Description
Object description
Edited ts transcript (143pp) of his letters and postcards home covering his training with the 1/5th Battalion London Regiment in England and decision, aged 17, to volunteer for service overseas (August - October 1914) and his service with the Battalion (11th Brigade, 4th Division) on the Western Front from November 1914 till he was wounded in April 1915, including participation in the Christmas truce and good descriptions of conditions in the trenches, his convalescence in a Red Cross hospital in Northiam, Sussex (May - July 1915), his training as a subaltern with the 3/17th Battalion London Regiment in Hampshire (November 1915 - November 1916) and service, mainly as a machine gun and bombing officer, with the 1/17th Battalion London Regiment (141st Brigade, 47th Division) in France and Belgium from November 1916 till he was gassed in March 1918, but embracing a month in Michelham Convalescent Home in the South of France (February 1917), and finally his recuperation in various military hospitals in England (April - August 1918); together with an ms diary (117pp) kept during his service, in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, as Commandant of 30 Reception Camp when it was situated at Naples and Taranto in Italy (June - October 1944) and then, under 3 Corps, in an army barracks in Athens, Greece following the Allied intervention in that country (October 1944 - June 1945) with useful descriptions of the establishment of the camp in Athens and its work in accommodating troops and released prisoners of war of many Allied nationalities, including Russians; with frequent references to civilian conditions in Greece, in particular the warmth of the initial reception accorded to the British troops and the deteriorating political situation culminating in the Communist attempt to seize power in December; and commenting also on British Army staff work and VE Day celebrations in Athens. The diary is accompanied by a number of related items, including a printed guide to Greece issued to British troops, annotated town plans of Athens and Piraeus, a propaganda leaflet from the civil war, a concert programme, the Greek edition of the VE Day 'Union Jack' newspaper and two group photographs
Content description
Edited ts transcript (143pp) of his letters and postcards home covering his training with the 1/5th Battalion London Regiment in England and decision, aged 17, to volunteer for service overseas (August - October 1914) and his service with the Battalion (11th Brigade, 4th Division) on the Western Front from November 1914 till he was wounded in April 1915, including participation in the Christmas truce and good descriptions of conditions in the trenches, his convalescence in a Red Cross hospital in Northiam, Sussex (May - July 1915), his training as a subaltern with the 3/17th Battalion London Regiment in Hampshire (November 1915 - November 1916) and service, mainly as a machine gun and bombing officer, with the 1/17th Battalion London Regiment (141st Brigade, 47th Division) in France and Belgium from November 1916 till he was gassed in March 1918, but embracing a month in Michelham Convalescent Home in the South of France (February 1917), and finally his recuperation in various military hospitals in England (April - August 1918); together with an ms diary (117pp) kept during his service, in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, as Commandant of 30 Reception Camp when it was situated at Naples and Taranto in Italy (June - October 1944) and then, under 3 Corps, in an army barracks in Athens, Greece following the Allied intervention in that country (October 1944 - June 1945) with useful descriptions of the establishment of the camp in Athens and its work in accommodating troops and released prisoners of war of many Allied nationalities, including Russians; with frequent references to civilian conditions in Greece, in particular the warmth of the initial reception accorded to the British troops and the deteriorating political situation culminating in the Communist attempt to seize power in December; and commenting also on British Army staff work and VE Day celebrations in Athens. The diary is accompanied by a number of related items, including a printed guide to Greece issued to British troops, annotated town plans of Athens and Piraeus, a propaganda leaflet from the civil war, a concert programme, the Greek edition of the VE Day 'Union Jack' newspaper and two group photographs
History note
Cataloguer RWAS
History note
Catalogue date 1992-01