Description
Object description
British private served with Army Cyclist Corps and as signaller with Machine Gun Corps on Western Front, 1917
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of operations with Army Cyclist Corps and Machine Gun Corps on Western Front, 1917: story of attending machine gun course at Etaples and being offered post as instructor; attitude to promotion; description of ration train being shelled at Ypres, 7/1917; story of enlistment with 9th Bn East Surrey Regt in GB and volunteering for Army Cyclist Corps; story about being arrested in estaminet and sentenced to 28 days No.1 Field Punishment; duties with working party at night on Kemmel Hill; story about taking souvenirs from houses in Bapaume; story about guarding two German POWs; description of treatment and living conditions for POWs; attitude to Germans; accommodation in bivouacs; story of spotting for naval gun on Kemmel Hill; description of terrain on Messines Ridge; story of dummy cottage used as camouflage for 9" howitzer; description of howitzers firing at bridge; duties at ammunition dump; description of artillery barrage on Sanctuary Wood and exploding bullets; description of mines exploding on Messines Ridge, 7/Jun/1917; reason for being transferred to Machine Gun Corps and duties during advance; description of weather conditions, terrain and rations.
REEL 2 Conditions: story about being recommended for Military Medal; posted to Neuve Eglise; billeted in brewery; duties cycling to Armentieres to collect rations; description of digging forward trenches under fire; story about warning officer not to halt his men on open road; duties as signaller with Machine Gun Corps; description of filling in and camouflaging shell holes; story of hitching lift in ambulance to Ypres; opinion of living conditions in cellar at chateau; attitude to being sent on detachment as frontier guard.
REEL 3 Continues: story of making and selling souvenirs; attitude to taking items from German dead; story of removing dead horse from road at Ypres; description of chateau; story of using Mills bombs to catch fish; story of soldier stealing coal from train; story about Canadian soldiers; reaction to leaving chateau and returning to Poperinghe; description of shelling of GS wagons on road between Poperinghe and Ypres; duties clearing road of dead horses and filling in shell holes; attitude to fear; use of prison in Ypres as rations store; problem of smell from dead horses; further description of living conditions in cellar at chateau; question of being able to sleep; story about travelling in punt along canal at St Omer.