One of the best things about this, fascinating diary is that the acquired familiarity of the routine and "normality" of life in the trenches with occasions of fearful, tragic, personal drama are so well-recorded by a perceptive and quite evidently likeable observer; an officer in the 17th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment. Captain Hepper fulfils all the responsibilities one might expect from billeting, artillery observation, sniping, Lewis Gun and intelligence before becoming a Brigade Intelligence Officer.

Unusually in such published works the diary continues beyond the Armistice to great advantage as Hepper's battalion marches into Germany for the Occupation but the essence of his experience is wonderfully expressed on the date he lost an especial friend: "Those who read this diary, if any there be, will know how we lived together not only in France but throughout our training in England, have known our faults, likes and dislikes and have been true friends."

Peter Liddle
First World War Historian.