THE EXPERIENCE OF WAR
The experience of war represents one of the greatest challenges that men may face. Conscious of this, many men kept diaries, or wrote detailed and descriptive letters recording their experiences and observations. Fortunately, many of these have survived, preserved in archives or held within families. Through these diaries and letters, we can gain a first-hand view of what it was like to be a soldier in World War I.
Many of these first-hand sources may appear less dramatic than might be imagined. There are many reasons for this. Soldiers' letters were censored to ensure that no essential military information was being sent. Many soldiers self-censored their letters, wishing to shield their families and loved ones from the horror which they were facing. Such letters are full of broad assuring statements about their state of health, enquiries about family and friends, with only the occasional grumble. However, a few letters were more detailed and honest. The soldiers who wrote them bypassed the army postal system, and thus censorship, by asking comrades going on leave in England to post the letters using the civilian postal system. By this means, we can come to know something of the awfulness that they faced.
Diaries are more personal documents. In these documents, soldiers could be more descriptive and confide their feelings. Some of these documents have survived and provide historians with a fascinating insight into the mental world of a World War I combat soldier.
Many of these letters and diaries are rather prosaic documents, rather than the detailed and shocking accounts that might be expected. Part of the explanation for this might be the nature of the writers - few men had a secondary education, and therefore might not have had the vocabulary and writing skill to write highly detailed and descriptive accounts. Another explanation might be that the life of a soldier left little time for writing. Many diaries are brief entries, often written in the odd quiet time away from front-line duty.
Some soldiers did write fuller accounts of their personal experiences that were published, often much later after the war. These were sometimes based on diaries and contained reflections on their experiences, their officers, the people they encountered and a host of other matters. They were generally written by quite literate people, and while the style might appear more formal than modern readers are used to, they do provide a fascinating insight into the world of the New Zealand soldier in World War I. Two of these soldiers have had their diaries or accounts published. Cecil Malthus, who later became Professor of Modern Languages at the University of Canterbury, wrote two fascinating books: Anzac: A Retrospective, about his experiences at Gallipoli in 1915, and Armentieres and the Somme, based on his service on the Western Front before being invalided back to New Zealand with a leg wound. E. P. (Percy) Williams' A New Zealander's Diary has been published posthumously, detailing his experiences from Gallipoli to the time of his death after Passchendaele.
Two of the Papanui men kept diaries and sent home letters that have been preserved by their families. These collections are held in the Documentary and Research Centre at Canterbury Museum. Click on the links below to learn more about the experiences of these men.
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