RARE and intriguing mementoes from a forgotten aspect of the First World War are to helping shed new light on the life of prisoners-of-war.

A secret diary and a piece of artificial soap from a German PoW camp are among the latest artefacts to go on show at the Green Howards regimental museum in Richmond, North Yorkshire.

They were presented to the museum by Peter Etches, whose father saved them on his return from the Great War.

Private Bede Etches, from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, was serving with the 2nd Battalion of the Green Howards in Roupy, near St Quentin, France, in March 1918, when the final German offensive began.

His battalion at first counter-attacked, then made a fighting retreat under the leadership of their adjutant, Captain Read - later better known as the poet and critic Sir Herbert Read.

But the company in which Private Etches served was over-run, and he, along with many others, was swept up by the Germans and taken "into the bag". The secret diary he kept at the time describes how the prisoners were herded together and transported by truck and train to a PoW camp in Germany.

However, the pages are so faded and the handwriting so intricate that a specialist transcription will have to be made before the full story can be revealed.

Once the diary is transcribed, it will be posted on the museum's website.

Private Etches sent a postcard - also given to the museum - to his wife in Scarborough, telling her he was a prisoner in No 5 camp. Later, he complained that he had only a chunk of black bread to eat and that he had to keep clear of lice using a bar of ersatz soap.

For many years the soap, along with the diary, postcard, badges, letters and photographs were stored in his son's attic until, at the age of 82, Mr Etches decided to given them to the museum.

Curator Major Roger Chapman said: "It is very seldom that we have details of English PoWs in Germany during the First World War, so we are very grateful to Mr Etches for donating these items.

"It is fascinating to read some of the PoW letters - they don't appear to have been censored by the German camp authorities.

"I'm not sure, though, how Bede Etches managed to keep clean with the grey slab of artificial soap."