Description
Object description
Bound edited ts transcript (115pp plus maps) of an expanded version of his wartime diaries covering his service (from June 1915 - February 1919) as a Private: with the 3/18th Battalion London Regiment after his enlistment as a 19 year old, with brief details of his training at Tadworth Camp near Epsom, Surrey (June - October 1915); in the 1/18th Battalion London Regiment (141st Brigade, 47th Division) on the Western Front with useful details of his experiences in the front line near Loos and the Hohenzollern Redoubt (October 1915 - February 1916) and further service with the battalion (June - September 1916) including a disastrous sham attack by his unit in the same sector (see 27 June 1916) as well as operations on the Somme, particularly during the capture of High Wood; attached to the 173rd and 176th Royal Engineers Tunnelling Companies near Loos and at Vimy Ridge with good descriptions of conditions inside mineshafts and coming under enemy attack (March - June 1916); with the 1st Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (87th Brigade, 29th Division from October 1916 - February 1918, then 109th Brigade, 36th Division, February - November 1918), to which he was forcibly transferred after being hospitalised sick, with an excellent account of his experiences, principally as a stretcher bearer, in front line trenches in the Somme sector near Albert (November 1916) and near Flers (January 1917), during the Battles of Arras (April 1917), Third Ypres (August 1917) and Cambrai (November 1917) with graphic descriptions of the gruelling nature of his work evacuating wounded under fire and burying the dead as well as details of operations carried out by his battalion both during engagements with the enemy and while laying cables and railway track, as well as good descriptions of chaos and confusion during the German Spring Offensive (March - April 1918), and of operations in the Ypres sector (April - October 1918) with vivid, detailed references to casualties from shellfire and gas (see 15, 18 and 26 August 1918) and descriptions of his battalion's advance towards Bailleul and Passchendaele Ridge and of the Battle of Courtrai after which he was awarded the Military Medal; also 2 pocket diaries for 1917 and 1918 (including addenda, 120pp and 102pp) and ms transcribed diary notes for June 1915 - August 1918 (160pp) and August - October 1918 (8pp).
Content description
Bound edited ts transcript (115pp plus maps) of an expanded version of his wartime diaries covering his service (from June 1915 - February 1919) as a Private: with the 3/18th Battalion London Regiment after his enlistment as a 19 year old, with brief details of his training at Tadworth Camp near Epsom, Surrey (June - October 1915); in the 1/18th Battalion London Regiment (141st Brigade, 47th Division) on the Western Front with useful details of his experiences in the front line near Loos and the Hohenzollern Redoubt (October 1915 - February 1916) and further service with the battalion (June - September 1916) including a disastrous sham attack by his unit in the same sector (see 27 June 1916) as well as operations on the Somme, particularly during the capture of High Wood; attached to the 173rd and 176th Royal Engineers Tunnelling Companies near Loos and at Vimy Ridge with good descriptions of conditions inside mineshafts and coming under enemy attack (March - June 1916); with the 1st Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (87th Brigade, 29th Division from October 1916 - February 1918, then 109th Brigade, 36th Division, February - November 1918), to which he was forcibly transferred after being hospitalised sick, with an excellent account of his experiences, principally as a stretcher bearer, in front line trenches in the Somme sector near Albert (November 1916) and near Flers (January 1917), during the Battles of Arras (April 1917), Third Ypres (August 1917) and Cambrai (November 1917) with graphic descriptions of the gruelling nature of his work evacuating wounded under fire and burying the dead as well as details of operations carried out by his battalion both during engagements with the enemy and while laying cables and railway track, as well as good descriptions of chaos and confusion during the German Spring Offensive (March - April 1918), and of operations in the Ypres sector (April - October 1918) with vivid, detailed references to casualties from shellfire and gas (see 15, 18 and 26 August 1918) and descriptions of his battalion's advance towards Bailleul and Passchendaele Ridge and of the Battle of Courtrai after which he was awarded the Military Medal; also 2 pocket diaries for 1917 and 1918 (including addenda, 120pp and 102pp) and ms transcribed diary notes for June 1915 - August 1918 (160pp) and August - October 1918 (8pp).
History note
Cataloguer AC