Description
Object description
British NCO served as signaller with B Bty, 110th Bde Royal Field Artillery in GB and on Western Front, 1915-1919
Content description
REEL 1: Recollections of background in Manchester and Lincolnshire, 1893-1914: family circumstances; education; work as blacksmith's apprentice, 1906-1907; work as farm labourer and background to failed attempt to join army, 1911; work as farm labourer; reactions to outbreak of war, 4/8/1914; influence of German naval coastal bombardments; decision not to join infantry and recruitment into Royal Artillery at Lincoln, 14/12/1914. Period with 77 Squad Royal Artillery at Newcastle- upon-Tyne, 12/1914-1/1915: basic training; refusal of offer of promotion to corporal. Recollections of period as gunner with B By, 110th Bde Royal Field Artillery at Frome, Bournemouth and Pitcomer Camp, Winchester and Aldershot, 1/1915-9/1915: composition of unit; makeshift gun drill; specialist training as signaller; riding practice.
REEL 2 Continues: riding practice and effects of old leg injury; relationship with NCOs and story of being charged for being late on parade; relationship with officers, other ranks and civilian population; billets during detachment on infantry liaison exercises at Bournemouth; nature of signal training; problems with feet; firing guns on range. Voyage to Le Havre, France, 25/9/1915. Sings 'Homelands'. Recollections of period in Ploegsteert Wood sector, Bethune area, 9/1915-5/1916: initial movements by train; establishing gun positions; role as observation post signaller including laying and repairing telephone lines back to gun positions.
REEL 3 Continues: role as OP signaller including laying and repairing telephone lines back to gun positions, importance of repairing telephone lines and liaison with OP officer, OP camouflaged as tree, wet conditions, view from OP, signallers' rota and informal training from officer in artillery observation; conditions of service; promotion to corporal; signal course. Recollections of period at Vimy Ridge, Arras area, 5/1916-6/1916: difficulty in maintaining telephone lines and role in charge of exchange; change to double telephone wire top prevent Germans tapping message; story of being gassed by lachyrmatory cloud gas attack and question of gas masks; effects of mustard gas, 1917; award of DCM.
REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of period in Somme area, 6/1916-11/1916: story of visiting brother in neigbouring unit and news of his subsequent death; move into gun positions in Lochnager Crater; accommodation in German dugouts; story of getting drunk on rum; ground conditions; story of OP officer rescuing wounded soldier in No Man's Land; relationship with infantry; story illustrating German shellfire on gun positions; OP duties; stories illustrating wet ground conditions in Mouquet Farm sector; conditions of service including latrines, personal cleanliness and lice problem.
REEL 5 Continues: train journey during local leave; periods in line; question of letter and parcel contacts with GB; role in charge of Signal Section; story of overcoming signaller's loss of nerve at La Boisselle; relationship with officers in OP and story of correcting incompetent officer; view of German lines from OP; personal morale and story of close escape from German shellfire. Periods in Lens,, Chapelle Armentieres and Ploegsteert sectors, 11/1916-: story of drinking stolen whisky; case of Irish soldier's self inflicted wound; reaction to soldiers chewing cordite to feign illness; gun positions in houses at Ploegsteert. Recollections of Battle of Messines, 7/6/1917-14/6/1917: pause before opening of bombardment and detonation of mines; close escape from German shell; success in organising concentrated bombardment on German battery spotted from OP on Messines Ridge; effect of heavy bombardments; moves.
REEL 6 Continues: Recollections of period in Ypres area, 7/1917-Mont des Cats; story of German shellfire on OP; story of officer wounded at Pozieres, 1916; story of officer's attachment to his horse; gun positions by Menin Road in Moated Grange sector; reaction to suffering of horses; casualties; story of being ordered back to wagon lines for brief rest; view from OP; view of attack of 13th Bn Cheshire Regt; story illustrating value of experience in determining destination and type of German shellfire; comparison of relative exposure to danger with infantry; daily routine and duties as signaller. Recollections of German offensive in Somme area, 21/3/1918-5/4/1918: German bombardment.
REEL 7 Continues: German bombardment; initial retirement; orders to stand in position and supplying rifle ammunition to infantry covering force; firing over open sights; difficult ride during further retirement to Achiet-le-Petit; looting from canteen at Achiet le Grand; story of driver dying from drinking rum; view of German initial attack on front line, 21/3/1918; state of morale; water supply; story of discovering wounded German soldier whilst laying telephone line. Various aspects of operations in Champagne, Somme and Mons areas, 5/1918-11/1918; loss of guns; laying telephone wire and questions of circumstances of award of DCM to NCO; opinion of US troops; story of escorting gassed soldiers to US dressing station; story illustrating inexperience of US troops in failing to clear German troops from dugouts during attack; situation and news of Armistice, 11/11/1918, Various aspects of period in St Hillaire les Cambrai area, France, 11/1918-: GB leave, 11/1918-1/1919; story of soldier charged with desertion for returning late from leave through family's illness with influenza.
REEL 8 Continues: sympathy for soldier charged with desertion for returning late from leave; billets and relationship with French civilians; question of using French wells; promotion to acting sergeant; hospitalisation and evacuation to GB with severe cold. Hospitalisation prior to demobilisation, 2/1919. Post-war career: question of remaining in army; attitude to war service.