Description
Object description
British officer served with 1st Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 83rd Bde, 28th Div on Western Front and Salonika, Greece, 1915-1916
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Kingston upon Hull and Sheffield, GB, 1893-1914: education; family; training with Officer Training Corps (OTC) at University of Sheffield including accident on rifle range; memories of declaration of First World War, 4/8/1914. Aspects of enlistment and training with York and Lancaster Regt in GB, 8/1914-12/1914: initial attempt to join British Army and obtaining commission with 1st Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 12/1914; training at Jarrow. Recollections of operations as officer with C Coy, 1st Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 83rd Bde, 28th Div on Western Front, 1/1915-10/1915: arrival on Western Front as reserve for Second Battle of Ypres; operations in Menin Road area, Ypres, Belgium, 5/5/1915-8/5/1915; being made machine gun officer; victims of gas and description of gas protection equipment; attitude to use of gas and effects of gas; question of lack of battle experience and taking ammunition to front line; opinion of training received in GB; question of ammunition supplies during Second Battle of Ypres; comparison of German and Allied resources; morale; opinion of platoon of former miners; rations and food parcels; trench raids and condition of trenches; sanitary facilities; problem of rats; communication with home and question of maintaining optimistic tone.
REEL 2 Continues: opinion of rations and food supplies; comparison of rations for officers and other ranks; description of operations during Battle of Loos, France, 9/1915; journey to front line including transportation by former London buses; attack to regain Hohenzollern Redoubt; problem of ammunition and ration supply; description of Hohenzollern Redoubt and it's strategic importance; question of morale; story of being reported killed in action; casualties during Battle of Loos and medical services; memories of chaplain; death of friend 'Chippy' Adsett; duties sending home personal possessions from dead; question of ammunition supplies and artillery support during Battle of Loos.
REEL 3 Continues: opinion of conduct of Battle of Loos; move to position on La Bassée Canal, France; opinion of Belgian Army; description of landscape around Loos, France following battle; problem of communications; comparison of roles and losses among officer ranks; question of keeping diary; reason for maintaining optimistic tone in letters home; problem of rats and disease; state of health in trenches; memories of batman; question of discipline; attitude to overall progress of war. Recollections of operations as officer with 1st Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 83rd Bde, 28th Div at Salonika, Greece, 1915-1916: journey from GB to Salonika via Alexandria, Egypt; story of pipe; initial impressions of Salonika; accommodation; move to front line on River Struma.
REEL 4 Continues: setting up camp and problem of rain; role in observing Bulgarian Army with Bar and Stroud Rangefinder; Christmas, 25/12/1915; role in operations on River Struma; issue of cigarettes to troops dating from Boer War; opinion of Bulgarian Army; problem of mosquitoes; story of contracting malignant malaria and medical treatment in Salonika and Malta. Aspects of period of hospitalisation in GB, 1916-1918: further treatment at Samuelson Hospital in London, 1916; visit by King George V; disobeying order to go to Epping Forest and return home; discharge from British Army on medical grounds; further details of treatment of malaria; comparison of conditions in Salonika and on Western Front; problem of water supplies at Salonika and opinion of rations; post-war recurrence of malaria.