1915
Chapter 1
Enlistment and Embarkation
23 April - 14 July
Chapter 2
Egypt and Gallipoli
15 July - 29 September
Chapter 3
Malta
2 Oct 1915 - 25 Jan 1916
1916
Chapter 4
To France
26 January - 28 March
Chapter 5
The Western Front
29 March - 15 July
Chapter 6
The Somme
16 July - 25 August
Chapter 7
Moves and a Transfer
26 August - 25 December
1917
Chapter 8
Blighty
26 Dec 1916 - 23 Aug 1917
Chapter 9
Romance
24 August - 14 October
Chapter 10
To War Again
15 October - 25 November
Chapter 11
OTC at Last
26 November - 3 May 1918
1918
Chapter 12
Officer in Waiting
4 May - 12 June
Chapter 13
The Somme Again
13 June - 24 August
Chapter 14
Dompiere & Mont St. Quentin
25 August - 6 September
Chapter 15
Respite
7 September - 10 November
Chapter 16
Peace!
11 November - 28 Feb 1919
1919
Chapter 17
Belgium and Germany
1 March - 16 March
Chapter 18
England and Marriage
17 March - 21 August
Chapter 19
Homeward Bound
22 August - 12 October
Chapter 20
Postscript
credit
The WWI diary of Percy Smythe was transcribed by his daughter Betty Smythe.
Introduction
Percy Smythe was one of four brothers that went to Europe to fight in World War One. He served in Gallipoli and France and was awarded the Military Cross.
L to R Vern, Bert, Percy, Viv
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Bert |
Viv |
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Percy |
Vern |
Dedication: For the other members of the Smythe clan – my cousins - for their much appreciated interest and help.
In typing up the diary, which was written in quite a number of exercise books of different sizes, I have endeavoured to type just what was written to it. It is possible some place names are incorrect as there were some unfamiliar to me and even though I am, of course, very familiar with my father’s writing, some of his letters can be misunderstood and so lead to possible errors.
In 1916 some names and places were originally in code, but were decoded some time after the war.
During his officer training he wrote some sentences in code. No one has yet deciphered it!
About 1960 my father decided to remove some pages from the diaries, one, two, three or more, and I have indicated these missing pages as ........... and a space between that line and the next.
Betty Smythe
The original diary was donated to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and is available for research by historians.
[note from webmaster. The French translations were done using Google Translate. As Percy's French was very rudimentary and as Google Translate is not entirely accurate, I am happy to receive corrections via the email below]
