THE haunting memories of the frontline during the First World War have been captured in a new book from a Bridgwater writer.

Despatch Rider on the Western Front 1915-18 features a first-hand account of the war taken from the diary of Albert Simpkin (inset), who worked as a motorcycle despatch rider.

The rare First World War diary was discovered in Buenos Aires – at the height of the Falklands War in 1982 – by the late Mrs Elizabeth Venner, a farmer’s wife from Combwich, and has now been published by her son, David (main picture).

“My mother went across to Argentina when my Great Aunt died to sort through her things and came across the diary,” David told the Mercury.

“I knew my great uncle Albert when he was in his seventies. “He came back from Argentina to England every other year and visited our family farm at Combwich.

“He was like a grandfather to me – very kind and generous and full of stories about Argentina. “But he never spoke of the war and no-one in the family knew of the diary’s existence.”

Bridgwater Mercury:

ALBERT SIMPKIN

The book charters Albert’s exploits as a motorcycle despatch rider for the whole of the First World War, which enabled him to witness much more than men who were restricted to the trenches.

The book contains first-hand accounts of the major battles, including the Battle of the Somme, mixing the horror and brutality of war with a soldier’s black humour as well as some stinging critical comments about the strategies and tactics employed by the officers.

One particularly harrowing entry dated July, 1916 details how Albert came across the body of another soldier at the Battle of the Somme.

He wrote: “Higher up the trench I came across the body of one of our men, badly mutilated. One of his arms had been blown off and half of his face was missing.

“The front of his tunic was shredded like wool and the ammunition in his pouches had exploded – a pretty ghastly sight but it raised no more feeling in me than one feels in a butcher’s shop. “War brings one down to the level of animals.”

Following the war Albert moved to Argentina to set up a South American branch of an engineering firm and lived there until he died in 1966, aged 80.

David explained how, after reading what his great uncle had gone through during the war, he felt closer to his great uncle.

“It was remarkable reading all these fluently written entries about his experiences and feelings,” he said.

“I have a passing interest in history but his first-hand accounts really hammered home the situation that these soldiers faced.

“I definitely feel like I know him much more as a person and not just my great uncle, who would come to visit.”

Despatch Rider on the Western Front 1915-18 is published by Pen and Sword Books (www.pen-and-sword.co.uk) and can be purchased from them or from any good bookshop.