A vivid & powerful diary of life in the trenches The horrors of war in the trenches are brought to life with a rare immediacy & power through the diary of soldier & artist Len Smith. Enduring battles such as those at Loos & Vimy Ridge Len survives with a mixture of whimsical humour bravery & sheer good luck. Len enlisted as an infantryman in the City of London Regiment on his 23rd birthday 22 September 1914. During the war years he kept a journal on scraps of paper which he hid in his trousers to smuggle home at the end of the war. At the same time he added to his thoughts with colour sketches of the people & places he encountered.