Ninety-one years after the Battle of the Somme, a diary with a first-hand account of fighting has come to light.

Private Walter Hutchinson, who fought in the 10th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, gives a graphic description of the first day of the battle on July 1st 1916 - the British suffered a total of 57,470 casualties.

He describes how he and his comrades were forced to scramble over dead bodies, how German fire cut through solders going over the top and the hundreds of wounded men returning from the front line.

Pte Hutchinson writes: "When we was going across the marsh German shells was dropping all around, but none of us was hit. We landed at the communication trench. But before had time to get in Fritz sent us a tear shell. It was our first taste of gas.

"Then the order came down, dump everything and fix bayonets, you have to fight for it lads. We obeyed the order like men but had not gone far when I was hit with a piece of shell."

During the battle, he was forced to dig in overnight and was left for three days without food and in a trench full of water up to his waist.

On July 4th 1916 he wrote: "I was talking to these three men and a shell dropped and killed all three of them. It was an awful sight."

Pte Hutchinson survived the war and went on to run a shop in Cleethorpes and lived until he was in his 80s.

The diary has come to light, as its current owner - a private collector - is putting it up for sale, along with a gold watch Pte Hutchinson was presented with on his return after the war and photographs of the soldier in uniform with his wife Evelyn.