Latchford soldier Jack Smallshaw's story released to coincide with 100th anniversary of Battle of the Somme

Jack Smallshaw fought at the Battle of the Somme, which began on July 1 1916, and kept a diary of his experiences throughout the First World War.

Hood Manor resident Steve Corbett has written a book based on Jack’s diaries with the help of the soldier’s step-granddaughter Louise Baird, who lives in Stockton Heath.

He said: “I’ve written a couple of books before – I used to be a soldier and served in Northern Ireland, so I’d written two books on that and got involved with the publisher.

“In 2014 the publisher decided he wanted to do a book on the First World War made entirely of diaries and letters sent from soldiers.

“They put an advert in the Warrington Guardian looking for people with diaries and letters and Louise got in touch.

“The publisher asked me to go and have a look at her grandfather’s diaries and the first one I opened was on July 1 1916 – the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

“I was absolutely astonished – I got in touch with the publisher and said it should be a book in its own right.”

Born in Accrington, Jack volunteered on September 15 1914 and joined W Company, 11th Service Battalion, the East Lancashire Regiment – also known as the Accrington Pals.

He was one of a very small number of the group to survive the war and also fought at the Battle of Oppy Wood in 1917.

Jack lived in Latchford and met and married Mary Spence – sadly his only child died during the Second World War while serving as a signal man in the Royal Navy.

In 2014, Louise began to transcribe Jack’s diaries after attempting to trace her family tree.

He never spoke to his family about his time in the war, but Jack’s diaries include accounts of soldiers going over the top of the trenches during the Battle of the Somme and the armistice.

Steve added: “All Jack’s actual entry for July 1 1916 said was ‘we went over the top this morning’.

“There was a further entry that was dated July 1 1916, but I suspect it was written on July 2 or 3, which goes into detail about the dead and wounded being brought off the fields.

“It’s very powerful stuff and it’s quite tragic what happened – there were 700 men and within a few hours about 580 of them were casualties which is why the Accrington Pals became so well-known.

“Louise has transcribed these diaries and spent a few years doing it and I went through all the division’s diaries in the national archives – there is a hell of a lot of hard work that has gone into this.

“I came across something in the diaries that I’ve never seen before which said that the Germans deliberately targeted the wounded and used the dead as target practice.”

An Accrington Pal: The Diaries of Private Jack Smallshaw – September 1914-March 1919 will be released this weekend to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme.

Jack’s account of the first day of the Battle of the Somme:

SAT July 1st/16: At 7.30am the order was given to advance.

Every officer and man of our battalion got over the parapet and advanced as if they were just on parade.

In this advance our battalion lost heavily, between 500 and 600 killed and wounded.

Our Company Commander Captain Livesay was killed in the German trenches.

About 20 officers were killed and wounded.

The same night and for two or three following nights, men were crawling back off 'no man's land' either wounded or half dead with exhaustion to our trenches.

There were hundreds of casualties and consequently all could not receive immediate attention.

The 13th Yorkshire and Lancs Regt did splendid work in stretcher bearing and first aid for all they came into contact with.

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