A TOUCHING and gritty story of a North-East soldier and his war horse, that would rival the fictional account depicted in Steven Spielberg’s new blockbuster movie, has been revealed in a new exhibition.

Sergeant George Thompson and his faithful charge braved enemy shellfire and the hellish conditions of the Western Front to both emerge miraculously unscathed at the end of the First World War.

In his diary, the decorated hero recalls the time his horse got sick and he was ordered to have it shot. Instead, he disobeyed orders, hid it, built a stable and secretly nursed it back to health.

Durham county archivist Liz Bregazzi said: “The exhibition is based on the diary of Sergeant Thompson, who, together with hundreds of others, volunteered for the transport section of the 7th Battalion the Durham Light Infantry.

“It was written in 1928 for his then two-year-old daughter.

The nice thing about it is the way it is written. He is an ordinary soldier and it is very much a personal account.

“We thought that with the release of Steven Spielberg’s War Horse it would be an ideal opportunity to mount this exhibition.”

She added: “There were so many horses out there. Amazingly, this man went through the entire war with the horse he started off with. We don’t know the name of the horse. He never says, which is strange.”

Sgt Thompson got the horse from a local contractor and could remember the old driver asking him to take good care of him and saying, “he is quiet and a good worker and will go anywhere”.

It was not an easy start to the friendship.

Sgt Thompson, from Sunderland, wrote: “The horse I was in charge of was a rank bad one. Nearly every time I took him for a drink I used to get into trouble. He used to kick and bite and bolt away. I was soon fed up with him.”

He went to France early in 1915, his duties included transporting ammunition and provisions to the frontline.

The horses had to wear harness all the time and suffered from skin diseases, but often nothing could be done for them.

In his diary, Sgt Thompson writes: “I remember when we were at Fricourt there was a skin disease came out among our horses and an officer came up one morning and ordered about 15 horses to go down the line (to be shot) and one of those was the horse I brought from England.

“So instead of sending him away, we sent another in his place and we built a stable for him away from all the other horses and looked after him ourselves.” A month later the horse was back on duty.

Sgt Thompson recalled the horrors of riding over dead bodies, enduring heavy shell fire, always wishing the “rotten war was over”.

He and his horse had happy times too, such as racing on the beach in Ault, France.

Sgt Thompson was twice mentioned in despatches and received the Military Medal for saving the lives of his fellow soldiers under heavy fire.

He went on to be a fermenting room foreman for Vaux Breweries and died in 1958.

The exhibition is at the Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham City, from 8.45pm to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.