Matthews, Leslie Joseph (Oral history)

British sapper and NCO served with 5th Siege Coy, Royal Monmouth Royal Engineers, Royal Engineers in GB, Gallipoli, Turkey, Egypt and Palestine, Ottoman Empire, 1914-1917; NCO served with 13th Pontoon Park, Royal Engineers in Palestine, Ottoman Empire, 1917-1919

REEL 1 Background in Midsomer Norton, GB, 1897-1914: family; education. Aspects of enlistment and training as sapper with 5th Siege Coy, Royal Monmouth Royal Engineers, Royal Engineers in GB, 8/1914-5/1915: recruitment underage at Taunton, 8/1914; initial confusion of joining unit; opinion of officers; reactions to enlistment; uniform; rifle training; later involvement in wiring parties at Gallipoli, Turkey, 1915; specialist training in pontoon bridge assembly; later well digging activities at Gallipoli, Turkey, 1915; question of adequacy of training. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Scotian and HMT Mercian from GB to Mudros, Lemnos Island, Greece via Egypt, 6/1915-7/1915: ignorance of destination; conditions; send off and relations with civilians at Monmouth, GB. REEL 2 Continues: initial impressions of Mediterranean; leaving equipment at Port Said, Egypt. Recollections of operations as sapper with 5th Siege Coy, Royal Monmouth Royal Engineers, Royal Engineers at Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey, 7/1915-1/1916: landing from HMT Mercian, 19/7/1915; dug outs in cliffs at Gully Ravine; presence of 29th Div; range of duties; discovery of water in V Beach cliffs, digging wells using Norton Tubes and construction of holding reservoir above W Beach; brief detachment to Anzac Cove to dig wells and secure water supply to front lines; opinion of officer; nature of fighting at Anzac Cove and opinion of Gurkha troops; opinion of conduct of operations at Sulva Bay, 8/1915. REEL 3 Continues: opinion of General Ian Hamilton; story of meeting Field Marshal Lord Horatio Kitchener at W Beach, 11/1915; signs of evacuation, 11/1915-1/1916; carol singing at Headquarters, 29th Div, 24/12/1915; electric railway; role of Royal Navy; effect of artillery shell hitting signal headquarters dugout; story of narrow escape from artillery shell; role maintaining overall trench system; rations; effects of blizzard, 11/1915; situation, 9/1915-1/1916; gradual evacuation of unit; field bakery; requisitioning equipment from W Beach dump; cliff dugouts; story of soldier surviving serious head wound. REEL 4 Continues: situation; opinion of Ottoman Turkish Army troops and their morale; story of air raid whilst building hospital huts; morale; prevalence of dysentery, use of chloradyne and death of friend; latrines and waste disposal; question of corpses; contact with GB; daily routine; question of promotion to NCO; relations with officers and question of their living conditions; question of discipline and incidents of self-inflicted wounds; opinion of Australian, New Zealand and French Army troops. REEL 5 Continues: comparison of role of sappers and infantry; preparing evacuation jetties; remote rifle firing devices; morale of Ottoman Turkish Army troops; collection and destruction of stores at W Beach; evacuation to Mudros, Lemnos Island, Greece, 8/1/1916: casualty whilst boarding destroyer; firing remaining stores dump; question of effect of evacuation of Suvla Bay; effects of Gallipoli experience and opinion of Gallipoli Association, 1984. REEL 6 Continues: Recollections of operations as sapper and NCO with 5th Siege Coy, Royal Monmouth Royal Engineers, Royal Engineers in Egypt and Palestine, Ottoman Empire, 1916-1917: reorganisation at Port Tewfik, Egypt, 1916; failure of Ottoman Turkish Army attack on Ismailia, Egypt; charge of Australian Light Horse at Battle of El Arish, Egypt, 21/12/1916; piping water supplies from Bitter Lakes into Palestine; opinion of General Edmund Allenby; volunteering for special mission which was cancelled at last moment; laying Bangalore Torpedos prior to successful attack on Hill 60 near Beersheba, Palestine, 1916; advance towards Jerusalem, Palestine; leading assault on machine gun position at Tel el Sheria, Palesine, 1917; entry into Jerusalem, Palestine, 1917; evacuation with ingrowing toe-nail and malaria to No 17 British General Hospital at Alexandria, Egypt, 1917; football cup match during convalescence at Sidi Bishr, Egypt, 1917; collecting bodies from troopship sunk off Alexandria, Egypt, 1917. REEL 7 Continues: patrolling with Desert Mounted Corps, 1917; opinion of Arabs and story of them suffering casualties whilst collecting grenades left on battlefield. Aspect of period as NCO with 13th Pontoon Park, Royal Engineers in Palestine, Ottoman Empire, 1917-1919: posting to unit from convalescence camp, 1917; question of returning to old unit; story of pontoon crossing of River Jordan, 30/4/1918; story of meeting T E Lawrence during successful sabotage mission to blow up Turkish railway line in desert, 1918; basing of unit at Haifa, 1918-1919; temporary promotion to company quartermaster sergeant; 1919. Aspects of return to and demobilisation in GB, 2/1919: route taken back to GB; fight with United States Army troops in Italy; securing early demobilisation. REEL 8 Continues: demobilisation procedure. Reflections on military service at Gallipoli, Turkey, Egypt and Palestine, Ottoman, Empire, 1914-1919: reaction to Armistice in Palestine, 11/11/1918; stealing oranges in Palestine; road conditions in Judaean Hills, Palestine; open warfare; wire netting roads; camel stretcher; fly problem at Gallipoli, Turkey, 1915; story of meeting Prince of Wales at Kantara, Egypt; post-war family move into farming; story of shooting accident.