Description
Object description
British private served with 1/6th Bn London Regt, 140th Bde, 47th (2nd London) Div on Western Front, 10/1915-1/1917; officer served with Tank Corps in GB and on Western Front, 7/1917-11/1918
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Norwich, GB, 1897-1914: family; education; employment; reaction to outbreak of First World War, 4/8/1914; underage enlistment with 1/6th (City of London) Bn London Regt. Recollections of operations as private with 1/6th (City of London) Bn London Regt, 140th Bde, 47th (2nd London) Div on Western Front, 1915-1917: arrival at Le Havre, France, 10/1915; relations with French civilians; move to Loos sector, France, 11/1915; intial impressions of front line; living conditions; problem of lice; rotation in and out of front line and question of boredom; attitude to Germans; fraternisation with Germans, 3/1916; snipers; opinion of officers; story of court martial for insolence, 1/1917; mining activities in Loos sector, France, 11/1915-6/1916.
REEL 2 Continues: casualties; question of desertion; opinion of French Army troops; comparison of French, British and German trench systems; German weaponry; transfer to Somme, France, 8/1916; description of going over the top and advance across No Man's Land near High Wood, France, 15/9/1916; role as No 2 in Lewis Gun team; question of personal morale; role of officers during advance; nature of German opposition; speed of advance; sight of dead Germans; story of being wounded and medical treatment; reaction to being wounded.
REEL 3 Continues: further medical treatment and evacuation from front line; comments on first use of tanks; description of Lewis Gun; return to GB for further medical treatment; attitude of civilians to war; prior recollection of being given white feather, 1915; nature of wounds. Aspects of period as officer with Tank Corps in GB, 1917-1918: background to applying for commission and assignment to Tank Corps, 7/1917; training on Mark IV Tank; problem of manoeuverability; tank crew; armaments; male and female tanks; role as tank commander; communication between tanks; speed; breakdowns.
REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of operations as officer with Tank Corps on Western Front, 1918: posting to Somme, France, 3/1918; accommodation; relations with French civilians; description of gun carrier tanks; story of tank catching fire; role of tanks in final advance against Germans; German prisoners of war; reaction to news of Armistice in Forest of Mormal, France, 11/11/1918; question of stress under artillery bombardment and shell shock cases