Description
Object description
British NCO served with 19th Bn King's Liverpool Regt on Western Front, 1915-1918; POW in France and Germany, 1918
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of operations with 19th Bn King's Liverpool Regt on Western Front, 11/1915-3/1918: story of enlistment with brother in King's Liverpool Regt in Liverpool, 1914; background to German offensive, 3/1918; description of terrain in St Quentin area, France; accommodation; defensive posts; patrols and password; description of trench system; opinion of German tactics; daily routine; description of preparations for German offensive; opinion of officers; digging trenches; moved into reserve trenches; problem of dense fog; memories of 18-pounder guns and low flying German aircraft; description of preparations for counter-attack on village, 20/Mar/1918.
REEL 2 Continues: position near cemetery; problem of enfilading fire from German machine gun post; description of attack and German counter -attack. 21/Mar/1918; problem of running out of ammunition; wounded in head by by shrapnel; story of being captured, 21/Mar/1918. Aspects of period as POW in France and Germany, 3-12/1918: medical treatment for head wound; marched to St Quentin; exchange of wounded; story of German officer; memory of meeting brother; marched into POW camp in Landrecies, France; question of British 5th Army retreating before German offensive; description of POW camp; food; treatment of head wound; morale; entrained to Langansalza camp, Germany; vaccinated; opinion of food and problem of food poisoning; moved to working camp in Wurrzburg, Germany; question of working.
REEL 3 Continues: role as interpreter on sick parade; problem of lack of food; Red Cross parcels; prison uniforms; opinion of commandant; daily routine; opinion of guards; description of camp; other nationalities in camp; bartering for food; food parcels; attitude to Germans; accommodation; story of visit to Wurzburg; flu epidemic and deaths of POWs; problem of lack of medical facilities; camp taken over by revolutionaries following fall of German government; story of Prussian officer and parade; reaction to liberation, 12/1918; condition of POWs; reception on return to GB; posted to camp at Rippon and into Army Reserve, 1/1919. Reads essay written by brother T S Williams about operations on Western Front.
REEL 4 Continues: continuation of essay.