Subaltern on the Somme

The author of this memoir arrived on the Western Front to join 10th Bn West Yorks in July 1916, shortly after the opening day of the Battle of the Somme in which his battalion had suffered the highest casualties of any battalion on that day - 710 of whom 306 were killed. Regarded as one of the classics the book gives a vivid description of life in the trenches - the routine, the boredom , the mud and the horror. His war ended in January 1917 when he was concussed by a shell exploding on the parapet in front of him. Well recommended.