My post disappeared.

Essentially it said what GUEST just said.

Nowadays the journals of an "uneducated private" could be of great interest, regardless of the grammar. It all depends on what they include.

Rob might consider xeroxing some sample pages and sending them off for a reaction to someone who teaches about the Great War at a nearby university. There's nothing to lose. Here in the US, Civil War letters and diaries are still being found and published.