Description
Object description
British private served with 9th Bn Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regt) on Western Front and in Italy, 1916-1918
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Richmond, Yorkshire, 1897-1914: family; education; description of employment as farm labourer; memory of outbreak of war, 8/1914; story of attempting to enlist and question of age, 1914; story of enlistment at Richmond Barracks, 9/1916. Aspects of training in GB and France, 1916: description of training at West Hartlepool; accommodation; opinion of food; drill; route marches; rifle training; posted to France, 12/1916; description of further training at Etaples base camp; opinion of instructors. Recollections of operations with 9th Bn Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regt) Western Front, 1917: joined 9th Bn near Poperinghe, Belgium, 1/1917; moved to Ypres sector and description of trenches; opinion of rations; washing and sanitary facilities; problem of lice and rats; problem of cold and wet weather; daily routine; description of making barbed wire 'gooseberries'.
REEL 2 Continues: further comments on barbed wire 'gooseberries'; sentry duty; trench maintenance; description of German artillery and mortar fire; story of being wounded in shoulder; question of fear; description of Canada trench; opinion of NCOs and officers; description of role with working party at Hill 60; daily routine in rest areas; question of polishing buttons; fumigation of clothes; recreational activities; communication with home; comparison of conditions in front line and rest areas.
REEL 3 Continues: description of role in attack on Passchendaele Ridge, 9/1917; problem of mud; description of crossing No Man's Land and occupying German trenches; description of role as stretcher bearer in Polygon Wood sector, 10/1917. Recollection of operations with 9th Bn Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regt) in Italy, 1917: posted to Italian front, 11/1917; memory of retreating Italian troops; moved to trenches in River Piave area; comparison of conditions on Western Front and Italian front; memory of Austrian attack, 15/Jun/1918; story of role as stretcher bearer in night raid over River Piave and capture of Austrian prisoners. Aspects of operations with 9th Bn Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regt) on Western Front, 1918: posted to Abbeville, France, 10/1918; story of being wounded by sniper, 23/Oct/1918; medical treatment and convalescence; attitude to receiving 'Blighty' wound; memory of leave in GB, 1918; reaction to news of Armistice; demobilization, 1/1919. Post-war life and employment: question of remaining in army; employment; reflections on period of military service.