The Dennis Wheatley 'Museum' - World War I

DW's War Diary (20th March - 3rd April 1918)

The cover - the diary is only a few inches across



DW's manuscript notes



The maps at the back



The map DW used during the Battle of Passchendaele,
and which he kept framed and hanging on display
for the rest of his life

Click on the image to enlarge. Click here to see his annotation on the back.

The winter of 1917-1918 was particularly severe, and during part of the operations DW and his unit had to retreat from Cambrai to Ham.

As Phil Baker has put it, DW experienced 'nineteenth century style soldiering'.

DW had to ride his horse through ice and snow, concentrating hour after hour to prevent his horse from slipping and breaking a leg, and the cold was so intense that one of his men froze to death.

This diary in the Imperial War Museum contains DW's day by day movements during the period - - and evidences his love of maps, as does the final illustration in this section, which shows the map DW used during the Battle of Passchendaele, which he kept and had framed as a reminder of dangerous days gone by.