August 3, 1918 – Full diary entry:

“We leave Camp Boussat at 8:30pm. Marched to trenches in a heavy cold rain. So dark that many of us fell off the road. French artillery shelled G. trenches. On guard from 1 o’clock.”

Well, for all of those bloodthirsty MNDoughboy1918 fans who have been asking when Robert would leave all of those cushy rest camps and join the battle – your wish is granted. (It should be noted that even Robert’s son Richard has been looking forward to this.)

Much to come in the next several days about the trenches themselves – for now, suffice to say that they were as bad or worse than you might expect. This video from The History Channel is only three minutes long and is highly recommended.

Where was Robert today? (My best guess) See the timeline.