Description
Object description
British officer commanded Admiralty Pier Extension Bty, 46th Coy, Royal Garrison Artillery in Dover Harbour, GB, 9/1914-3/1915; served with 30th Siege Bty, Royal Garrison Artillery in GB and on Western Front, 4/1915-11/1916; served with 62nd Siege Bty, Royal Garrison Artillery on Western Front, 11/1916-2/1917
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of education at Lancing College, GB, 1907-1913: reason for choosing military career and value of public school experience; story of protest over rules governing singing in chapel; story of starting insurance scheme to compensate for displinary canings; interview to get into Royal Naval College, Osborne and rejection on medical grounds, 1908. Aspects of period as cadet at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, London, GB, 1913-1914: daily routine; curriculum; opinon of adequacy of training.
REEL 2 Continues: reaction to outbreak of First World War, 4/8/1914; drilling newly commissioned officers. Aspects of period commanding Admiralty Pier Extension Bty, 46th Coy, Royal Garrison Artillery in Dover Harbour, GB, 9/1914-3/1915: reception; relations with NCO; makeshift accommodation; anti-torpedo boat role in defence of harbour; routine duties; Admiralty notification of expected harbour traffic and treatment of unexpected arrivals; question of submarine threat; story of accidental firing of QF 12 Pounder Naval Gun and consequent alarm; trawlers practical joke to try and provoke submarine alarm.
REEL 3 Continues: night routine; effects of storm; fishing. Aspects of period attending course at Siege Battery School, Royal Garrison Artillery, Lydd, GB, 3/1915-4/1915: lack of prior siege training recieved at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; training on BL 6 Inch Howitzer; flash and indirect observation methods and question of relevance on Western Front; ranks of officers on course; gun drill. Aspects of period as officer with 30th Siege Bty, Royal Garrison Artillery in GB, 4/1915-8/1915: unit composition on formation at Weymouth, 4/1915; training; delay in issue of uniforms; question of value of firing practise with antiquated guns on Lydd Ranges; stories illustrating character of Major W D Alexander.
REEL 4 Continues: equipment on mobilisation at Taunton, 8/1915; shortages of telephone equipment and methods used to obtain extra supplies. Recollections of operations as officer with 30th Siege Bty, Royal Garrison Artillery on Western Front, 8/1915-11/1916: establishing positions for 8 Inch Howitzers at Erquinghem-Lys, France; observation post at Bois Grenier, France; ammunition shortage; ineffectiveness of early counter-battery work and later developments; firing at targets in German trenches; story illustrating infantry officer's ignorance of artillery work; saving limited ammunition supply for particular target; billets at Erquinghem; wet conditions at Neuve Chapelle, France.
REEL 5 Continues: initial problems with quality of shells and fuses; recollections of Battle of Loos, 9/1915-10/1915 including moving into gun positions, problems with multiplicity of telephone lines in communication trenches, establishing observation posts for preliminary bombardment, failed attempt to use gas and reasons for failure of offensive. Recollections of operations as officer with 30th Siege Bty, Royal Garrison Artillery during Battle of Somme on Western Front, 6/1917-11/1917: laying telephone lines to observation post; open nature of gun positions; effect of shelling on targets in Sausage Trench sector, France; problem in identifying positions of attacking troops, 1/7/1916; amusing stories of failure of prior attempt to use pigeons to communicate with attacking troops and of corps commander interviewing private in front line; role as forward observation officer during preliminary bombardment; fatigue, problem in identifying positions of attacking troops, 1/7/1916.
REEL 6 Continues: move to Caterpillar Valley, France; German shelling; water shortage; gas masks; effects of German gas shell bombardment; importance of team work in battery; opinion of Royal Artillery technical and administrative superiority to other units. Aspects of operations as officer with 62nd Siege Bty, Royal Garrison Artillery on Western Front, 11/1916-2/1917: German observation of gun position area at Marinpuich, France; winter conditions; inability to fire without revealing gun positions; move to Bullecourt, France; effects of increased supply of shells with improved fuses; question of degree of training of new officers and their inability to use shrapnel shells correctly; opinion of staff officers.