Description
Object description
British medical officer served with Royal Army Medical Corps attached to 2nd Bn Norfolk Regt, 18th (Belgaum) Bde, 6th (Poona) Div in Mesopotamia, Ottoman Empire, 11/1914-4/1916 including Siege of Kut-el-Amara, 11/1915-4/1916; prisoner of war in Mesopotamia and Syria, Ottoman Empire, 4/1916-11/1918
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as medical officer with Royal Army Medical Corps attached to 2nd Bn Norfolk Regt, 18th (Belgaum) Bde, 6th (Poona) Div, Indian Army in Mesopotamia, 11/1914-4/1916: attachment as medical officer to 2nd Bn Norfolk Regt on posting from India, 11/1914; living conditions and medical facilities in Basra; attitude towards Arabs; transfer northwards to Amara, 1915; skirmishes with Arabs and Ottoman Turkish Army; climate; health of men; water supplies and transportation; description of Battle of Ctesiphon, 11/1915; casualties and lack of medical facilities; role of Arabs; retreat to Kut-el-Amara; transportation of wounded by barges; role as medical officer and types of wounds treated; conditions in Kut-el-Amara, 11/1915; strategic position and fortifications; medical facilities in Kut-el-Amara and treatment of wounded during siege.
REEL 2 Continues: problem of food supplies and question of eating horses and mules; accommodation; eating starlings; water supplies; making cigarettes; question of morale during siege; receiving supplies dropped by aircraft; opinion of Major-General Charles Townshend; casualties during siege; story of receiving news of relief force; problem of dwindling food supplies; attitude to surrender of garrison, 29/4/1916; daily life during siege; problem of flies; sanitary facilities; state of health of garrison. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Mesopotamia and Syria, Ottoman Empire, 4/1916-11/1918: capture by Ottoman Turkish Army troops and question of treatment; attitude to separation of officers and other ranks; journey into captivity; opinion of food and water rations; relations with Ottoman Turkish Army captors.
REEL 3 Continues: treatment by Ottoman Turkish Army captors and journey into captivity; accommodation during march; opinion of food; story of receiving dental treatment in Aleppo, Syria; communication with home; sanitary facilities; daily routine; question of morale; story relating to German engineers; health of officers and duties as medical officer; question of venereal disease; opinion of rations; relations between British and Indian troops; opinion of Gurkha troops; reaction to news of Armistice, 11/11/1918; opinion of Turks; description of journey to GB.
REEL 4 Continues: question of health of men after release; reflections on conduct of Mesopotamian Campaign; description of Battle of Ctesiphon and casualties, 11/1915; opinion of Indian Army organisation of campaign. Aspects of period as Consultant Venereologist to War Office in London, GB, 1939-1945: problem of venereal disease and treatments; educational programme; comparison of problem of venereal disease in First and Second World Wars. Reflections on Mesopotamia Campaign 1914-1916: opinion of Major-General Charles Townshend; modes of transport; water supplies; sight of Arch of Ctesiphon; attitude towards Arabs; retreat after Battle of Ctesiphon and Siege of Kut-el-Amara and assessment of role of Major-General Charles Townshend; problem of contracting typhus.