Description
Object description
British officer served with 4th Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in GB, on Western Front and in Italy, 1914-1919
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in London and Goring, 1896-1914: education at Winchester; opinion of OTC activities and passing 'Certificate A'. Period at Public Schools Camp organised at Tidworh Pennings, 8/1914: influence of Sir Beechcroft Towes in gaining early commission; nature of recruits; question of prior awareness of approach of war. Period as officer with 4th Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry at Writtle Camp, 9/1914-3/1915: personal morale; question of life expectancy of officer, 1914-1915; prior tactical training at Tidworh Pennings Camp; question of German ease of identification of officers in action; origins of officers; nature of training; voluntary recruitment of various non conformists and businessmen; origins and opinion of various officers; question of taking up place at Oxford University; question news from Western Front; personal morale; effects of war on recruits from rural background.
REEL 2 Continues: Reaction to being left behind due to age on move of unit to Western Front and period with 2/4th Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry at Broxborne, 3/1915-5/1915. Period with draft at No 16 Infantry Base Depot, Le Havre, 5/1915: parents' reaction; role of officer's servant and story illustrating nature of relationship. Recollections of period in Ploegsteert Wood sector, Bethune area, 5/1915-7/1916: reception; first impressions and question of accuracy of post-war literary perceptions of war; situation; state of morale; duties touring breastwork trenches as platoon commander; stand to; sniper problem; attitudes of French, Saxon and Prussian troops in line; reports of Christmas truce, 25/12/1914.
REEL 3 Continues: reports of Christmas truce, 25/12/1914; conversations with German soldiers. Recollections of conditions of service and lifestyle during period in Hebuterne sector, Somme area, 7/1915-6/1916: reserve role during Loos offensive, 9/1915; duties; minenwerfers; superior German supply of shells; food rations supplemented by food hampers and question of officers superior diet; rum ration and decision not to issue it prior to attack; cigarette ration and importance of smoking during war; copses; chlorinated water supply; story of unsuitable officer; review of fictional presentations of war; question of censoring letters and 'green envelope' system; question of pastoral care for other ranks.
REEL 4 Continues: story of bringing forward young soldier's leave after he continued despite loss of nerve during attack on Passchendaele, Ypres area, 2710/1917; post-war regimental reunions; personal hygiene and lice problem; relationship with senior officers; rat problem; GB leave, 10/1915; winter routine; recreations during rest periods at Courcelles; opinion of various characters. Aspects of operations in Somme area, 7/1916-7/1917: period in reserve during initial failed attacks, 7/1916; opinion of attritional nature of fighting and state of morale.
REEL 5 Continues: question of use of gas and tanks; German air attacks on balloons; state of morale; nature of fighting; personal morale; medical arrangements; failure of shell fire to clear German barbed wire; wounded in No Man's Land; question of use of bayonets; question of diary and photographs; nature of battlefield; question of role of French mutinies in necessitating Third Ypres offensive and post-war meeting with Lieutenant General Hubert Gough; Italian mutinies following Battle of Caparetto, 1917; question of accuracy of post-war analysis of First World War; superiority of German trenches and dugouts; destroyed villages and towns; German booby traps on entrance into Peronne, 3/1917; question of superior performance of soldiers from urban rather than rural backgrounds; question of shell shock resulting in functional blindness; question of self inflicted wounds.
REEL 6 Continues: story of intervening to attempt to help soldiers who had lost nerve, his subsequent suicide and reaction to attitude of authorities; stories of giving evidence at courts martial and comparison of treatment of soldiers who had lost nerve with methods in Second World War; use of Field Punishment No 1; reading out notice of executions to company; promotion to company commander, 1/7/1916; value of public school education illustrated by responsibilities accepted by naval midshipmen; enjoyment of role as company commander; opinion of Lieutenant Colonel Bartlett; opinion of regular officers and story illustrating character of Major General Fanshawe; story of meeting Prince of Wales and his attempts to get into front line; attitude to high command.
REEL 7 Continues: winter conditions; leading raid in Peronne sector and commencement of German retreat, 16/3/1917; story illustrating attitude of cavalry and German POWs during advance across open country to Hindenburg Line; award of MC for role in raid in Peronne sector, 16/3/1917; attending refresher course, 7/1917. Period in Ypres area, 8/1917: situation and perspective as junior officer; importance of maintaining unit morale; question of personal morale, its reflection in letters to mother and their subsequent use in writing 'An Infant in Arms'; question of avoidance of military service in Second World War. Recollections of operations in Italy, 11/1917-1/1919: collapse of Italian front following German/Austrian offensive; train journey to Turin.
REEL 8 Continues: reception from Italian civilians; journey to take up positions above Piave River; situation; preliminary bombardment prior to failed Austrian offensive, 6/1918; opinion of Austrian troops; wearing gas masks; opinion of Italian troops; effects of Spanish influenza, 7/1918; circumstances of mass surrender of Austrian soldiers, 11/1918; advance to Trentino; story of entertaining Austrian officer POWs in officers' mess; Armistice, 8/11/1918; role as education officer; early demobilisation as student, 1/1919; circumstances of surrender of Austrian troops; story illustrating reaction to news of German offensive, 3/1918. Review of war service.
