Description
Object description
British private served as driver with 20th Coy, Army Service Corps on Western Front, 1914-1917; private served with 1/19th (County of London) Bn (St Pancras) London Regt, 141st Bde, 47th (2nd London) Div on Western Front, 1917-1918
Content description
REEL 1 Background in East Yorkshire, GB, 1893-1914: family; employment on farm; background to volunteering for service with Wagoner's Special Reserve, 1914. Aspects of enlistment with 20th Coy Army Service Corps in GB, 8/1914; enlistment, 5/8/1914; care of horses and problem of blinkers; journey from GB to France and arrival at Le Havre, France, 8/1914. Recollections of operations as driver with 20th Coy, Army Service Corps on Western Front, 1914-1917: attitude towards Germans; French civilians and refugees; posting to Paris area; sight of bridges blown up by retreating British Army; memories of German and British cavalry; problem of lack of training, lack of rations and water; sight of field of dead horses; confused nature of situation following retreat from Mons, Belgium, 1914; question of spies; problem of troops going Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL).
REEL 2 Continues: story relating to Field Punishment No 1 and intervention of French civilian women; opinion of Corps of Military Police and question of theft of rations; delivering supplies at night; problem of drunkenness among NCOs; morale; living conditions on Somme, France, 1915-1916; delivery of water and supplies; sight of infantry coming out of line. Recollections of operations as private with 1/19th (County of London) Bn London Regt (St Pancras), 141st Bde, 47th (2nd London) Div on Western Front, 1917-1918: background to posting to battalion, 1917; basic infantry training; operations in Somme area, France, 1917-1918; memory of gas attack at Senlis, France, 1918; description of going over the top.
REEL 3 Continues attack by tanks and cavalry in Somme area, France, 1918; German offensive and advances, 3/1918; Armistice Day at Armentières, France, 11/11/1918; problem of booby traps; march through Lille, France. Reflections on military service in First World War: attitude to being an Old Contemptible; story of post-war meeting with Queen Mother; home leave and attitude of civilians to war; question of current interest in the First World War; reflections on period of military service; question of comradeship; problem of finding post-war employment; story of death of sergeant; comparison of infantry service with Army Service Corps; description of conditions for horses on Somme, France; story of being awarded Military Medal, 1918.