Customer Reviews

3 reviews

• Sean Godfrey

  William Roberts, like many of his generation, served their country in the Great War.
  However, unlike most of that brave generation, William Roberts kept a diary.
  Locked away for nearly a century, it is now in the public domain and gives an informative insight into the daily life of a British soldier in the Great War.
  William appears to have been a humble man, giving only brief details of his part in two of the most dramatic days in the war, where he would have been involved in some of the heaviest fighting and on both occasions, being wounded.
  His detailed diary entries of life behind the lines and on being a Prisoner of War give a revealing account of the reality of being a ‘Tommy Atkins’, where losing a spoon and what he had to eat every day are as important to him as being wounded at Polygon Wood.
  An enjoyable read and a worthy addition to anyone’s Great War collection of books.’
  

• Peter Stone

  Private W G Roberts' succinct personal diaries manage to convey the horrors of WW1 more subtly than any standard graphic account. They include descriptions of his initial training, front line duties in Flanders, and subsequent day-to-day progress, under duress from mental stress and the physical pain of his shrapnel wounds, during his captive months in a POW camp. There his post-battle daemons - boredom and sickness - are tempered by tones of stoicism, patience, and courage, albeit with the knowledge that many of his erstwhile Durham Light Infantry comrades are gone forever.
  His diaries are an assertion that life still carries on in the midst of catastrophe. He largely eschews detailed battle accounts - apart from starkly effective inclusions like "(we) fought to the last " (just before his capture at Aisne) - in favour of down-to-earth, even mundane, topics such as his food, the weather, and books he read in the prison camp, atmospherically portraying a world of relative "normality" that struggles to exist alongside the carnage. He also describes lighter pre-POW moments when there were chances to dance, drink and be merry, even in the midst of the war.
  Hugh Roberts has done a superb job of collating the material from his father's diaries - which were hidden away and untouched for nearly a century. He's fleshed out the work with period photos and copies of Private Roberts' private notes, creating a real feel for time and place.
  
  

• Marianne Zweigbergk

  A fascinating snapshot of WW1 through the eyes of Private Roberts. His Diary is an illuminating example of this time, endured with both resilience and resignation. Written without sentiment, he portrays daily events, which are both interesting and informative and he transports the reader completely into his world.

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