Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences
WWI Document Archive > Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences
Alphabetically arranged by name of memoir writer (if available) or by title keyword(s).
Contents
A
Robert R. Abercromby."I Would Not be Here if He Had!"
- Following Australian Footsteps
- Through the Battlefields of the Western Front.
Eugen R. Aichele. Return to the Western Front. A German Artillery Soldier's Story.
- As reported in 1967, fifty years after the fact, to his son while visiting the sites of his service.
Frederick and Evelyn Albright. An Echo in My Heart: Diaries of Fred Albright, ed. and comp. by Lorna Brooke.
- Note: This is part of a larger website that includes correspondence between Frederick and his wife Evelyn.
- Frederick died at Passchendaele in October 1917.
History of the American Field Service in France, 1914-1917, Told by its Members.
- New York and Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 1920.
Also see the website on AFS in World War I prepared by Alan Albright as a part of his American Field Service site.
Dikran Andreasian. Comment un drapeau sauva quatre mille Arméniens.
- Paris: Fischbacher, n.d.
- - en français -
The Archive of War Diaries Online (Interfaces in English and German)
- See especially the Great War section.
- A high number of links to World War I diary facsimiles and transcripts.
Arizona's War Dead: WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Southwest Asia
- The Arizona Republic, 31 May 1999
- - en français -
Australian Army War Diaries - First World War
- A subset of Australian Army War Diaries from the Australian War Memorial.
Samuel E. Avery, Soldier's Mail: Letters Home from a New England Soldier
- 1916-1919
B
Harry E. Barnes, Leopold Berchtold, Alexander Hoyos, Friedrich von Wiesner, Gottlieb von Jagow, Wilhelm II von Hohenzollern, Alfred Zimmerman, Michael T. Florinsky,
- Did Germany Incite Austria in 1914?
- Current History, vol. 28, no. 4. (July, 1928), pp. 619-640.
- (Eight views on the controversy)
Olga Bing. Gestes d'Infirmières, Croquis 1916 1917.
- Paris: Léon Marotte, 1917.
- - en français -
Battle of the Somme, a web portal of the Imperial War Museum.
- Click on "Personal Stories" for diaries, letters, etc.
- 1914 & 1916
Leslie Buswell.With the American Ambulance Field Service in France. Personal Letters of a Driver at the Front.
- Boston,1916.
Joseph G. Butler. A Journey Through France in War Time.
- Cleveland : Penton Press, 1917.
C
John Bruce Cairnie.
- The Great War Diaries - 1915 (5th Seaforths).
- The Great War Diaries - 1916 (5th Seaforths).
- The Great War Diaries - 1917 (King's African Rifles).
- The Great War Diaries - 1918/1919 (King's African Rifles).
- Submitted by Alan Cairnie [alancairnie59@gmail.com OR anguscairnie@live.com]
Canadian Letters From the Front
- Transcribed letters from the Canadian Great War Project.
- Transcribed and searchable diaries from the Canadian Great War Project.
CEF: Canadian Troop Strength in Siberia,
- 1918-1919.
Harold Chapin. Soldier and Dramatist.
- 1916
Christmas Truce 1914: Operation Plum Puddings
- A project to document the Christmas Truce.
- Includes letters, songs, and other works about this astonishing event.
Georges Clemenceau. Discours de Guerre.
- Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1968.
- - en français -
Georges Clemenceau. Grandeurs et misères d'une victoire.
- Paris: Plon, 1973.
- - en français -
Ella Cordasco. Recollections of the Russian Revolution.
- (March - October 1917).
Fred G. Coxen. My Diary: From Notes and Well Remembered Incidents
- (August 4, 1914 - May 6, 1915).
Benjamin E. Cruzan. A Soldier's Diary.
- (December 1917 - June 1919).
Edward E. Cummings. An Enormous Room.
- New York: Boni & Liveright, 1922.
- (Polish translation of the Foreword and Czech translation of Chapter One available separately)
- New York: Boni & Liveright, 1922.
Marine Flyer in France: The Diary of Capt. Alfred A. Cunningham.
- November 1917 - January1918
D
Kenneth Sydney Day.
Kirkland H. Day. Camion Cartoons.
- Boston: Marshall Jones, 1919.
- Dates of war declarations by country.
- Privately printed, 1917.
Gerhard Friedrich Dose. Das Infanterie Regiment 187 in den Vogesen 1915-1916
- German original.
Gerhard Friedrich Dose.
Infantry Regiment 187 in the Vosges Mountains, 1915-1916
- English translation.
