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Diary from World War I discovered in barn, recounts bloody Battle of the Somme

  
Via:  Vic Eldred  •  4 years ago  •  10 comments

By:   By James Rogers

Diary from World War I discovered in barn, recounts bloody Battle of the Somme
 

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A British soldier’s battered  World War I  diary  recounting  the bloody Battle of the Somme has been discovered in a U.K. barn.

The diary, which was written in pencil by Private Arthur Edward Diggens of the Royal Engineers, starts on Feb.13, 1916 and ends on Oct. 11 of that year. His diary entry for July 1, 1916, describes the first day of the Battle of Somme.
"Something awful,” he wrote. “Never witnessed anything like it before. After a bombardment of a week the Germans mounted their own trenches and the infantry reckon that every German had a machine gun."
"Our fellows were mowed down," Diggens added.

WorldWar1Diary.jpg?ve=1&tl=1
The diary entry for the first day of the Battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916.  (Hansons)

Hansons Auctioneers in the U.K. will be auctioning the diary on March 20.

The battle, which lasted until Nov. 18, 1916, was a massive joint operation between British and French forces that attempted to break through German defenses on the Western Front. More than 1 million British, French and German troops were killed, wounded or captured in the action, according to the  Imperial War Museum  in London.
The museum explains that the first day of the infamous battle resulted in more than 57,000 British casualties, of whom 19,240 were killed, making it the bloodiest day in British military  history . Auction house Hansons notes that a soldier was killed every 4.4. seconds during the initial attack.

WorldWar1Diary2.jpg?ve=1&tl=1
The battered diary was kept by British soldier Arthur Edward Diggens. (Hansons)

Diggens’ diary was in a box found in a barn in Leicestershire, which is in England’s Midlands region. Other unrelated military items were also in the box, according to Hansons. “The owner had no idea who any of the items related to but said his mother had been the recipient of old family heirlooms,” said Hansons' expert Adrian Stevenson, in a statement. “It’s a complete mystery how this Somme diary ended up in the Midlands, particularly as Arthur was born in London. I’m just relieved such an important piece of military history has been found and can now be preserved.”

After its discovery in the barn, the diary was brought to a Hansons valuation event. Stevenson said that, when he saw that the diary ended abruptly on Oct. 11, 1916, he feared the worst for Diggens. “Because of this we feared Arthur must have been a casualty of the conflict but my research proved otherwise,” he explained. “Not only did he survive the First World War, he returned to his loved ones in England and became a husband and father.”
“Happily, he went on to marry his wartime sweetheart Alice (nee Phillips) in 1919 and was soon a proud father,” Stevenson added. “Alice gave birth to a son in 1920 – also called Arthur.”

RoyalIrishRiflesSommeGetty1916.jpg?ve=1&
Soldiers from the Royal Irish Rifles in a communication trench on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1, 1916. 
(Photo by: Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The diary has a guide price of $390 to $521.

Before fighting on the Western Front, Diggens took part in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey, which resulted in defeat for the allies. “Sadly, a Gallipoli diary also penned by Arthur has been lost. He posted it home but it never made it,” Stevenson said. “We also know why his diary ended suddenly. Alice sent him a new address book which he used as a diary from Oct 1916. That, too, has been lost.”

Other remarkable World War I artifacts have emerged in recent years, such as a  Bible  marked with bullet holes from a German machine gun that helped save the life of a British soldier.

In 2018, rare photos  surfaced  of American troops arriving in Europe to fight alongside the allies in World War I.

BritishSoldiersSommeGetty1916.jpg?ve=1&t
British soldiers leaving a trench to attack on the Somme, 1916.  (Photo by Photo 12/ Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Over 700,000 British troops were killed during World War I and almost 1.7 million were wounded, according to British  War Office  data. Around 6 million British troops were mobilized in the conflict. In total, the war resulted in the deaths of 13 million military personnel and left 21 million more wounded, according to the  Commonwealth War Graves Commission . World War I is among the deadliest wars in modern history.


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Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
1  seeder  Vic Eldred    4 years ago

A story of Iron Men from a much different time.

The modern industrialized nations no longer wage war against one another. First World societies no longer have the stomach for such casualties. 


 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
3  Sean Treacy    4 years ago

Really interesting.

I can't imagine going through Gallipoli and the Somme. 

 
 
 
1stwarrior
Professor Participates
4  1stwarrior    4 years ago

Did you see the death toll from all sides????  Good gracious.

I would think the diary would have more value than $500.00.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
5  Kavika     4 years ago

An amazing find with the first-hand account of an infantryman. Perhaps instead of being sold, it should be enshrined in a British Military Museum. 

I believe that many have forgotten about WWI and the enormous number of casualties on all sides. Trench warfare and the use of poison gas are two things that stand out. American participation came later in the war but no less of a cost. At the battle of Meuse-Argonne the US lost 26,277 KIA and a total of over 120,000 casualties. This is the battle where the ''Lost Battalion'' and Cher Ami became famous along with Sargent Stubby. 

This is a great link to much of that history. It shows the mistakes by US Generals, and the valor of the front line soldiers, there are many famous names in this history including Harry S. Truman commander of an artillery unit. Well worth the read. 

It was here that the First Code Talkers (Choctaw) was bloodied.

 
 
 
TTGA
Professor Silent
5.1  TTGA  replied to  Kavika @5    4 years ago
This is the battle where the ''Lost Battalion'' and Cher Ami became famous along with Sargent Stubby. 

And here she is Kav, Cher Ami herself.

256

It shows the mistakes by US Generals, and the valor of the front line soldiers, there are many famous names in this history including Harry S. Truman commander of an artillery unit. Well worth the read. 

An excellent site.  Another that has a lot of stuff, not just about WWI but about literature generally is here.

This link leads to Project Gutenberg which has over 100,000 literary works of all subjects available for download at no cost.  I highly recommend it.  I keep it bookmarked on my computer all the time.  One of the books about this particular subject that I recommend is Average Americans by Theodore Roosevelt Jr.  He tells the story from the viewpoint of the American soldier.  NOTE:  This is the same Theodore Roosevelt Jr. who, as a General in WWII, commanded at Utah Beach during the Normandy Invasion and died of a heart attack several weeks later.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
6  Kavika     4 years ago

Cher Ami, a great story as is Sgt. Stubby.

Here is Sgt. Stubby story.

Cher Ami story. 

Great link Rock. 

Here is one for you that you may not have been aware of. 

 
 
 
TTGA
Professor Silent
6.1  TTGA  replied to  Kavika @6    4 years ago

Those were great, particularly the Sgt Stubby story.

Here's something that you may find interesting.  About fifteen years ago, I had occasion to talk to a young Sergeant in the 82nd Airborne.  Curious about what they were teaching soldiers about the history of their units, I asked him if he knew who was the most famous soldier ever to serve in the 82nd.  His guess was General Gavin; not a bad choice and it showed that the kid was a thinker, although not an historian.  He was surprised when I told him that before the 82nd was an Airborne division, it was an Infantry division and was called the All American Division (hence the AA on their shoulder patch).  It was called that because, when formed before the US entered WWI, it was formed from various National Guard units and had personnel from all 48 States.  One of those soldiers was a young Corporal from Pall Mall, Tennessee named Alvin York.  I think that he was impressed with the standard he had to live up to.

 
 

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