Diary of John Henry Llewellyn Turnbull, 1917

Description

Diary relating to the First World War service of 1295 Driver John Henry Llewellyn Turnbull, 5th Divisional Ammunition Column. This is the fourth of six detailed diaries transcribed by Turnbull after the war and was originally written between 20 May 1917 and 31 December 1917.

This diary starts with Turnbull still in the 5th Divisional Ammunition Column and he dedicates large portions of the diary to writing about donkey and mules that the unit uses including their usefulness and reliability and how they would have mule races during leisure time.

This diary also covers the condition they were fighting under, the roads they used for transport, their encounters with the German and British forces and the trouble with mud. He also goes into great detail his fighting on the front line including the heavy fighting around Messines and Arras in June 1917, the arrival of the American Expeditionary Forces, the fighting by his Ypres, Passchendaele and Polygon Wood.

Turnbull concludes his diary on New Year's Eve 1917.

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