Description
Object description
British NCO served with 1st Cavalry Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps on Western Front, 1914-1918
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of operations with 1st Cavalry Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps on Western Front, 8/1914-11/1918: mobilized with 7th Bde Royal Horse Artillery, 1914; account of gas attacks and treatment of wounded during Second Battle of Ypres, 4-5/1915; description of terrain and living conditions along Langemarck-Poelcapelle road, Ypres, 30/Jul/1917; accommodation in tented camp near Ypres Canal; daily routine and duties in charge of 12 stretcher-bearers; story of shell from naval gun landing on camp; story of finding booby-trapped body of German in pillbox; repair of duckboards; description of medical equipment and supplies; method of treating wounds; attitude to use of morphine; question of Royal Army Medical Corps personnel being unarmed; opinion of cavalry.
REEL 2 Continues: story about being wounded, 28/Mar/1918; description of treating casualties from Royal Garrison Artillery; various memories of German offensive, 3/1918; description of field guns stuck in mud alongside Langemarck-Poelcapelle road, 10/1917; question of being court-martialled if left working party to treat casualties; story of retrieving body of Cpt. Freeman-Mitford for burial at Potijze, 5/1915; problem of carrying wounded on stretchers through mud at Passchendaele; number of men used to carry stretcher; opinion of rations; duties during Battle of Cambrai, 11/1917; description of treating soldier with legs blown off and soldier with shrapnel bullet in penis; story of finding body of soldier cut in half by shell; description of shelling at Poelcapelle; question of awareness of military operations; problem of casualties among trained Medical Officers; problem of telephone lines being cut; story of being Mentioned in Dispatches for delivering message to Col. Pitman in Sanctuary Wood, 1915; attitude to army discipline; comparison of Regular and New Army troops.
REEL 3 Continues: opinion of Douglas Haig and conduct of war; story of air attack by Gotha bombers on transport column near Ypres, 10/1917; description of bombardment on Ypres Salient at night, 5/1915; story of conversation with tank officer about bullets penetrating armour plating; problem of soldiers dying from carbon monoxide poisoning in dugouts; description of treatment for frostbite; variations in temperature and weather conditions at Arras, 4/1917; reflections on war service and physical condition.