Description
Object description
British private served with 2/8th (City of London) Bn London Regt (Post Office Rifles), 174th Bde, 58th (2/1st London) Div in GB, 11/1915-8/1916; served with with 1/8th (City of London) Bn (Post Office Rifles) London Regt, 174th Bde, 58th (2/1st London) Div on Western Front, 8/1916-7/1917
Content description
REEL 1 Background in London, GB, 1897-1915: family; grandfather service in Crimean War; memories of Jewish immigrants; employment as messenger with General Post Office; problems with eyesight; attitude to discipline; drill instruction received from Royal Engineers; attitude to outbreak of First World War, 4/8/1914; attending meeting addressed by Horatio Bottomley. Recollections of training as private with 2/8th (City of London) Bn London Regt (Post Office Rifles), 174th Bde, 58th (2/1st London) Div in GB, 11/1915-8/1916: enlistment at Bunhill Row, London, 11/1915; question of age; reason for enlistment; reaction of family; issue of uniform; basic training at Blackheath; opinion of rations and accommodation; route march to Greenwich and back; question of physical fitness.
REEL 2 Continues: physical exercises; rifle drill; origins of London Rifle Regiments; training on Blackheath; drill; opinion of conditions and sleeping arrangements; move to camp at Fovant, 1/1916; opinion of messing arrangements and accommodation; description of training; drill; route marches; rifle training on range; memories of Derby Scheme men; opinion of instructors; question of discipline; kit inspection; level of crime in camp; bombing and bayonet practise; opinion of platoon officer.
REEL 3 Continues: story of visit to Saint-Omer, France; guard duty; attitude to platoon sergeants; recreational and sporting activities; amusing story of being drunk; medical examination and question of use of glasses; leisure activities outside camp; church parades and religious beliefs in battalion; explanation of Full Marching Order; awareness of war situation; leave; attending stretcher-bearer's course.
REEL 4 Continues: memories of Irish troops; drafting for France from transit camp in Southampton and voyage from Southampton to Le Havre, GB, 8/1916. Recollections of operations as private with 1/8th (City of London) Bn (Post Office Rifles) London Regt, 174th Bde, 58th (2/1st London) Div on Western Front, 8/1916-7/1917: march to Camp 15 at Harfleur, France, 8/1916; opinion of camp and accommodation; instance of climbing hill in full kit; discipline in camp; move to area around Arras, France; billeting in Louez-les-Duisans, France; transport in railway horse trucks; duties repairing trenches in front line; role in carrying party; confusion in rear areas after attack on Butte de Warlencourt, France; story of getting lost on battlefield and nearly entering German trenches; duties with B Coy ration party; sleeping arrangements in the line; march from Somme, France to Ypres, Belgium; rate of march and kit worn; role in blanket party.
REEL 5 Continues: discipline on march; visits to estaminets; alcohol; price of goods; visit to cinema in Poperinge, Belgium; attitude to civilians; description of Devonshire Camp in Ypres Salient; system of rotation in the line and daily routine; use of periscope to observe No Man's Land and Imperial German Army positions; problem of German artillery fire and casualties; description of trenches and means of fixing barbed wire entanglements; role in wiring and covering parties; use of concertina wire; impromptu Mills Bomb attack by NCO; duties in replenishing ammunition at Jackson's Dump near Hill 60; night patrols; problem of snow; hearing 'Silent Night' played on trumpet in Imperial German Army trenches; identification of Imperial German Army regiments; opinion of rations in front line; sleeping arrangements in front line; duties working on light railway; story of being shot in right buttock and medical treatment received.
REEL 6 Continues: removal of bullet from buttock and having it made into a souvenir; medical treatment at Casualty Clearing Station (CCS); issue of new kit and rifle; journey back to battalion in front line; question of never having fired rifle at Imperial German Army troops; problem of snipers and death of lance corporal; problem of drainage in trenches; description of strongpoint and function as delivery point for supplies; strength of the platoon; memories of various officers; question of discipline in the field; daily issue of dry socks; problem of cold weather; concentrated artillery bombardment prior to attack at Messines, Belgium; role in night raiding party at Wytschaete Ridge, Belgium; explosion of mines at Messines Ridge, Belgium, 7/6/1917; problem of Imperial German Army machine gun holding up advance; role as 'mopper-up' in clearing pillboxes and dugouts with Mills Bombs; formation during advance; question of cavalry not exploiting breakthrough; description of objective taken by battalion; memory of men swimming in Ypres-Comines Canal, Belgium; occupation of former Imperial German Army trenches; wounding by exploding artillery shell and being buried in trench; nature of wounds and treatment in the field; medical evacuation to rear by light railway and motor ambulance.
REEL 7 Continues: Recollections of period of hospitalisation and convalescence in France and GB, 7/1917-2/1918: description of wounds and medical treatment; memory of being saluted by civilians; nature of chest wound and treatment in No 1 Canadian General Hospital, Étaples France; question of immediate treatment of wounds in field; use of poultice to draw shrapnel out of chest without anesthetic; period with arms in splints and being fed by nurses; journey from France to GB; medical treatment in Northumberland War Hospital, Gosforth; continuing problem with shrapnel left in knee; visit by family and death of sister's husband; further details of medical treatment including physiotherapy; reaction medical discharge from military service, 2/1918; attitude to amalgamation of London Regiment battalions; opinion of Germans and fear of being taken prisoner; demobilisation and question of pension; convalescence and return to civilian employment with General Post Office.
REEL 8 Continues: Reflections on military service on Western Front, 1916-1917: showers and sanitary arrangements; use of Harrison's Pomade; amusing story of steam bath.