberculosis or cholera. From the 200 men they had at the start of their service there were only 20 left and they all had some kind of sickness/infection.

Never again this must happen

Never again this much must die

Never again to loose your loved ones

To this indescribable fate

Background

Its been 9 days since my arrival in France and I has been HELL. The constant blazig of guns and the frequent shell bombardments have taken the lives of 20 of my men already, not counting those who died from sickness/infections. I was told that my company will be going over the top in a week.

I sent some scouts in the night to observe the enemy trenches while Oliver was sent to watch enemy movements by the Field Marchel in his reconniasance biplane. When we built up enough information we started the artillary bombardments three days before we would go over the top. We were all scared, but determind not to behave cowardly and to die for our country. I was told to signal the attack by blowing a wistle and that I had to shoot any soldier that stayed behind. I didn't want to do it, but orders were orders. The artillary blazing, the overhead biplane's motors screaming, the joking shouts and wistles from my soldier. Tomorrow we go over the top.

Preperations

Pain and Suffer, cold and sickness

Striking trough the men like fire

Background

The men were fixing their bayonets and looking at photos of their reletives and loved ones. Some were praying and others were saying final goodbyes to their fellow officers. The artillary have been open firing for days, I've briefed my men and they have kitted up to go over the top. I am terified and so are my men, although we were told that this will be a walkover, the highlight of the war, the breaking of the deadlock and so on. Field Marshel Haig, the man who planned this attack, is feeling very positive about this, but I don't share his thoughts. Huge explosions went of as our mines detonated under the enemy trenches, the artillary stopped their bombardment. The Germans are defenceless, this might just be what everyone has been hoping for. The time came and I blew the wistle. The men marched. I checked if everyone was out and then i climbed the ladder..............

I can't believe I'm still alive. I've been in the trenches for almost a year now. Since the start I have been moved from Ypres to Verdun and then here to Somme. I have also been promoted to the rank Captain for my bravery at Ypres and Verdun. Its is 7:22 in the morning, a few minutes before we go over the top.

Final Preperations

After the attack

I woke up in the medics trench, a sharp pain going trough my leg just below my knee. I was hit by machine gun fire just after I went over the top. I still remember the load roar of machine gun and rifle fire. I saw my men, or rather half of them the rest lying on the ground dead, marching. The enemy was soposed to be crippled by the artillary, but no, they were not. The barbed wire haven't even been damaged and the Germans were picking us of like dominoes. I was so disappointed. WHY CAN'T WE JUST DO SOMETHING RIGHT.....

I glanced over to the officers lying on the bunks next to me. Only four of my men survived the rest, all buchered by German machine guns. I got word that we advanced only 10 meters in our attack. This is pointless. Anyway the medic said I will be back at home in a few weeks, because of my injury. I cant wait to see them again and get out of this mess.

Attack statistics

Marching to the enemy trenches

Dodging bullets and barben wire

I'm back at home at last. I'm so glad to see my family again. My mom ran to me crying and my dad looked very proud. I immediatly ate some of my mom's great cooking. It was delicious, compared to the disgusting food we had in the trenches.

Re-united

Effects of War on me

I was exhausted to I went to bed, but I couldn't sleep. I waswoken up almost every hour with vivid images of war and death of my friends flashing trough my memory. It was horrible. The next morning I just had tolet go of this burden, so I went to my parents and told them everything. From the constant and bloody attacks to the foul enviroment, the deaths of my friends especially my best friend's who died in the battle of the Somme.I was drying the whole way through. Later my parents took me to see some kind of specialist. He said that I'm going to need soem help with my insomnia. Now that I can look more deeply I can see what war has done to me.

I wonder what it would be like

To re live the First World War

To be in the shoes of a fighting soldier

To re open the mass death door

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