Description
Object description
British officer served with 14th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers in GB and on Western Front, 1914-1916; attached to 178th Tunnelling Coy Royal Engineers on Western Front, 1916; served as reconnaissance officer with B Bn Heavy Branch Machine Gun Corps and 2nd Bn Tank Corps on Western Front, 1916-1918; served with Tank Corps and Royal Tank Corps in GB and India, 1919-1931
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Jesmond, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1895-1910: family circumstances, education at Haileybury College, 1910-1913, including conditions, daily routine, syllabus, discipline, question of bullying, fagging system, sporting activities and nature of training with OTC; nature of activities with 1st Jesmond Troop, Boy Scouts, 1908-1910, and question of subsequent military relevance.
REEL 2 Continues: visits to Egypt and Palestine during Mediterranean sea cruise, 1914; period as apprentice mining engineer at Seaham Colliery, 2/1914-8/1914, including system of getting coal to surface, checking ventilation system, question of pursuing mining career and opinion of miners; realisation of approach of war; value of OTC training; reactions to outbreak of war, 4/8/1914. Reporting as prospective officer at Fenham Barracks, 8/1914: reasons; interview; subsequent commission, 22/9/1914. Periods with C Coy, 14th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers at Berkhamstead, Aylesbury, Cheshunt and Halton Park, 9/1914-7/1915: kitting out; initially inadequate pay; reception and first impressions on taking over temporary command of C Coy ; success in learning drill from manual; origins of officers; arrival of regular NCOs.
REEL 3 Continues: arrival of regular NCOs; importance of drill; rifle training; revolver; question of use of sword; route marches; question of tactical training; billets at Berkhamstead and Aylesbury; officers mess at Halton Park including problem with mess food bills, question of protocol, mess games, and drinking habits; story of saluting quartermaster in error; troops complaints about food rations.
REEL 4 Continues: relationship with officers; role during brief period as C Coy commander; relationship with other ranks, NCOs and civilians; question of pride in unit; question of reasons for conversion into Pioneer Bn at Cheshunt, 7/1915; nature of training under Royal Engineer officers as pioneers; reactions to army lifestyle as officer. Journey out to France, 9/1915: reception from French civilians; foot inspections route march to Vermelles; acting as advance guide; reaction to German shellfire.
REEL 5 Continues: Recollections of Battle of Loos, 9/1915: amusing story of officer urinating in night; confused situation on moving into line to dig new trenches in captured ground; orders to rally troops; reporting to headquarters of Guards Div who took over line; story of needless casualties from German shellfire illustrating problems with staff bureaucracy during move out of line; attitude to staff officers; burying corpses in former No Man's Land. Recollections of mining operations, conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine in Armentieres sector, 10/1915-4/1916: plan to dig under surface saps beneath German salient ready for British attack; checking No Man's Land to repair tunnel damage from German shellfire and danger from British sentries opening fire; method of fully timbering tunnels; supply of wood; carrying parties and story illustrating risk of aerial observation; digging methods and use of spoil in sandbags; daytime working; cancellation of attack; informal role in assisting neighbouring Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers with deep mine and breaking through into German mine gallery and ruse increase their water pumping; role in shallow tunnel operations including use of prismatic compass to check direction.
REEL 6 Continues: tunnel lighting; building defensive strongpoints; digging reserve line and harassing German machine gun fire; Armentieres billets and presence of French civilians; company officers mess including food rations and drinking habits; specially made bath; question of lice problem; wet and cold weather; reactions to German shellfire, minenewerfers and snipers; German trench raid; personal and unit morale; duty in church tower observation post and German shelling of church; reputation for ability with compass; performance of older officers.
REEL 7 Continues: Period at Arras, 4/1916. Period in Fricourt sector, Somme area, 5/1916-6/1916: digging under surface saps for use during offensive; checking No Man's Land to repair tunnel damage from German shellfire and close escape from being shot by British wiring party. Recollections of attachment to 178th Tunnelling Coy; Royal Engineers working on Tambour deep mine in Fricourt sector, 6/1916: listening duty using geophones to identify German mining activity; question of use of camouflet mines; ventilation ; chalk tunnels; question of mining policy; effects of detonation of mines, 1/7/1916; issue of motorcycles; personal morale; reasons for returning to unit. Recollections of period in Somme area, 7/1916: consolidation role in attack in Fricourt sector, 1/7/1916; including methods, view of deployment of field gun unit, advance and withdrawal into reserve; story of close escape from shell splinter on first issue of steel helmet and question of comfort; carrying party role; casualties during German heavy bombardment whilst clearing path for stretcher bearers in Trones Wood; question of unnecessary casualties.
REEL 8 Continues: reactions to view of first Mark V tanks during attack on Flers, 15/9/1916, including decision to volunteer for tank service and subsequent conversation with tank crew. Move to Lens, Bethune area, 10/1916-12/1916: gas casualties from leaking old gas cylinders; opinion of staff and senior officers; opinion of new colonel; volunteering for tank service. Recollections of period as reconnaissance officer with B Coy, B Bn Heavy Branch Machine Gun Corps on Western Front, 12/1916-2/1917: composition of unit; question of formal training; syllabus of reconnaissance officer course; tank crew duties including method of steering and communicating in tank; description of conditions in tank in action; question of tank tactics; navigation training role as reconnaissance officer; story of being wounded in cheek whilst reconnoitring for proposed tank attack in Lens sector, 2/1917.
