Fullerton, W J (Oral history)

British private served with 14th Bn Middlesex Regt, 93rd Bde, 31st Div in GB, 8/1914-8/1915; served with 1st Bn Middlesex Regt, 19th Bde, 2nd Div on Western Front, 9/1915-7/1916; served with 18th Bn Middlesex Regt (1st Public Works Pioneers), 33rd Div on Western Front, 8/1916-9/1916; served with 4th Bn Middlesex Regt, 63rd Bde, 37th Div on Western Front, 9/1916-10/1917; NCO served with Tank Corps in GB and on Western Front, 10/1917-11/1918

REEL 1 Recollections of operations as NCO with Tank Corps on Western Front, 11/1917-11/1918: role as second right-hand gunner; firing at houses to knock off slates; description of re-starting and driving away damaged tank; bombing by German aircraft; digging-in in chalk-pit; casualties; three week rest followed by posting to Fontainbleau; selling souvenirs to American troops; move to Mormal Forest, 10/1918; story of use of smelling salts after mustard gas attack; celebrating Armistice Day, 11/11/1918 and return to GB for demobilisation. REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of training as private with 14th (Reserve) Bn Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regt), 93rd Bde, 31st Div in GB, 8/1914-8/1915: outbreak of First World War, 4/8/1914 and brothers volunteering; enlistment at New Cross, London, 28/8/1914; posting to battalion; training at Chatham and Gravesend; drill practise; amusing story of accidentally bayoneting sergeant major; issue of uniform; billets in Colchester, Shoreham-by-Sea and Lancing, including sight of Zeppelin raid. Recollections of operations as private with 1st Bn Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regt), 19th Bde, 2nd Div on Western Front, 9/1915-7/1916: arrival in France, 9/1915; posting to battalion; involvement in Battle of Loos, 9/1915-10/1915; amusing story of having French pigs for Christmas lunch, 25/12/1915; explanation of term 'thinning out parades'; manning machine-gun post at 'Seymour Street' in Cambrin sector, France; comrade's wounding by shrapnel; story of hearing German miners tunneling and mine explosion; story of French spy signalling to German aircraft on La Bassee Road; memories of comrades wounded by shell in trench; accidental injury to Corporal Sylvester and post-war meeting; conditions in trenches at Festubert, France; incident of officer shooting rats in water; story of two men hit by one bullet. REEL 3 Continues: description of position on La Bassee-Bethune road; casualties caused by German shelling; transfer to scouting party; sight of battalion's commanding officer on white horse; firing rifle grenades and Stokes Mortars; night attack and failure to take prisoners; wounding in legs by shell fire, 7/1916 and return to GB for treatment and convalescence; story of girl giving him strawberries on station. Aspects of period as private with 18th (Service) Bn Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regt) (1st Public Works Pioneers), 33rd Div on Western Front, 8/1916-9/1916: posting to battalion on arrival at Bray-sur-Somme, France, 8/1916; story of stealing coal; incidents of comrades hit by shell cap in trench and blown up by brazier. REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of operations as private with 4th Bn Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regt), 63rd Bde, 37th Div on Western Front, 9/1916-10/1917: operations at Courcelles-Flers, France and clearing dug-outs in Hindenburg Line, 9/1916; danger of booby-traps; story of taking German prisoners; operations near Ypres and in Polygon Wood, Belgium; danger from splinter grenades; move to Passchendaele, Belgium; loss of men in ration parties; carrying Vickers Machine Gun; medical treatment; story of sleeping on corpse; amusing story of encountering Germans in shell hole. REEL 5 Continues: Aspects of operations as NCO with Tank Corps in GB and on Western Front, 10/1917-11/1918: volunteering for Tank Corps in Polygon Wood, Belgium, 10/1917; selection process and tests for volunteers; return to GB for period of training at Tank Corps Depot at Bovington Camp, GB; training and naval gunnery training at Chatham and Lulworth Cove; return to France to collect tank; problem with engine; involvement in action during Battle of Cambrai, 11/1917; description of zero hour and attack; sight of Germans surrendering; issue of rum ration; promotion to first driver.