Description
Object description
British private served as signaller with 14th Bn (2nd Barnsley) York and Lancaster Regt in GB, Egypt and on Western Front, 1915-1916
Content description
REEL 1: Story of enlistment and training with Royal Field Artillery; reason for leaving to join 14th Bn York and Lancaster Regt; question of enlistment at 14; memory of brother killed in Navy; story of court martial. Aspects of training with 14th Bn York and Lancaster Regt in GB, 3-12/1915: training at Cannock Chase and Ripon camps including as transport driver; posted to Salisbury Plain; training as signaller; memory of hot weather; route marches; uniform and kit; problem of fires on Salisbury Plain; question of poaching; problem of driving mules; posted to camp at Ripon; use of Number 9 pills; opinion of Medical Officer.
REEL 2 Continues: story of home leave; description of uniform; gambling. Aspects of operations with 14th Bn York and Lancaster Regt on Western Front, 1916: description of journey to Egypt via Malta, 12/1915; memory of troops singing; inoculation; sleeping arrangements; daily routine; arrival in Port Said and first impressions; attitude to Egyptian workers; relations with Egyptian civilians and attitude to Muslims; recreational activities; opinion of rations; contact with Egyptian Labour Corps; accommodation in tented camp; sanitary facilities; camels.
REEL 3 Continues: problem of sand shifting; water supplies; use of sand to clean Dixie; daily routine; opinion of Colonel Holt; problem of lice; description of journey aboard SS Megantic to Marseilles, 3/1916; souvenirs. Recollections of operations with A Coy 14th Bn York and Lancaster Regt on Western Front, 1916: entrained to Pont Remy and marched to Amiens; question of billets; problem of abscess; posted to trenches in Colincamps sector, Somme, 3/1916; conditions in trenches; baths; weather conditions; description of trench system; reaction to being under fire and question of fear; description of German artillery shells; question of fraternization with Germans; trench maintenance.
REEL 4 Continues: description of landscape at night and Very lights; role as signaller; memory of walking on decomposing bodies; shell shock cases; story of trench mortar shells; carrying supplies at night; conditions in trenches; problem of rats; opinion of rations; types of German artillery shells; description of artillery bombardment prior to Somme offensive; casualties; use of Bangalore torpedoes during trench raid, 6/1916; opinion of tactics on first day of Somme offensive, 7/1916; tactical training exercises; description of assembling prior to going over top, 1/Jul/1916.
REEL 5 Continues: memory of friend killed by sniper; story of sergeant; kit and equipment; German trenches and dugouts; weather conditions and sound of birds; memory of mine explosion; nature of terrain; question of collecting souvenirs; casualties in Gommecourt Wood area; description of advance over No Man's Land and German wire; role as signaller and equipment; story of being wounded in leg by shrapnel and medical treatment in France and GB; memory of disembowelled soldier; question of burial of bodies.
REEL 6 Continues: Various recollections of operations on Western Front and period in GB, 1916-1918: story of French boy; memory of death of brother; convalescence in GB and accusation of fraudulent enlistment, 1916; attitude of parents; reason for enlistment; song about Barnsley Pals; further memory of brother; care of uniform and delousing; duty in listening post; story of tribunal; description of work in munitions factory in GB; further memories of 1st July 1916.
REEL 7 Continues: pre-war employment as dental mechanic; memory of Captain Ward; field punishments; attitude to NCOs; opinion of senior commanders; description of Somme terrain and German wire; opinion of effectiveness of bombardment; relations with French civilians; story of tower in Colincamps; amusing story of tattoos.