Description
Object description
British private and NCO served with 18th (Service) Bn King's (Liverpool Regt), 89th and 21st Bdes, 30th Div in GB and on Western Front, 8/1914-6/1918; NCO served with 1/6th Bn King's (Liverpool Regt), 165th Bde, 55th (West Lancashire) Div on Western Front, 6/1918-11/1918
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Bebington, Wirral, GB, 1896-1914: family; employment as office boy at Lever Brothers; activities with Church Lads Brigade activities; question of interest in military subjects. Aspects of enlistment as private in 18th (Service) Bn King's (Liverpool Regt) at St George's Hall, Liverpool, GB, 8/1914: recruitment under 'Pals' scheme by Lord Derby; wearing of Derby family crest badge; father's recruitment as postman into Royal Engineers and review of postal arrangements on Western Front; attestation. Recollections of training as private and NCO with 18th (Service) Bn King's (Liverpool Regt), 89th Bde, 30th Div in GB, 8/1914-11/1915: pay; gradual arrival of uniform items; relations with officers and NCOs; weapons and tactical training; specialist training as signaller; relations with civilian population; embarkation leave and state of morale; ceremonial discharge of soldier on disciplinary grounds.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as NCO with 18th (Service) Bn King's (Liverpool Regt), 21st Bde, 30th Div on Somme, France, 12/1915-3/1917: journey from GB to France; receiving trench instruction at Hebuterne, 12/1915; billets; reactions to first casualty; continuation training; nature of telephone system; route march and problem with frozen boots; method of breaking in boots; periods in line at Maricourt; role of signallers; tactical attack training; inspection by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig; trench feet problem; prior briefing for Battle of Somme, 6/1916; preliminary artillery bombardment, 1/7/1916; detachment to forward brigade signals station at Square Wood; attack of malaria; opinion of French Army troops; rejoining unit in Trones Wood, 8/7/1916; German artillery fire; nature of fighting in Trones Wood.
REEL 3 Continues: signal problems; question of British and German use of machine guns; opinion of first tanks used at Flers; problems with water supply; sight of artillery shells being brought up to gun positions by mule; opinion of superiority of German observation; dysentery attack; rest period; question of casualties; corpses; shell shock case; German artillery and minenwerfer fire; nature of fighting; medical arrangements; reinforcement drafts and consequent change in composition of unit; sight of aerial warfare.
REEL 4 Continues: role of signal operators and linesmen; trench raids. Recollections of operations as NCO with 18th (Service) Bn King's (Liverpool Regt), 21st Bde, 30th Div on Western Front, 3/1917-6/1918: move to Bailleul sector, France, 4/1917; German retreat to Hindenburg Line, 3/1917; corpse of German machine gunner; reads poem 'The Big Stunt' concerning action at Neuville-Vitasse, France, 4/1917; opinion of Hindenburg Line in comparison to British trenches; initial impressions of Ypres Salient, Belgium; problems maintaining telephone lines and other methods used including dogs, pigeons and 'rifle rocket'; problem with lice; German pill boxes.
REEL 5 Continues: occupying German pill boxes on Pilckem Ridge, Belgium, 8/1917; strategic situation; living conditions including mud and rations; changing character of unit; opinion of kilt; move to Somme, France; prior knowledge of German offensive, 21/3/1918; taking over French Army sector, Aisne, France, 3/1918; French signal station; establishing company defensive posts in absence of front line; position in reserve lines during German offensive on Somme, France, 21/3/1918; confused situation during retreat from Ham to Amiens, France; rest period; move during German offensive to Bailleul, France, 4/1918; communications problems; background to disbandment of 30th Div and period as cadre at Infantry Base Depot, Etaples, 6/1918. Recollections of period as NCO with 1/6th Bn King's (Liverpool Regt), 165 Bde, 55th (West Lancashire) Div in Bethune area, France, 6/1918-11/1918: opinion of Portuguese Army troops; German gas shells; advance into Belgium; question of German booby traps; reaction to news of Armistice, 11/11/1918; reception received from Belgian civilians; period in Brussels, Belgium, 11/1918-1/1919.
REEL 6 Continues: Reflections of service on Western Front, 1915-1918: stories illustrating varied origins and characters of other ranks in 18th (Service) Bn King's (Liverpool Regt); question of shell shock; personal morale; question of conscientious objectors; use of Fullerphone; question of prior knowledge of German offensive, 21/3/1918; confused situation during retreat, 3/1918; state of morale; lice and rat problems; shot down aircraft; opinion of Australian, American and French Army troops; background to demobilisation, 2/1918; question of effects of war service; story illustrating inexperience on arrival in trenches at Hebuterne, France, 12/1915.