Description
Object description
Photocopy of an interesting ms memoir (97pp), written in 1920, partly consisting of detailed diary entries covering the period from March - June 1917, but covering his service with the 13th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment (February - August 1915), lying about his age on enlistment as he was over 40, his promotion to Sergeant and service as musketry instructor with the 14th (Reserve) Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment (August 1915 – July 1916), volunteering for overseas duty and rejoining the 13th Battalion (116th Brigade, 39th Division) on the Western Front (August – September 1916), service in the front line trenches near Thiepval Ridge and Beaumont-Hamel, the action on 3 September in which he was badly wounded in the neck by shrapnel and his evacuation back to the United Kingdom and the 3rd Northern General Hospital in Sheffield; following his recovery, he was drafted as an instructor to the 7th Northamptonshire Labour Company (renumbered 145 Labour Company in May 1917) (March 1917 – 1919) based at Sittingbourne, Kent but was sent overseas immediately back to the Western Front, based firstly near Amicourt, moving to the Somme immediately behind the front line (May – July 1917), to Avecappelle in Belgium (July – November 1917), and to various locations around the Somme (November 1917 – March 1918), spending many hard days retreating on foot during the German Spring Offensive (March 1918), crossing the Hindenburg Line to Clary on the Aisne (October 1918), his wounding again by shrapnel, returning to the Aisne after the Armistice and describing his breakdown in December 1918 after which he was sent back to the UK and spent four months in hospital before being discharged. Themes throughout his account include his duties with 145 Labour Company which included repairing railways (sometimes alongside a Canadian Railway Construction Company) blown up by the Germans, visiting captured German trenches including the Quadrilateral Trench, wandering through battlefields from the previous year and finding the decaying bodies of British, French and German soldiers, hearing about German mistreatment of French civilians, noting names found on makeshift graves, the intense shelling and devastation of the Somme sector, his duties as an Orderly Sergeant, and criticism of British commanders.
Content description
Photocopy of an interesting ms memoir (97pp), written in 1920, partly consisting of detailed diary entries covering the period from March - June 1917, but covering his service with the 13th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment (February - August 1915), lying about his age on enlistment as he was over 40, his promotion to Sergeant and service as musketry instructor with the 14th (Reserve) Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment (August 1915 – July 1916), volunteering for overseas duty and rejoining the 13th Battalion (116th Brigade, 39th Division) on the Western Front (August – September 1916), service in the front line trenches near Thiepval Ridge and Beaumont-Hamel, the action on 3 September in which he was badly wounded in the neck by shrapnel and his evacuation back to the United Kingdom and the 3rd Northern General Hospital in Sheffield; following his recovery, he was drafted as an instructor to the 7th Northamptonshire Labour Company (renumbered 145 Labour Company in May 1917) (March 1917 – 1919) based at Sittingbourne, Kent but was sent overseas immediately back to the Western Front, based firstly near Amicourt, moving to the Somme immediately behind the front line (May – July 1917), to Avecappelle in Belgium (July – November 1917), and to various locations around the Somme (November 1917 – March 1918), spending many hard days retreating on foot during the German Spring Offensive (March 1918), crossing the Hindenburg Line to Clary on the Aisne (October 1918), his wounding again by shrapnel, returning to the Aisne after the Armistice and describing his breakdown in December 1918 after which he was sent back to the UK and spent four months in hospital before being discharged. Themes throughout his account include his duties with 145 Labour Company which included repairing railways (sometimes alongside a Canadian Railway Construction Company) blown up by the Germans, visiting captured German trenches including the Quadrilateral Trench, wandering through battlefields from the previous year and finding the decaying bodies of British, French and German soldiers, hearing about German mistreatment of French civilians, noting names found on makeshift graves, the intense shelling and devastation of the Somme sector, his duties as an Orderly Sergeant, and criticism of British commanders.
History note
Cataloguer SJO