Gerhard Friedrich Dose. Das Infanterie-Regiment 187 im Rumänienfeldzug 1916/17
- German original.
Gerhard Friedrich Dose.
German Infantry Regiment 187 in the Romanian campaign, 1916-1917
- English translation.
- - Part I - - Part II - - Part III - - Part IV - .
Gerhard Friedrich Dose. Das Infanterie Regiment 187 in Lothringen und bei Reims 1917
- German original.
Gerhard Friedrich Dose.
German Infantry Regiment 187 in Lorraine and at Reims, 1917
- English translation.
- - Part I - - Part II - .
Gerhard Friedrich Dose.
Gerhard Friedrich Dose.
German Infantry Regiment 187 in Flanders, at Arras and Cambrai, 1917-1918
- English translation.
- - Part I - - Part II - - Part III - - Part IV - .
Gerhard Friedrich Dose.
- Das Königlich Preußische Infanterie Regiment 187 auf dem Lingekopf, Oktober bis Dezember 1915
- An illustrated tour of German Infantry Regiment 187 at the Linge.
- -- requires PowerPoint software --
Ralph Dorchell Doughty. Lieutenant R.D. Doughty, M.C.
- Diaries and Photos of a New Zealander in World War I.
Norman Cecil Sommers Down
- Cecil Summers
- Cecil Somers
- SEE: Cecil Sommers.
General Lionel Dunsterville. Diaries - 1911-1922
E
Stapleton T. Eachus. The Great War Diaries.
Sherwood Eddy. With Our Soldiers in France.
- New York, 1917.
Anonymous. An Eye-Witness at Louvain.
- London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1914 .
F
Fred A. Farrell. The 51st (Highland) Division - War Sketches.
- Venice: Istituto Veneto di Arti Grafiche Venezia, 1919
- - in italiano -
- Memoirs and recollections of German flyers from 1911 through 1920.
Maréchal Ferdinand Foch. Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la guerre de 1914-1918.
- Paris: Plon, 1931.
- - en français -
War Prison Barracks Three: Fort Douglas, Utah
- German and Austro-Hungarian Civilian Internment Camp for the Western United States
- 1917 - 1920.
Friends of France. The Field Service of the American Ambulance, described by its members.
- Boston, 1916.
G
Ruth Gaines. A Village in Picardy.
- New York: E.P. Dutton, 1918.
- The work of the Smith College Relief Unit in the Somme.
Ruth Gaines. Helping France.
- New York: E.P. Dutton, 1919.
- The Red Cross in the Devastated Area.
Gedenkbuch des Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten
- Memorial to German Jewish soldiers who fell from 1914-1918.
- S.l.: Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten, 1932.
James W. Gerard. Face to Face with Kaiserism.
- New York: George H. Doran, 1918.
James W. Gerard. [American Ambassador to Germany]
- My Four Years in Germany.
- New York: George H. Doran, 1917.
Anonymous. Translated by J. Koettgen.
- A German Deserter's War Experience.
- New York, 1917.
German Verse from the Trenches
- - auf Deutsch -
The War With Germany:A Statistical Summary.
- GPO, 1919
Hugh Gibson. A Journal from Our Legation in Belgium.
- New York: Doubleday Page, 1917.
Un veteran se rapelle: Gould Interview
- - en français -
Remy de Gourmont. Pendant l'orage.
- Paris: E. Champion, 1915.
Charlie and Wally Gray. Letters
- Site maintained by the government of Ontario, Canada.
Basil J. Green. World War One Diary
- Transcriptions of a diary held in the Imperial War Museums Archive Department.
H
Herbert Halliday: From the Western Front to Salonika
- Research into his service with the British 27th Division, Royal Field Artillery.
- Research, photographs and overview of the British Army in World War I by his grandson, Chris Morton.
Donald Hankey. A Student in Arms.
- New York: Dutton, 1917
Alexander J. Hemphill. "Belgium Under the Surface".
- New York: The Commission for Relief in Belgium, [1914-1918]
Paul B. Hendrickson. The Letters, Diary, Postcards and Pictures of a World War I Soldier.
- [U.S. 33rd Division.]
Aubrey Herbert. Mons, ANZAC & Kut.
- London: Hutchinson & Co., 1919
Col J. Bentley Mott. Myron T. Herrick, Friend of France.
- Garden City, NY: Doubleday Doran, 1929.
- [Herrick was American Ambassador to France
- at the beginning of the War].
George A. Hill
- Go Spy The Land: Being the Adventures of I.K.8 of the British Secret Service.
