Description
Object description
Well written journal (77pp ms) covering his service on the Western Front in 1918, initially with the 2/7th Battalion, the Worcestershire Regiment (183rd Brigade, 61st (2nd South Midland) Division) in the front line near St Quentin (January - February), attached to the 24th Entrenching Battalion (after the 2/7th Worcesters were disbanded) digging defences near Manancourt and then retreating across the Somme in the face of the German offensive at the end of March, and briefly with the 1/8th Battalion, the Manchester Regiment (126th (East Lancashire) Brigade, 42nd (East Lancashire) Division) at the front in the Bapaume area until he was sent to No 1 Australian General Hospital at Rouen for a minor operation in late April. The journal is of particular interest for its lengthy description of the Allied retreat in March, but also contains interesting references to morale, religion and the superiority of the Australian Army medical services over their British counterparts. Also, an extended account (7pp ms) of his journey to Rouen, via the 3rd British Casualty Clearing Station, and a receipt (in French) for a reward for the arrest of an escaped German prisoner of war.
Content description
Well written journal (77pp ms) covering his service on the Western Front in 1918, initially with the 2/7th Battalion, the Worcestershire Regiment (183rd Brigade, 61st (2nd South Midland) Division) in the front line near St Quentin (January - February), attached to the 24th Entrenching Battalion (after the 2/7th Worcesters were disbanded) digging defences near Manancourt and then retreating across the Somme in the face of the German offensive at the end of March, and briefly with the 1/8th Battalion, the Manchester Regiment (126th (East Lancashire) Brigade, 42nd (East Lancashire) Division) at the front in the Bapaume area until he was sent to No 1 Australian General Hospital at Rouen for a minor operation in late April. The journal is of particular interest for its lengthy description of the Allied retreat in March, but also contains interesting references to morale, religion and the superiority of the Australian Army medical services over their British counterparts. Also, an extended account (7pp ms) of his journey to Rouen, via the 3rd British Casualty Clearing Station, and a receipt (in French) for a reward for the arrest of an escaped German prisoner of war.
History note
Cataloguer VAF
History note
Catalogue date 1981-05