Description
Object description
British gunner served with Royal Field Artillery on Western Front 1915-1916; served in Mesopotamia and Afghanistan, 1916-1921
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Rhondda Valley, Wales; family; employment in mining engineering; story of volunteering for Royal Field Artillery, 14/Aug/1914. Aspects of training with Royal Field Artillery in GB, 1914-1915: description of training in Woolwich and Brighton; types of guns and ammunition; attitude to army life and discipline; posted to France, 1915. Aspects of operations as gunner with Royal Field Artillery on Western Front, 1915-1916: description of conditions in Bethune sector, France; role and location of battery; posted to Mesopotamia, 1915. Recollections of operations as gunner with Royal Field Artillery in Mesopotamia, 1916-1918: description of journey to Basra via Marseilles, Suez Canal and Persian Gulf; marched to position on River Tigris opposite Kut-el-Amara; description of terrain and Arab villages; memory of seeing Kut across River; story of pontoon bridge; description of from Kut to Baghdad and Persian Hills; transport and supply lines; naval activity on Tigris; water supplies; problem of snipers; casualties in battery caused by dud shells; story of life being saved by mistake on gun; question of awareness of daily events; description of Turks being driven out of Baghdad.
REEL 2 Continues: description of Baghdad following Turkish withdrawal; attitude to Turkish POWs; question of not firing on mosques; state of health; problem of malaria and sand-flies; opinion of rations; communications with home; morale; story of married man receiving 'Dear John' letter of rejection; relations with officers; march formation; reaction to news of Armistice and celebrations, 11/1918; marched to Karachi, India, via Baghdad and Basra. Aspects of period as gunner with Royal Field Artillery in Afghanistan, 1919-1920: description of operations in Afghan border; casualties; story of horses sold to Arabs; religious beliefs and activities with Salvation Army.
REEL 3 Continues: role of Salvation Army during First and Second World Wars; description of activities with Salvation Army in South Africa.