Burke, Ulick Bernard (Oral history)

British officer served with 3rd Bn Devonshire Regt in GB, 1914; served with 2nd Bn Sherwood Foresters and 2nd Bn Devonshire Regt on Western Front, 1914-1918; POW in Germany, 1918.

REEL 1 Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine as cadet aboard HMS Conway moored in Mersey River, 1909-1911: failed application to enter Osborne Naval College; entrance interview; organisation of naval and Merchant Marine cadets; ship layout and accommodation on orlop deck; coaling ship. REEL 2 coaling ship; relationship with Merchant Marine cadets; role of cadet petty officers; story of being fooled by practical jokes on arrival and subsequent punishment over misunderstanding; story of injuries suffered through practical joke whilst climbing rigging and subsequent punishment of offender; stowing hammocks; corporal punishment with spunyarn. REEL 3 Continues: question of bullying by senior cadets; stowing hammocks; washing; mess table; breakfast; cleaning decks divisional parade; educational classes; learning to fire boiler; sailing pinnace; lunch. REEL 4 Continues: tea; recreations; tea parties with captain; rowing contests; failing entrance examinations for Dartmouth Naval College. Recollections of OTC activities during period attending Plymouth College, 1911-1913: summer camp exercises; Certificate A training. Recollections of period as officer training with 3rd Bn Devonshire Regt at Exeter and North Raglan Barracks, Devonport, 4/1914-10/1914: pay and bills. REEL 5 Continues: description of officers' mess lifestyle including mess bills, necessity of securing allowance from father, drinking habits, treatment of officers in financial debt, recreations, disapproval of regular dining out of mess, food and traditional procedure of mess night; pride in regiment; officers' saluting drill; subsequent effects of war on messlife. REEL 6 Continues: story of accidentally failing to salute colonel's wife; necessity of securing colonel's permission to marry; inspection of officers' civilian walking out clothes; ceremonial uniforms worn in officers' mess and on church parade; tea dances; calling card etiquette; drill; rifle training including practice in aiming and target recognition. REEL 7 Continues: rifle training including rifle range procedures, rapid fire techniques and ammunition control; other ranks' ceremonial uniform, webbing and equipment; preparing for kit inspections; puttees; nature of disciplinary offences and punishments including clashes with sailors and punishment drills; route marches. REEL 8 Continues: route marches; question of other ranks wearing civilian clothes; status of regulars; guard duties and 'stick man' system; practice in digging shallow trenches with entrenching tool; mobilisation procedure and posting of drafts to 1st and 2nd Bns Devonshire Regt on outbreak of war, 4/8/1914; mass recruitment and consequent shortage of uniform. REEL 9 Continues: shortages of uniform and shells; wartime attitude of British and French civilians to soldiers; move to North Raglan Barracks, Devonport; role of depot. Recollections of operations with 2nd Bn Sherwood Foresters on Western Front, 10/1914-12/1914: circumstance of posting to replace officer casualties; train journey and march to join unit; ration parties; communication trench; reception and posting as platoon commander; morning routine; sentry system; repairing trenches. REEL 10 Continues: cooking arrangements and food rations; iron rations; sentries; reconnaissance patrols and checking state of German barbed wire; wiring parties; repairing and improving trenches; question of shaving and baths; effects of wet conditions including attempts to drain trenches and trench feet. REEL 11 Continues: lice problem; story of being wounded in foot during reconnaissance patrol; food rations; medical treatments at regimental aid post and evacuation to GB, 12/1914. Recollections of period commanding trench mortar section with 2nd Bn Devonshire Regt in Armentieres sector, France, 4/1915-7/1915: prior trench mortar training and method of firing; German artillery retaliation to mortar fire; problem carrying mortar bombs; reaction of infantry to mortar fire; comparison of British mortars with minenwerfers. REEL 12 Continues: method of taking up mortar positions and firing on map referenced targets without direct observation; nickname of 'Suicide Club'. Aspects of periods in GB, 1914-1915: effects of war; reaction to newspaper reports on Western Front. Recollections of operations with 2nd Bn Devonshire Regt in Somme area, 1916-1917: state of unit morale; battlefield conditions; comparison of British and German dugouts. REEL 13 Continues: question of value of experience in trench warfare; German shellfire; story of trying to avoid zone of fire of German machine gun prior to going over top; question of discipline including story of over strict officer shot by his own men during attack, state of morale during retreat, 3/1918, role of training and value of instilling self reliance in other ranks; question of behaviour of German officers; fighting patrols and story of getting caught in German barbed wire; introduction of 106 fuse shell designed to clear barbed wire; consolidation of German trenches. Recollections of operations in Ypres area, 4/1917-7/1917: question of varying conditions on Western Front. REEL 14 Continues: absence of winter offensives; training on practice battlefield; familiarisation with Railway Woods sector; storing ammunition in elephant shelters; rest period at Wieltje including checking ammunition, recreations, visits to estaminets and church canteens and concert parties. Account of attack from Railway Woods towards Bellewaarde Lake, 31/7/1917: question of rain; briefing; rum rations atmosphere in front line prior to attack, 03.50; successful advance to Lake Farm. REEL 15 Continues: rate of progress and formation employed in advance; use of hand grenades on German dugouts; question of use of bayonet and prior training; receiving bayonet shoulder wound on jumping into German trench; medical treatment at regimental aid post and White Chateau Casualty Clearing Station during evacuation as walking wounded; period of hospitalisation and convalescence. Recollections of operations in Ypres area, 9/1917-12/1917: difficulty in using railway sleeper and duckboard tracks and case of drowning in mud. REEL 16 Continues: situation and muddy ground conditions; absence of latrines; nature of shell hole trench lines; story illustrating difficulty in locating front line posts; tea in former petrol cans; hay boxes; rations parties supplied by other units; us of lime chloride; trench fever and feet; rest period at Wieltje, 2/1917; strategic background to Ypres offensive. Recollections of operation during German offensive in Somme area, 3/1918-4/1918: success in command of C Coy in defence of St Christ bridge across Somme, 23/3/1918-25/3/1918; rearguard actions during retreat. REEL 17 Continues: supply situation; question of physical fitness; emergency move back into line and operations in Villers Brettonneux sector, 4/1918; reinforcement drafts of former rear echelon troops. Move into Aisne area, 5/1918: reception on taking over from French; appointment as adjutant and question of quality of reinforcement drafts; cave billets at Roucy. Account of German offensive in Bois de Buttes sector, Aisne area, 27/5/1918: emergency move from reserve into line on German attack and attempts to locate 'battle headquarters'; German preliminary bombardment; case of accidental firing on retreating French troops; defence of Pontavert Bridge from repeated German attacks from direction of Juvincourt including orders not to retreat, ammunition shortage, leg wounds and ordering final bayonet charge. REEL 18 Continues: capture by German troops. Recollections of period as POW in hospitals at Heidelburg and Mannerheim in Germany, 6/1918-10/1918: inadequate nature of medical treatment; inspections by German officers; story of having jaw broken by rifle butt having accidentally hit German doctor during operation without anaesthetic; special treatment during inspection by Swiss delegation; lack of notification of parents; food. Repatriation via Netherlands to GB, 10/1918: reception from German civilians in Cologne; nature of repatriation scheme for severely wounded; attack on German medical orderlies on passing into Netherlands; effects of rich food; story of German doctor grafting officer's amputated arm stump to chest prior to repatriation; closure of bank account having being notified dead; reception in Plymouth; hospitalisation, 1918-1921.