- London, Cassell & Company, Limited, 1932
Memoirs of Daniel Holmes of the Royal Engineers.
Albert Huet
- WWI Diary of Albert Huet - en français
- Huet served in the Ardennes for two years, having survived a massive gas attack that killed most of his company.
- Facsimiles through the University of Florida Digital Collections.
- Transcriptions and biography courtesy of Huet's great-granddaughter, employed at the University of Florida.
Letters of Jean Hurpin - A French Soldier in the Trenches Writes to New Hampshire.
James H. Hyde. Avanti Savoia: impressions du front Italien.
- Suresnes: Crémieu, 1917
J
Edwin E. Jones. Memoirs & Diaries: France, Egypt, Mesopotamia.
- (1915 - 1916).
K
Charlotte Kellogg. Women of Belgium.
- New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1917.
Dora Lourie Klein. Stranded: A Young Boston Teacher Stuck in Switzerland as Europe Erupts into War.
- (July-August 1914).
Burton W. Knight. His Diary of the Great War.
- Sergeant assigned to Field Hospital 104, American Expeditionary Forces, France.
- 1917-1918
Josef Kobza. "Návrat" ("Return")
- Handwritten & iIllustrated diary in Czech.
- Digitized in Europeana 1914-1918.
- 1914-1919.
Fritz Kreisler. Four Weeks in the Trenches. The War Story of a Violinist.
- New York, 1915.
L
Lucien Lambert. Souvenirs de Lucien Lambert: Guerre de 14/18.
- With facsimiles of diary entries.
- - en français -
William H. B. Lamin. WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier.
- Diary entires being posted as blogs exactly 90 years after their writing (1917-1918).
Claude Léger. Le 165e Bataillon d'Infanterie d'Outremer
- - en français -
David Lindsay. The War Diary of David Lindsay
- Egypt and Gallipoli memoirs, 1914-1915.
Thomas Fredrick Littler. First World War Diaries, 1914-1919.
- Including cartoon postcards, war.co.uk/famphoto.htm photographs, and other materials.
George O. Lunn. 36 days in 1915.
- The War Diary of George Oliver Lunn.
M
John McClintock. Notes from a Diary Kept by Private John McClintock.
- (Company E - 101st Infantry - 26th Division ["Yankee Division"] - American Expeditionary Force)
- 1917-1919.
L.C. McCollum. History and Rhymes of the Lost Battalion.
- 1918.
Patrick MacGill. The Great Push
- 1916.
Patrick MacGill.
WWI Diary of Robert Lindsay Mackay.
- Covering the years 1915-1918, day-by-day!
A Family at War: The Diary of Mary Martin
- An online exhibition by MPhil students in Digital Humanities at Trinity College, Dublin.
Mémoire des hommes. Journaux des unités (1914-1918)
- Diaries and histories of French combat forces maintained by the French ministry of defense.
Christian Meurer and Fernand Mayence.
- "The Blame for the Sack of Louvain"
- Current History, vol. 28, no. 4., (July, 1928), pp. 556-571.
- (German and Belgian views on the controversy)
The World War I Diary of A. W. Miller
- With entries from February to November of 1918.
The diary of Fred Mitchell, an artilleryman.
- Entries range from January 1 - March 23, 1916.
- (More information on artillery on a separate page.)
Percy Mitchell.The American Relief Clearing House: Its Work in the Great War.
- Paris: Herbert Clarke, 1922.
N
Martin Niepage. The horrors of Aleppo . . seen by a German eyewitness.
- London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1916 .
O
James Oakleaf. Some Notes on the 108th Infantry.
- 1921.
P
Burton J. Hendrick. The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page.
- Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1923.
- [Page was American Ambassador to Great Britain].
Maurice Paléologue. [Last French Ambassador to the Russian Court].
- An Ambassador's Memoirs.
- New York, 1925.
Walter Pfeffer. World War One Diary.
- Transcriptions of a diary held in the Imperial War Museums Archive Department.
Lettres du front d'Athanase Poirier.
- - en français -
Frederick A. Pottle. Stretchers.
- New Haven,1929.
G. Ward Price. The Story of the Salonica Army.
- New York: Edward J. Clode, 1918.
Percival W. Probert. East African Campaign Diary - Tanzania & Mozambique.
- (1917-1919).
R
R.P. Joseph Raymond. Froc et Epée.
- 1916
- - en français -
The Diary of Thomas Reginald Part:
- An Australian Soldier Who Fought at Gallipoli and in France before being killed.
