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The war diaries of English poet Siegfried Sassoon have been published online for the first time, revealing early drafts and unpublished material caked with mud from the trenches.
Due to the delicate state of the notebooks and journals, the 4,100-page archive previously was accessible only to the poet's official biographer.
But Cambridge University Library, which bought the collection five years ago, has digitalised the trove and made it public at the cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk address.
In scrawled ink, some almost a century old, the booklets are filled with names and addresses, scribbled drawings and notes, draft poetry and diary entries of Sassoon's life at war.
He describes his first day at the Somme as a "sunlit picture of hell".
"The air vibrates with the incessant din. The whole earth shakes and rocks and throbs. It is one continuous roar, machine guns tap and rattle, bullets whistling over head."
The archives also contain drafts of his letter A Soldier's Declaration, in which he said the war was "being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it" and which brought national attention when it was read in parliament and published in newspapers.
"The war diaries Sassoon kept on the western front and in Palestine are of the greatest significance, both nationally and internationally, and we are honoured to be able to make them available to everyone, anywhere in the world, on the 100th anniversary of the first world war," said librarian Anne Jarvis.
Considered one of the foremost of the English war poets and decorated for his bravery, Sassoon died in 1967, aged 80.


Siegfried Sassoon diaries of the first world war published online

Siegfried Sassoon and his journals

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World

The war diaries of English poet Siegfried Sassoon have been published online for the first time, revealing early drafts and unpublished material caked with mud from the trenches.
