Description
Object description
British NCO served with 1/9th Bn Hampshire Regt in India, 1916-1918; served in Russia, 1918-1919
Content description
REEL 1: Background in West Country, 1893-1914: education; employment; reason for volunteering, 10/1914; problem of heart condition; story of enlistment and medical examination. Aspects of training with 1/9th Cyclist Bn in GB, 1914-1915: description of basic training in Southampton and Chichester; role of the Cyclist Bn; accommodation and duties; memory of seeing Zeppelin; conversion of 1/9th Cyclist Bn into infantry battalion and renamed 1/9th Hampshire Regt, 11/1915; description of cycles and training; story of cyst and medical treatment; description of journey to India, 1916.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations with 1/9th Hampshire Regt in India, 1916-1918: description of daily life and duties in Bangalore; posted as clerk to General Southey in Jullunder and nature of duties; description of role as confidential clerk to Brigadier-General Luard and nature of duties in Waziristan region; story of mission to Tank; memory of mutilated bodies of Gurkhas; description of Bn Hq in Jandola and hill terrain of Waziristan area; problem of raiders; story of peace negotiations and British officer fighting as mercenary against British; story of poisoned well and contracting malaria and dysentery; further description of Waziristan campaign and nature of duties as clerk; opinion of Brigadier-General Luard; story of monocle; question of flogging as punishment.
REEL 3 Continues: further comments on flogging; further description of duties as clerk in Waziristan; question of air activity; nature of terrain and problem of communications; opinion of local tribes and question of honesty; story of football match; question of captives being skinned alive and order to save last bullet for own self; description of Khyber Pass; amusing story of card game; description of living conditions in Waziristan; opinion of rations; problem of heat; accommodation; question of Anglo-Indian relations and opinion of Gurkhas and Sikhs; problem of VD and precautions; communications with home and amusing story of telegram; description of communications and signals systems in Waziristan; question of courts martial and punishments; 1/9th Bn transferred to Vladivostock, Russia, 11/1918.
REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of operations with 1/9th Bn Hampshire Regt in Russia, 1918-1919: description of journey to Vladivostock and role as support for Admiral Kolchak; description of Vladivostock and living conditions; problem of cold weather; moved to Omsk and description of conditions, 1919; accommodation in school and problem of rats; memory of Russian baths; description of winter clothing and fumigation procedure; amusing story of Japanese troops and brandy; description of daily life and duties in Omsk; social life and question of reporting conversations with Russians; attitude of Russian civilians to British forces.
REEL 5 Continues: further comments on daily life and conditions in Omsk; description of rail journey from Omsk to Ekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk); problem of frostbite and treatment; description of landscape; question of Canadian assistance to troops; memory of religious services and opinion of Russian clergy and peasants; story of role in recruitment for Admiral Kolchak's White Russian forces and problem of VD; question of Russian prostitutes and use of unsweetened lime juice to suppress sexual urges; further comments on role in recruitment.
REEL 6 Continues: further comments on Russian peasants and clergy; description of visit to house in Ekaterinburg where Russian royal family were murdered in 1918; story of two suspected spies; description of daily life and duties in Ekaterinburg, 1919; memory of soldier drowned in lake; question of food supplies; amusing story of Russian fire engine; story of return to Vladivostock and meeting American troops; story of British and American sentries guarding trains.
REEL 7 Continues: attitude to role in Russia; story of hearing news of Armistice; description of journey back to GB via Canada, 12/1919; story of apples; description of conditions in Vladivostock; attitude to Bolshevik seizure of power and murder of royal family; further comments on Russian clergy; memory of visit to Siberian prison; memory of General Ironside.