Description
Object description
British NCO served as shoeing smith with 2/4th Staffordshire Bty, CCXCVI Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 59th (2nd South Midland) Div in GB, 1/1915-4/1916; served with A Bty, CCXCVI Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 59th (2nd South Midland) Div and 59th Div in Ireland and on Western Front, 4/1916-11/1918; NCO served with 4th (Luton) Bn Bedfordshire Home Guard at Slip End, GB, 1940-1944
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Stoke-on-Trent, GB, 1897-1914: family; education; employment as shop and bakers delivery boy, 1909-1912; employment as coal miner, 1912-1914. Recollections of enlistment and training as driver and shoeing smith with 2/4th Staffordshire Bty, CCXCVI Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 59th (2nd North Midland) Div at Shelton and Markyate, GB, 1/1915-4/1916: background to enlistment underage and father's reaction; kitting out; story of fight during route march and subsequent punishment pulling General Service (GS) wagon round square; move to Markyate; selection as scout; equipping with Ordnance QF 18 Pounder Field Gun; volunteering as shoeing smith/farrier and training under civilian blacksmith; story illustrating dangers of working with horse; practical test of shoeing skills; test in field skills in battery drill and subsequent promotion to corporal; lack of rifle training; status of battery; story of accidental breaching of sea wall during firing range practice.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as NCO with A Bty, CCXCVI Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 59th (2nd North Midland) Div in Dublin, Ireland, 4/1916: difficulty in embarking horses during journey out; billets; role transporting supplies to troops in Dublin; question of artillery firing on General Post Office; problem of Irish insurgent sniping and narrow escape during visit to ordnance stores; initial lack of contact with Irish civilians; manning telephone in civilian house; lice problem on move into camp in Phoenix Park; facilities provided at Soldiers Home. Recollections of as NCO with A Bty, CCXCVI Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 59th (2nd North Midland) Div in Ireland, 5/1916-1/1917: visit to gunnery range in County Wicklow; amusing incidents during march into County Cork; move to Limerick; security precautions required due to attacks on soldiers by Irish civilians and dispute with Irish priest; marriage of soldier to Irish woman; hospitalisation with illness, 12/1916.
REEL 3 Continues: shell shock cases in hospital; return to England, 1/1917. Aspects of period with as NCO with A Bty, CCXCVI Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 59th (2nd North Midland) Div at Shenfield and Larkhill, GB, 1/1917-3/1917: billets; story of meeting and daily letters to future wife; attitude to active service; injury to knee. Aspects of voyage from Southampton, GB to Le Havre, France, 4/1917: embarkation with horses; night collision with Dutch steamer in English Channel and rescue of Dutch seaman by gunner; damage to ship and return to Southampton; subsequent crossing in another ship. Aspects of operations as NCO with A Bty, CCXCVI Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 59th (2nd North Midland) Div on Western Front, 4/1917-3/1918: question of movements; initial gun positions at Ronnsoy Wood, Somme, France; story of being partially buried in dugout by German shell; problems taking supplies up to gun positions under German artillery fire in Ypres Salient, Belgium; bombing by German aircraft at Poperinghe, Belgium; story illustrating muddy conditions in tents at Langemarke, Belgium; German artillery fire at Hellfire Corner, Belgium; infantry casualties in division and unit role as flying column; story of success in timing interval between German shells to take convoy through to deliver ammunition to gun positions under heavy German artillery fire in Bapaume sector, France.
REEL 4 Continues: opinion of infantry and superiority of Imperial German Army defences; effects of exposure to mustard gas; move into forward gun positions near La Bassée Canal, Merville sector, France; reaction to German artillery fire; incident of horses and limber falling into La Bassée Canal, France; subsequent rescue of horses; opinion of mules; incident of being kicked in head whilst shoeing horse; role of Army Service Corps; promotion to sergeant farrier and duties treating horse of chief veterinary officer; story of dispute with officer after diagnosing untreatable injury incurred by his horse; problems with shell holes in moving guns; wounding of horses in forward horse lines.
REEL 5 Continues: assisting in treatment of horse with multiple shrapnel wounds; breaking horse's legs for burial; story of receiving praise for shoeing horse. Recollections of operations as NCO with A Bty, CCXCVI Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 59th (2nd North Midland) Div during German Offensive on Western Front, 3/1918-4/1918: gun positions in Courcelles-au-Bois sector, France; demonstration of accordion playing; signs of imminent Imperial German Army offensive; duties bringing guns back following German attack, 21/3/1918; role of artillery in covering infantry retreat; speed of retreat; story of rescuing guns from exposed position under heavy German shellfire; failed recommendation for Military Medal; sight of German troops advancing through mist and emergency evacuation of guns; story of close escape from German shell at Bienvilliers-au-Bois, France; direct German shell hit on sergeants' mess; discovery of civilians in underground shelter at Bienvilliers-au-Bois, France. Aspects of period as NCO with A Bty, CCXCVI Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 59th Div on Western Front, 4/1918-11/1918: rest period, 4/1918-7/1918 ; story of getting drunk whilst celebrating sergeant's birthday in estaminet.
REEL 6 Continues: story of sergeant's premonition of death; successful use of special studs inserted in horseshoes in icy conditions; German retreat; patrolling around overnight positions; early demobilisation as coal miner, 1/1919; story of getting drunk and subsequent dismissal of disciplinary charges during celebrations at Lille, France, Armistice Day, 11/11/1918; offer to remain as regular soldier; effects of war service; question of personal morale in action; horse casualties from German shelling; opinion of high command; opinion of conscientious objectors. Aspects of period as NCO with 4th (Luton) Bn Bedfordshire Home Guard at Slip End, GB, 1940-1944: amusing story of reaction of Royal Air Force aircrew from crash landed aircraft; initial shortages of weapons, uniform and equipment; guard duties; promotion to platoon sergeant; role in dealing with unexploded bomb; question of platoon's military efficiency.
