Symes, Maurice (Oral history)

British private served with 1/8th Bn Somerset Light Infantry on Western Front, 1915-1916, including Battle of the Somme, 1/Jul/1916; served with 1/4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry in Mesopotamia and Turkey, 1917-1919

REEL 1: Background in Somerset, GB, 1896-1915: family; education; employment; story of enlistment with Somerset Light Infantry, 1915; problem with eyesight; reason for volunteering; medical; uniform. Aspects of training with Somerset Light Infantry in GB, 4-9/1915: description of basic training in Taunton and Plymouth; drill; route marches; musketry and bayonet drill; opinion of NCOs and officers; description of journey to France, 9/1915. Recollections of operations as private with 1/8th Bn Somerset Light Infantry on Western Front, 1915-1916: description of conditions in camp at Etaples; opinion of officers; marched to Armentieres; billeted in barn; relations with local civilians; memories of Christmas 1915; moved into front line, 10/1915; description of trenches and terrain in Armentieres sector; proximity of German trenches; opinion of rations; cigarettes; ammunition supplies; sanitary and washing facilities; baths; problem of lice and rats; snipers; daily routine; sentry duty; problem of lack of sleep; working parties. REEL 2 Continues: story of Royal Engineers officer; trench raids; use of Stokes mortar; effects of artillery shelling; shell shock cases; comradeship; story of tins of jam; memory of friend; story of sergeant; relations with NCOs; opinion of officers; rest periods out of line; state of health; medical facilities; communication with home; opinion of postal service; relations with French civilians; opinion of French; billets; transferred to Somme sector, 4/1916;description of preparations for Somme offensive; training as company bomber; digging underground tunnel for mine near Fricourt; artillery barrage; attitude to fear; description of going over the top and crossing No Man's Land, 1/Jul/1916; wounded and sheltered in shell hole. REEL 3 Continues: description of troops advancing; strength of German opposition; casualties; intended objective; role of officers; description of wounds and medical treatment at Casualty Clearing Station; returned to GB on hospital ship, Aspects of period in GB, 1916: further medical treatment in Manchester; effects of wounds; medical board; discharged from hospital and posted to 1/9th Bn Somerset Light Infantry in Swanage, GB, 9/1916; transferred to 1/4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry ar Boscombe, 11/1916; description of voyage from GB to India aboard SS Empress of Britain via South Africa, 12/1916-3/1917; disembarked in Bombay, India, 3/Mar/1917. Aspects of operations with 1/4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry in Mesopotamia and Turkey, 3/1917-7/1919: summary of movements; duties building railway in Mesopotamia; opinion of rations; relations with Arab civilians; climate and terrain; historical sites; problem of deaths from malaria and sand-fly fever; story of petrol cans; role in guard of honour; posted to camp at Kantara, Egypt,12/1918; living conditions. REEL 4 Continues: story of receiving news of end of war, 11/1918; description of policing duties with Army of Occupation in Constantinople, Turkey, 2-7/1919; black market activity including sale of army property; demobilisation, 7/1919.