William Hard. Raymond Robins' Own Story.
- New York, 1920.
James Rennell Rodd [British Ambassador to Italy before and during the Great War].
- Social and Diplomatic Memories. Third Series. 1902-1919.
- London, 1925.
Charles Rooke. A Few of My Experiences Whilst "On Active Service".
- (1917 - 1918).
Testimony before the 102nd US Congress, November 1991, concerning the AEF experience in Russia
- at the end of the Great War and the possible abandonment of American POWs.
S
Admiral Reinhard Scheer. Germany's High Sea Fleet in the World War.
- 1920.
- (English translation)
William Schira. Personal Diary.
- 1919.
John E. Schroeder. World War I Through the Lens of One Private's Camera.
- 1917 - 1919.
Alan Seeger. Letters and Diary
- 1917.
Alan Seeeger. Poems.
- 1916.
Henry Sheehan. A Volunteer Poilu.
- Boston, 1916.
Clayton M. Sherwood. "Writing by Moonlight." An American’s Diary of Foreign Service, August 1917 to February 1919.
James T. Shotwell. At the Paris Peace Conference.
- (1937 - Appendices IV-VII - Extracts)
The Smith College/Sophia Smith Archivesof World War I
La dernière lettre écrite par des soldats tombés au champ d'honneur 1914-1918.
- Paris: Union des pères et des mères dont les fils sont morts pour la Patrie:
- la ligue des chefs de section et des soldats combattants:
- E. Flammarion, 1922.
- - en français -
Events, Commemorations and Accounts of the Somme
- The 80th Anniversary, 1 July 1916 - 1 July 1996.
Cecil Sommers. Temporary Crusaders.
- London, 1919.
Cecil Sommers. Temporary Heroes
- London: John Lane, the Bodley Head, 1917 (excerpts).
David R. Stanford. Discharge Certificate from the Great War era.
- Polk County, Iowa, replacement for lost or destroyed certificate, 1922.
Clair Stanley. In Memoriam, The Great War
- (An artistic collage, 1997).
William Yorke Stevenson. At The Front In A Flivver.
- 1917.
William Yorke Stevenson. From "Poilu to "Yank".
- 1918.
Ronald Storrs. Lawrence of Arabia, Zionism and Palestine
- London: Penguin Books, 1940.
Friedrich Graf Szápáry. Das Verhältnis Österreich-Ungarns zu Rußland.
- (The Attitude of Austria-Hungary Towards Russia)
- - auf Deutsch -
Friedrich Graf Szápáry Aus den Krisenjahren
- (The Years of Crisis, 1908-1913: Extract)
- - auf Deutsch -
T
Oberst von Thaer Aus den Tagebuchnotizen
- (Diary Notes from 1 October 1918)
- - auf Deutsch -
- English translation of the original diary notes also available.
A. C. M. Thomson. Field Diaries of the First World War
- (June 1915 - May 1917).
Thomas Tiplady. The Cross at the Front:
- 1917
Laura de Gozdawa Turczynowicz.
When the Prussians Came to Poland: The Experiences of an American Woman During the German Invasion.
- New York, 1916.
The Sinking of the Tuscania, February 5, 1918
V
Demetra Vaka. In the Heart of German Intrigue.
- 1918.
Verlustlisten des 1. Weltkrieges
- Separate categorized lists of German soldiers lost in the First World War.
- (Lists are neither comprehensive nor complete.)
W
A War Nurse's Diary. Sketches from a Belgian Field Hospital.
- New York: MacMillan, 1918.
Herbert Ward. Mr. Poilu. Notes and Sketches with the Fighting French.
- London, 1916.
C.H. Weston.Three Years with the New Zealanders.
- n.d.
- (1918-1919).
William B. Whitmore. England & The Somme.
- (1915 - 1916).
Memoirs of Fred Rothwell Wigglesworth.
Albert Rhys Williams.Through the Russian Revolution.
- New York: Boni & Liveright, 1921.
John Caspar Wister.Experiencing War.
- Library of Congress: Veterans History Project
Henry James Wright.
One of Ten Thousand: Letters home from Henry James Wright, an Australian soldier serving with the AIF.
- (1915-1918).
Jack Morris Wright.
A Poet of the Air. Letters of Jack Morris Wright, First Lieutenant of the American Aviation in France, April 1917-January 1918.
- Boston: Houghton & Mifflin, 1918.
Z
- January 31, 1916.
See additional first-hand accounts at FirstWorldWar.com.
WWI Document Archive > Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences
