Description
Object description
British gunner served as bugler with 82nd Bty, 110th Bde Royal Field Artillery in India and Mesopotamia, 1908-1916; present at siege of Kut-el-Amara, 4/1916; POW in Turkey, 1916-1918
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of period as boy soldier, bugler and trumpeter with Royal Field Artillery in India, 1908-1914: enlistment and training at boy soldier with Royal Field Artillery, Kirkee, 1912; posting as trumpeter and bugler to 82nd Bty, CX Bde, Royal Field Artillery; musical training and duties as bugler; rations and accommodation including sleeping arrangements; attitude to military life and discipline; recreational activities; climate; declaration of First World War, 4/8/1914. Aspects of voyage from India to Mesopotamia, Ottoman Empire, 10/1914-11/1914; loading of horses and guns; conditions for men and horses; sleeping arrangements; opinion of rations; disembarkation, 11/1914. Recollections of operations as bugler with 82nd Bty, CX Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 6th (Poona) Div in Mesopotamia, Ottoman Empire, 11/1914-1916: initial impressions of Mesopotamia and Basra; climate; daily routine and duties; role during First Battle of Qurna, 3/12/1914-9/12/1914; problem of mirages; reaction to being under fire.
REEL 2 Continues: daily routine and duties in Basra area; uniform; problem of cold weather conditions; opinion of rations; problem of flies and lice; washing facilities; opinion of Arabs; role in Battle of Shaiba, 12/4/1915-14/4/1915; capture of Ottoman Turkish Army artillery pieces; description of battlefield and corpses; journey to Ahwaz and description of fortified camp; problem of harassing fire; journey to Kut-el-Amara; role as captain's trumpeter and signaller; role of infantry and description of moving guns into position at night at Kut-el-Amara; question of diversionary tactics; communications and role as signaller; organisation of battery; initial impressions of Kut-el-Amara; pursuit of Ottoman Turkish Army; attitude to role within 6th (Poona) Div.
REEL 3 Continues: question of relations with older soldiers; story of own horse; attitude towards Mesopotamian Campaign; role in Battle of Ctesiphon, 22/11/1915-25/11/1915; memory of Arch of Ctesiphon; problem of ammunition supplies; question of outcome of Battle of Ctesiphon. Recollections of operations as bugler with 82nd Bty, CX Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 6th (Poona) Div during retreat to and Siege of Kut-el-Amara, Mesopotamia, 11/1915-4/1916: morale; question of pitching tents to deceive Ottoman Turkish Army during retreat; pursuit by Ottoman Turkish Army; attacks by Arabs; terrain and living conditions; water supplies; reaction to loss of comrades; question of leaving wounded; state of health of troops; problem of 'Baghdad sores'; opinion of medical services; problem of flies and lice; problem of dysentery; opinion of sanitary facilities.
REEL 4 Continues: further details of health of troops; conference between General John Nixon and Major-General Charles Townshend; opinion of decision to retreat; problem of Arab snipers; opinion of rations; description of defences at Kut-el-Amara; digging of gun pits and placement of guns; daily routine and living conditions in Kut-el-Amara; eating dates; question of preparations for siege; accommodation; problem of reduction of rations and use of horse meat; problem of feeding and caring for horses; effects of reduced rations; slaughtering horses and preparation of horse meat.
REEL 5 Continues: question of conserving ammunition; nature of Ottoman Turkish Army attacks on Kut-el-Amara; battery casualties; duties in caring for horses; state of health; sanitary arrangements and burial of dead; relations with Arab population; supplies dropped by air; medical facilities; attitude to siege and relief efforts; reaction to surrender of garrison, 4/1916; story of surrender including destruction of guns and slaughter of horses. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Mesopotamia and Turkey, Ottoman Empire, 4/1916-11/1918: attitude to being separated from officers at Kut-el-Amara; march from to Baghdad and rations; opinion of treatment by Turks; problem of lack of medical facilities; march to camp and nature of work; story of being selected for kitchen staff by German guards; opinion of rations; living conditions.
REEL 6 Continues: washing facilities; state of health; daily routine in camp and nature of work; question of sabotage; stone breaking; story of camp taken over by Imperial German Army and nature of work in kitchens; relations with Germans; opinion of rations; clothing; pay; accommodation and sleeping arrangements; daily routine; freedom of movement; memories of fellow prisoners of war; attitude towards Turks; relations with Germans; Serbian prisoners of war; morale among prisoners of war; attitude to survival as prisoner of war; question of receiving news of war; release and role as cook in British officers' mess, 1918; attitude to officers and role as cook; description of accommodation; receiving food parcels; return to India via Alexandria, Egypt, 12/1918; reflections on period as prisoner of war.