REEL 9 Continues: training programme on joining unit including makeshift tanks, machine gun and gas courses; communication with infantry using shovels; story illustrating problems in using pigeons to carry message; use of unditching beam; use of fascines to cross trenches; stories illustrating opinion of senior officers; evacuation to GB, 2/1917; question of Blighty wound. Period in GB, 2/1917-6/1917: hospitalisation; posting to Bovington Camp. Journey back to France and unofficial action in rejoining unit, 6/1917. Account of watching tank landing tests at Erin, 6/1917: proposed tank landing at Ostend; method of using wooden crib and spikes on tracks to cross mocked up sea wall; personal enthusiasm for project and reasons for cancellation.
REEL 10 Continues: Recollections of operations in Ypres area, 10/1918: story of officer's accident whilst having bath; situation; successful tank attack by Composite Coy commanded by Major R H Broom using roads and its influence on planning for Battle of Cambrai; tank attack in Hooge Chateau sector including story of advancing on foot in failed attempt to try and co-ordinate infantry and tank attack on Japp Trench, question of correct employment of tanks and tanks use of unditching beam on return; story of taking shelter in former German dugout from German shellfire in Menin Road sector; problems in planning tank routes to front line and use of marker tapes; stories of being 'sniped' at by German shellfire; use of motorbike; question of use of tanks in broken ground; following tanks on foot in action to try and keep control. Period at Wailly tank training ground, 10/1917-11/1917.
REEL 11 Continues: reorganisation; using fascines to cross mock up of Hindenburg Line; development of specialist tank tactics for attacking trench lines; use of anchors dragged by tanks to clear barbed wire. Recollections of attack at Cambrai, 20/11/1917: prior secrecy; suitability of area for tank action; planning tanks routes to front line and laying tank marker tape; close escape from being crushed by tank whilst guiding tanks into lines at night, 19/11/1917; success in finding start position despite break in tank marker tape; question of Germans hearing tanks moving up; tanks' start positions; zero hour; use of relief crews to bring up tanks; view whilst following tanks on foot during attack; reasons for absence of German shellfire; situation on reaching German front line; minor thumb bullet wound; state of morale; situation on breaking through German lines and opinion of lack of exploitation cavalry or sufficient infantry to consolidate; withdrawal of tanks and return to headquarters; state of thumb.
REEL 12 Continues: Recollections of German counter-attack in Cambrai area, 11/1917: first signs of British retreat; guiding scratch force of tanks into position for intended counter-attack; success of Guard units in stopping German advance; opinion of lack of exploitation cavalry or sufficient infantry to consolidate; role of Brigadier Hugh Elles in leading original tank attack, 19/11/917; state of thumb. Period at Wailly, 11/1917-2/1918: tank track problems; recreations including horse riding, visits to estaminets and drinking habits; story of officer with shell shock; question of officers' gambling; unit morale and opinion of high command. Recollections of operations in Somme area, 2/1918-8/1918: opinion of policy of distributing tanks in small groups close behind British lines in preparation for German offensive; failure of policy on German attack, 21/3/1918; role in organising re-concentration of unit, successful battalion counter-attack at Bapaume and view of tanks in action.
REEL 13 Continues: withdrawal of tanks and destruction of tanks which broke down; arranging rallying point at Bois Robert; close escape from German shellfire whilst riding motorbike; use of maps and aerial photographs as battalion reconnaissance officer; aspects of retreat, 3/1918-4/1918, including question of locating broken down tanks, tank speed and refuelling; supplementing officers' mess food rations; relationship with colonel; view of successful tank action to re-establish Australian troops confidence in tanks in Hamel sector; story of drunken Australian officers following tank tape round officers' mess. Recollections of attack in Villers Bretonneux sector, 8/8/1918: advantageous conditions for tanks; role as reconnaissance officer in planning; question of clearance of German barbed wire by anchors dragged by tanks; shrapnel ankle wound; personal morale; evacuation to GB. Period in GB, 8/1918-12/1918: close escape from losing foot from gangrene; question of 'Blighty wound'. posting to Bovington Camp, 12/1918; reactions to Armistice, 11/11/1918; question of effects of war service and reasons for decision to join regular army.
REEL 14 Continues: reasons for decision to join regular army. Career with Royal Tank Corps, 1919-1924: reduction in rank to lieutenant; postings with Reconnaissance Officers School and Armoured Cars School, Central Schools at Bovington Camp; transfer to Royal Tank Corps on formation; relative merits of armoured cars and tanks; problems in determining armoured car design for North West Frontier road conditions whilst Principle Technical Officer in India and opinion of Guy armoured car which resulted; opinion of Vickers-Lloyd tanks, comparison of tanks and armoured cars; enjoyment of army career; question of effects of war service. Nature of battlefield, 1914-1918.
