Description
Object description
British private served as bus driver with Army Service Corps on Western Front, 1914-1918
Content description
REEL 1 Background in London, GB, 1890-1914: family life; employment. Aspects of period as bus driver with London General Omnibus Coy in London, GB, 1912-1914; training on B-type bus; bus companies; reaction to outbreak of First World War, 8/1914. Aspects of period as bus driver with Army Service Corps in GB, 1914: enlistment in London, 17/10/1914; conversion of buses for military use; driving buses to Avonmouth; voyage to France. Recollection of operations as bus driver with Army Service Corps on Western Front, 10/1914-11/1918: posting to Ypres sector, Belgium; duties transporting troops at night; casualties among bus crews; question of military training; carrying rifle in bus; repairs to buses; travelling in convoy; number of buses used; sight of Prince of Wales; role transporting troops of 47th Div during Battle of Loos, France, 1915; morale of troops; evacuation of casualties to base hospitals; number of troops on bus; bus crew.
REEL 2 Continues: memories of 1st/14th (County of London) Bn London Regt (London Scottish) at Saint-Omer; transporting cavalry troops to trenches; sight of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig; story of Indian troops with frostbite; movements on Western Front, 1914-1918; problem of buses freezing up; opinion of American troops; German prisoners of war; bus parks; sleeping on bus; gas casualties; attitude towards deserters; discipline; drill; pay; types of buses used; home leave; opinion of officers; problem of refugees on roads; relations with French civilians; condition of roads; maintenance of buses; petrol supplies; description of iron wheels and suspension; memories of Armistice Day, 11/11/1918; demobilisation at Crystal Palace, GB, 3/1919.
REEL 3 Continues: gratuity and medical examination after demobilisation; attitude to rum ration; guard duty on vehicles; further details of transporting troops to front line; driving in dark without lights; Christmas dinner, 25/12/1914; question of cooking food; rations; estaminets; reflections on war.