Historically Important Great War Diary Grouping of Timothy Goddard Elliott from 1914-1918, Covering Many of the Major Actions of WW1 including the Battle of the Somme in 1916, Where he went Over The Top with 9th Battalion City of London Queen Victoria Rifles, the diaries are extremely well written and give an insight into his time at the front lines on the Western Front after his enlistment in 1914. The diaries are accompanied by a archive of original ephemera and documents relating to him. You can see from the diaries that his enthusiasm for war changed as the war dragged on and he saw the horrors of the Western Front, however his descriptive writing gives you a sense of being present. The diaries begin in 1914 with his civilian life, he enlisted on 9th November 1914 and this is detailed in this diary, at the end of the 1914 diary he gives key dates for that year. In 1915 he starts to describe his training in more detail. He finally arrives in France in June 1915. He talks about the famous trench rats which plagued both the British and German soldiers on the Western Front. On 4th September 1915 he describes a German trench raid, ‘German attack at 8 pm, but repulsed (2 killed)’. In November 1915 he describes ‘Firing at Hun Aeroplane in afternoon’. Towards the end of 1915 he describes that the fire has intensified between both the British and Germans, he mentions casualties and also that the trenches have been blown in etc. In June 1916 he describes the accurate fire put upon his line by German trench mortars. As the Battle of the Somme approached he describes the shelling and also that troops were preparing for an attack, his entry for the first day of the battle is as follows, ‘Charged at 7-30am took 3 German lines. But retired in afternoon or rather the few who were left’, this last comment referring to the heavy casualties suffered on the 1st day of the battle. As the war continues in 1916, you get a sense that the war is starting to take its toll on him. On 8th September 1916, he was wounded in the face and was evacuated to a Military Hospital. His 1917 diary is a French diary, it begins with him being behind the lines, recuperating from his wounds. He details that drafts of fresh soldiers were arriving on the Western Front and you get a sense that he was feeling uneasy about being involved in another major action which was to come. He was behind the lines helping at a hospital and he met with many wounded German soldiers. In August 1917 he describes the terrible conditions in the front lines, ‘The mud is awful. Hardly any trenches just a mass of shell holes. The Hun artillery is playing hell with our lines’. The diaries continue to describe not only the conditions but casualties etc. His 1918 diary follows a very similar pattern to that of the other diaries, with many interesting and well written entries describing his war. On 11th November 1918, he describes having dinner at a Chateau, ‘Hurah! The war is over!’. The diaries continue into the 1919 period also. All the diaries are easy to read but have been compiled into a book titled ‘Tim’s Wars – The Psychology of War and Peace Through One Man’s Eyes’. These are a super set of diaries which really capture the feeling and the hardship of combat on the Western Front. So many diaries give very little combat detail but these diaries are full of interesting entries.