Description
Object description
British NCO served with 1/6th (City of London) Bn London Regt (Rifles), 140th Bde, 47th (2nd London) Div on Western Front, 8/1915-9/1916; officer served on training duties in GB, 3/1918-11/1918; served with 2/23rd (County of London) Bn London Regt, 21st Bde, 30th Div in France, 1918-1919
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of background in London, GB, 1914: reaction to outbreak of First World War, 4/8/1914; attempt to join cavalry and rejection on health grounds. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with 2/6th (City of London) Bn London Regt (Rifles) in GB, 1914-1915: enlistment at Farringdon Road Drill Hall, London, 1914; preconceptions of length and nature of war; nature of training. Aspects of operations as NCO with D Coy, 1/6th (City of London) Bn London Regt (Rifles), 140th Bde, 47th (2nd London) Div in Loos sector, France, 8/1915-9/1915: question of adequacy of training and equipment; state of morale; effects of climate; rum ration; attitude to British front line tactics.
REEL 2 Continues: opinion of French Army troops; visits to estaminets; rations; recreational activities; question of news from and situation in GB; reaction to death of brother Private Leslie Thorpe-Tracey while serving with 2nd Bn Bedfordshire Regt, 21st Bde, 7th Div in Belgium, 8/11/1914; opinion of British High Command. Recollections of attack as NCO with D Coy, 1/6th (City of London) Bn London Regt (Rifles), 140th Bde, 47th (2nd London) Div at Loos, France, 25/9/1915: digging jumping-off trenches at night in No Man's Land.
REEL 3 Continues: picking up battle equipment and march to Noeux-les-Mines, 24/5/1915; gas masks; attending briefing in drift coal mine; move forward to jumping off trenches; effect of rum ration; going over the top; jettisoning gas mask; sense of isolation; collection of consolidation tools and casualties; entering German front line and supervision of consolidation work; story of taking surrender of Germans discovered occupying dugout; situation. Recollections of operations as NCO with D Coy, 1/6th (City of London) Bn London Regt (Rifles), 140th Bde, 47th (2nd London) Div on Vimy Ridge, France, 4/1916-5/1916: situation on taking up positions on Vimy Ridge.
REEL 4 Continues: trench stores; question of use of coke fires; effects of heavy German mortar and artillery bombardment, 21/5/1917; story of digging out men trapped in dugout; shell fire on isolating Zouave Valley; taking over effective command of D Coy and move forward to defend front line mine crater; German shell fire on moving out of line; promotion to sergeant and award of Military Medal; story of wounding in elbow immediately prior to attack at High Wood, Somme, France, 15/9/1916 and subsequent medical evacuation to GB, 9/1916. Aspects of period as officer on training duties in GB, 3/1918-11/1918: infantry assault course based on pattern of trench system.
REEL 5 Continues: state of morale; desire for active service as officer and reaction to Armistice, 11/11/1918. Aspects of period as officer with 2/23rd (County of London) Bn London Regt, 21st Bde, 30th Div France, 1918-1919: role co-ordinating inter-unit football matches and leagues; question of lack of enthusiasm amongst soldiers; chaplains; demobilisation and question of problems on return to civilian life, 1919. Aspects of operations as NCO with 1/6th (City of London) Bn London Regt (Rifles), 140th Bde, 47th (2nd London) Div on Western Front, 1915-1916: relations with officers; attitude towards conscripts and conscientious objectors; nature of trenches on Vimy Ridge in summertime; story of discovering abandoned dog formerly kept as pet by army cooks while moving out of line at Vimy Ridge, 5/1916.
REEL 6 Continues: story of making tea while moving out of line in Vimy Ridge, 5/1916.