Sanders, Frederick Arthur (Oral history)

British sapper served with 1/3rd (Kent Fortress) Field Coy, Royal Engineers in GB and Gallipoli, Turkey, 5/1915-12/1915 including sinking of HMS Hythe off Gallipoli, Turkey 28/10/1915; hospitalisation in Egypt, 12/1915-7/1916; NCO served as signaller with Cable Section, Royal Engineers Signal Service in GB and on Western Front, 3/1917-2/1918; served with Royal Engineers Signal Service attached to Headquarters, Second Army on Western Front and in Cologne, Germany, 2/1918-5/1919

REEL 1 Aspects of period in London, GB, 1912-1914: training and employment as draughtsman, 1912-1914; reaction to declaration of First World War, 4/8/1914. Recollections of period as sapper with 1/3rd (Kent Fortress) Field Coy, Royal Engineers at Gillingham and Chatham, GB, 5/1915-10/1915: gradual issue of uniform; procedure on response to newspaper appeal for recruits; accommodation; training including pontoons; horse transport; further details of gradual issue of uniform; relations with civilians and church attendance; leave; officers; lectures on Western Front conditions; NCOs and promotion bias towards men from Royal Tunbridge Wells; ignorance of Gallipoli posting; voyage aboard SS Scotian from GB to Mudros, Lemnos Island, Greece and transfer to HMS Hythe for voyage from Mudros, Lemnos Island, Greece to Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey, 10/1915. REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of HMS Hythe being sunk in collision with HMS Sarnia during crossing from Mudros Lemnos Island, Greece to Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey, 28/10/1915: crowded conditions on deck and tarpaulin to keep off sea spray; diving into sea; rescue by HMS Sarnia; assisting in rescue of survivors; post-war meeting with one of HMS Sarnia's crew; return to Mudros, Lemnos Island; situation on collision; post-war memorial to men lost; overcrowded conditions aboard HMS Hythe; story of survivor. Aspects of operations as sapper with 1/3rd (Kent Fortress) Field Coy, Royal Engineers at Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey, 11/1915-12/1915: landing at V Beach; digging rest area dugouts; sniping problems whilst constructing machine gun emplacement in front line; digging wells in Krithia Nullah with specially recruited engineers; delayed evacuation with acute appendicitis; medical operation for peritonitis aboard hospital ship and in Egypt, 12/1915-7/1916; return to GB as unfit for further service and recovery during voyage, 7/1916. Aspects of period at 1/3rd (Kent Fortress) Field Coy, Royal Engineers Depot at Maidenhead, GB, 8/1916-12/1916: duties; transfer to Royal Engineers Signal Service, 1/1917; prior recollection of medical operations and treatment for peritonitis during period of hospitalisation in Egypt, 1/1916-7/1916. Aspects of operations as sapper with 1/3rd (Kent Fortress) Field Coy, Royal Engineers at Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey, 11/1915-12/1915: landing at V Beach; climate, situation and activities. REEL 3 Continues: destruction of stores prior to evacuation; living conditions; role assisting other engineering units; opinion of Australian and Indian troops; digging wells in Krithia Nullah with specially recruited engineers; limited contact with officers; question of evacuation. Recollections of operations as NCO with Cable Section, Royal Engineers Signal Service on Western Front, 3/1917-2/1918: signal training in GB, 1/1917-3/1917; cable laying wagon; burying telephone cable in Arras area, France, 1917; casualties and promotion to corporal; bombing casualties amongst horses; duties in charge of telephone cable store on Somme, France, 1917; period based at Goldfish Chateau, Ypres, Belgium, 7/1917-1/1918, including difficulties in laying cable from Home Farm to Zillebeke Lake under artillery fire during British attack, 31/7/1917 and duties on ration parties supplying signallers in front line; attack of shingles during leave in GB, 1/1918-2/1918. Recollections of period as NCO with Royal Engineers Signal Service attached to Headquarters, Second Army on Western Front and in Cologne, Germany, 2/1918-5/1919: circumstances of posting; news of Armistice, 11/11/1918; reception from German civilians on arrival in Cologne, 12/1918. REEL 4 Continues: clerical duties in signal office; choir concert in front of King George V; accommodation in Cologne; relations with German civilians; singing with Rhine Army Choral Society; food shortages amongst Belgian civilians, 1918; opinion of Germans; demobilisation and securing employment as gas engineer, 5/1919.