Description
Object description
German NCO served with 113th (5th Baden) Infantry Regt, 57th Infantry Bde, 29th Infantry Div, Imperial German Army on Western Front, 1914-1915; medical officer served with Army Medical Service, Imperial German Army on Western Front, 1916-1917
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of operations as NCO with 113th (5th Baden) Infantry Regt, 57th Infantry Bde, 29th Infantry Div, Imperial German Army on Western Front, 1914-1915: story illustrating former civilians ability to engage in hand-to-hand combat during trench attack at La Bassée, France, 1915; lack of awareness of approach of war prior to mobilisation, 1/8/1914; intended French offensive into Alsace-Lorraine; concealment of 29th Div in forest; entry with minimal fighting into Mulhouse, France, 10/8/1914; composition of Imperial German Army and conscription arrangements for medical students; drunkenness amongst French troops on entering Mulhouse, France; advance to Altkirch, France; move to Lorraine, France; nature of fighting; policy of taking French civilian hostages against attacks from irregular Franc-Tireurs forces; use of animal fats for soap and subsequent British propaganda alleging use of corpses; move via Belgium to Béthune area, France; development of trench system; truce organised with British to allow collection of corpses, 12/1914; shrapnel wound and evacuation, 6/1915; question of commission as infantry officer; commission into Army Medical Service as former medical student, 1915; French Army defensive lines at La Bassée, France; reaction to bayoneting French Army soldier during attack at La Bassée, France; later service as medical officer with 119th Infantry Regt during attack on Portuguese Army troops at Lys, Belgium, 4/1918; problem of tetanus infection; unit casualties from irregular Franc-Tireurs forces in French village and capture of group of Franc-Tireurs on bicycles; foot problems; reaction to atrocity propaganda stories relating to Imperial German Army; origins of false alarm and subsequent fire fight at Altkirch, France; reiteration of reaction to bayoneting French Army soldier during attack at La Bassée, France.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of period as medical officer with Army Medical Service, Imperial German Army on Western Front, 1916-1918: attending appendicitis case in observation post at Fort de Douaumont, Verdun, France, 1916: French shell fire; gas masks; use of underground operating theatre; discovery of casement containing corpses of German battalion incinerated in accident with flamethrower fuel; attempt to evacuate casualties under Red Cross and increase in French fire in contrast to British and German practise; background to obtaining commission, 1915; duties in hospital at Saint-Quentin, France; assistance from Russian surgeon from nearby prisoner of war camp; research into use of magnets to remove shell splinters from brain injuries; transporting wounded British Army prisoners of war during posting to ambulance train; attachment to heavy artillery unit and concealed preparations to repulse French Army offensive on River Aisne, France, 16/4/1917 including effects of successful bombardment of French Army troops in jumping off trenches, signs of French Army mutiny and discovery of pre-printed victory proclamations; additional duties as information officer to brief troops, 1917; operations on Somme, France, 6/1916 including effects of preliminary British artillery bombardment and emergence of German machine gunners at start of British Army attack, 1/7/1916; realisation of Brtitish medical situation and of German shortages of medical supplies on capture of British Army field hospital at Merville, France, 3/1918; effects of artillery bombardment of French Army troops in jumping off trenches during attachment to heavy artillery unit during French army offensive in Aisne, France, 16/4/1917. Recollections of operations as NCO with 113th (5th Baden) Infantry Regt, 54th Infantry Bde, 29th Infantry Div, Imperial German Army during attack on British Army positions in brickworks at La Bassée, France, 12/1914: heavy casualties during attack across No Man's Land; suspension of fire and assistance from British Army stretcher bearers under truce to collect casualties. Aspects of period as NCO with 113th (5th Baden) Infantry Regt, 54th Infantry Bde, 29th Infantry Div, Imperial German Army in Germany, 1914: conscription at Freiburg, 2/1914; departure form Freiburg, 4/8/1914; story illustrating speed of French Army retreat, 8/1914