Description
Object description
British NCO served with 20th Bn Manchester Regt and 8th Bn Loyal North Lancashire Regt on Western Front, 1916; POW in Germany, 1916-1918
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of training with 20th Bn Manchester Regt in GB, 1916: enlistment;basic training in Manchester, Morecambe and Grantham; attitude to army life and discipline; daily routine; further training on Salisbury Plain; posted to France, 1916. Aspects of operations with 20th Bn Manchester Regt on Western Front, 1916: moved into line at Hebuterne, France; description of conditions in trenches; first experience of being shelled; baths; story of sap; moved into Fricourt sector, Somme; reaction to dead and wounded; story of contracting trench and medical treatment, 7/1916; transferred to 8th Bn Loyal North Lancashire Regt, Thiepval sector, 8/1916; description of going over top and crossing No Man's Land; entered German trenches; wounded in leg by grenade; opinion of German trenches; story of being taken prisoner.
REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of period as POW in France and Germany, 1916-1918: opinion of medical treatment; interrogation; transferred to hospital in lace factory and medical treatment; transferred to POW camp in Munster, Westphalia, Germany; further medical treatment in hospital in monastery; food parcels; moved into main camp; opinion of food; accommodation and sleeping arrangements; daily routine; discipline; transferred to smaller camp; description of working in fields; washing and sanitary facilities; opinion of food; relations with other prisoners; communication with home; clothing; relations with guards; Red Cross parcels; reason for pepper removed from parcels; question of ill-treatment by guards; attitude to escape; problem of rats; moved to camp at Linden, 1918; description of living conditions; story of receiving news of Armistice and journey to Holland, 11/1918.
REEL 3 Continues: returned to GB. Further aspects of operations on Western Front and as POW in Germany, 1916-1918: relations with French civilians; memories of friends; sporting activities; opinion of NCOs and officers; attitude to survival; promoted lance-corporal; story of egg; question of prisoner exchanges; recreational activities in POW camps. Post-war life and employment.