Matthews, Leslie Joseph (Oral history)

British sapper served with 5th (Monmouth) Field Siege Coy, Royal Engineers in GB, Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine, 1914-1918; served with 13th Pontoon Park Coy, Royal Engineers in Palestine, 1918-1919

REEL 1 Background in Midsomer Norton, 1897-1914. Background to recruitment underage to 5th Field Siege Coy (Royal Monmouth Engineers), Royal Engineers at Taunton, 8/1914. Recollections of training at Monmouth, 8/1914-5/1915: initial confusion; opinion of officers; reactions to enlistment; uniform; rifle training; wiring parties at Gallipoli, 1915; special training in pontoon bridge assembly; well digging at Gallipoli, 1915; question of adequacy of training. Recollections of voyage on Scotia to Mudros, Lemnos, 5/1915: ignorance of destination; conditions; send off and relationship with civilians at Monmouth. REEL 2 Continues: first impressions of Mediterranean; leaving equipment at Port Tewfik, Egypt. Recollections of conditions of service and duties based at Gully Ravine and W Beach at Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey, 5/1915-1/1916: landing; 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 to dig wells and secure water supply to front lines; opinion of officer; nature of fighting at Anzac and opinion of Gurkha troops; opinion of conduct of Suvla operations, 8/1915. REEL 3 Continues: opinion of conduct of Suvla operations, 8/1915; opinion of Hamilton; story of meeting Kitchener at W Beach, 11/1915; signs of evacuation, 11/1915-1/1916; carol singing at Div headquarters; 24/12/1915; electric railway; role of Royal Navy; effect of shell hitting signal headquarters dugout; story of close escape from shell; role maintaining overall trench system; food 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 Turks 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; contacts with GB; daily routine; question of promotion to NCO; relationship with officers and question of their conditions of service; question of discipline and incidents of self inflicted wounds; opinion of Australian, New Zealand and French troops. REEL 5 Continues: comparison of role of sappers and infantry; preparing evacuation jetties; remote rifle firing devices; morale of Turkish troops; collection and destruction of stores at W Beach. Evacuation to Mudros, 8/1/1916: casualty whilst boarding destroyer; firing remaining stores dump; question of effect of Suvla evacuation. Effects of Gallipoli experience and opinion of Gallipoli Association, 1984. REEL 6 Continues: Reorganisation at Port Tewfik, Egypt, 1916. Recollections of operations in Palestine, 1916-1917: failure of Turkish attack on Ismailia; charge of Australian Light Horse at Battle of El Arish, 1916; piping water supplies from Bitter Lake into Palestine; opinion of Allenby; volunteering for special mission cancelled at last moment; laying Bangalore torpedos prior to successful attack on Hill 60, Beersheba sector, 1916; advance towards Jerusalem; leading assault on machine gun position at Tel-El-Sherna, 1917; entry into Jerusalem, 1917; evacuation to 17th General Hospital, Alexandria with ingrowing toe-nail and malaria, 1917; football cup match during convalescence at Sidi Bishr, 1917; collecting bodies from troopship sunk off Alexandria, 1917. REEL 7 Continues: period patrolling with Desert Mounted Corps, 1917; opinion of Arabs and story of them suffering casualties whilst collecting grenades left on battlefield; posting from convalescence camp to 13th Pontoon Park Coy Royal Engineers, 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 special sabotage mission to blow up Turkish railway line in desert, 1918; base at Haifa, 1918-1919; temporary promotion to company quarter master sergeant; 1919. Recollections of leave and demobilisation in GB, 2/1919: route back; fight with US troops in Aleandretta, Italy; securing early demobilisation. REEL 8 Continues: demobilisation procedure. Aspects of service in Palestine, 1918: reaction to armistice, 11/11/1918; stealing oranges; road conditions in Judaen Hills; open warfare; wire netting roads; camel stretcher; fly problem at Gallipoli, 1915; story of meeting Prince of Wales at El Kantara. Post war career: family's move into farming; story of shooting accident.