Description
Object description
British private served with 16th and 15th Bns West Yorkshire Regt in GB and on Western Front, 1916-1918; POW in Germany, 1918
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in York, North Allerton and Cawood, 1897-1916: family circumstances; education; Boy Scouts activities; work as grocer's assistant; outbreak of war, 4/8/1914; anti-Zeppelin precautions; food shortages; order and delivery system of grocery and agricultural merchant business. Recruitment at Recruiting Office, Selby, 6/1916: reasons; initial attestation, 22/5/1916; parents' and employer's reactions; call up and kitting out at West Yorkshire Regt Depot, Fulford Barracks, York, 6/1916.
REEL 2 Continues: kitting out at West Yorkshire Regt Depot, Fulford Barracks, York, 6/1916. Recollections of conditions of service and lifestyle during training with C Coy, 4th Bn West Yorkshire Regt at West Hartlepool, 6/1916-12/1916: workhouse billets; kit inspections; concentration on drill and question of inadequacy of training for active service conditions; route marches; relationship with civilians; rifle cleaning and training; bayonet training; saluting drill; story of older soldier unfit for active service; relationship with other ranks; opinion of NCOs and officers; reaction to army lifestyle; recreations; move into tent accommodation; embarkation leave and meeting girlfriend's family. Journey out with draft to join C Coy, 16th Bn West Yorkshire Regt in Somme area, France, 12/1916: advice from experienced soldier at St Martin's Camp, Boulogne; train journey; loss of equipment.
REEL 3 Continues: reception. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine during period in Hebuterne sector, 12/1916-3/1917: approach to front line and first impressions; listening patrol; nature of trenches; muddy conditions; dugouts; food rations; water supply; rum and cigarette rations; ration parties; question of washing and shaving; state of uniform and story of coal fatigue; latrines; lice and rat problems.
REEL 4 Continues: effects of wet and cold conditions; state of health; stand to; sentry duty; question of recreations including gambling and conversations; German shellfire; German sniping; question of relative role of NCOs and officers; opinion of officers and reaction to accompanying officer on patrols to inspect German barbed wire; repairing trenches; reaction to Verey Lights when in No Man's Land; reconnaissance patrols; wiring and covering parties; rest periods including cleaning uniform, guard duties, nature of training, isolated position, disputes with French civilians over use of wells and farmers ploughing activities suspected of passing messages to Germans, letter and parcel contact with GB; relationship with other ranks. Recollections of advance following German retreat in Serre sector , 2/1917: lack of briefing.
REEL 5 Continues: advance under German machine gun fire into German lines; refusal to accompany officer in attack on German machine gun post; consolidating position; isolated situation and subsequent withdrawal to British front line; casualties. Period in Bethune area, 3/1917: march from Somme area; opinion of generals; story illustrating quiet nature of La Bassee sector. Recollections of period in Arras area, 4/1917-2/1918: first impressions on arrival; situation on attack at Gavrelle, 3/5/917; German shellfire; question of value of religion; story of patrol with officer to locate German machine gun post and story of keeping his map; role as runner with Headquarters Coy; story of dispute with brigadier over conduct in taking message; orders to wear full uniform when taking messages and story of guiding colonel up dangerous communication trench to illustrate conditions in front line.
REEL 6 Continues: story of guiding colonel up dangerous communication trench to illustrate conditions in front line and subsequent cancellation of orders to wear full uniform; location and composition of battalion headquarters; first view of wireless equipment; acting as guide and briefing relief units; importance of delivering messages; story of being gassed taking message and subsequent effects on lungs; German gas shells and gas masks issued; story of attack on Oppy Wood, retirement back to front line and firing during German counter-attacks; relief and reception at St Catherine's Camp, Arras; illustration of fatigue; interviews to identify casualties; effects of fatigue; story of role in finding location for new ration dump.
REEL 7 Continues: story of use of German rifle on makeshift firing range set up in support lines and subsequent sale to officer; story of working party bringing up beer barrel to canteen established in Vimy cellar; story of being charged for discarding damaged rifle and stealing replacement; German shellfire; move to Arleux-en-Gohelle; story of meeting soldier attempting to get 'Blighty' wound whilst attempting to establish liaison with unit on left; personal morale; question of self inflicted wounds and shell shock cases; story of losing rum ration; revolver practice for officers; story of near accident cleaning officer's revolver; relationship with Sergeant Major George Cussins; aspects of GB leave including journey back, story of sharing rum with soldier, meeting with Lloyd George on train and reception.
REEL 8 Continues: aspects of GB leave including question of telling parents of nature of conditions on Western Front; rejoining unit; comparison of conditions of service in Arras and Somme areas; attack of influenza and desire to stay with unit; story of visits by Church of England and Methodist padres to front line; question of Christmas celebrations, 25/12/1917; background to disbandment of unit. Posting to D Coy, 15th Bn West Yorkshire Regt in Arras, 2/1918: reception; question of role as runner; reasons for rejection of possibility of commission or promotion. Account of being wounded and captured during German attack in St Leger sector, Somme area, 3/1918: move up by bus; briefing; advance and taking up positions in shallow trench in St Leger sector, 23/3/1918; German attacks; minor leg wound from minenwerfer shell and initial medical treatment; moving back via Bayelles and Hamelincourt; retreat to sunken road positions at Moyenneville, 26/3/1918; orders not to retreat; holding back German attacks, 26/3/1918-27/3/1918; question of artillery support.
REEL 9 Continues: German success in enveloping position on left and consequent enfilade machine gun fire; view of Cussins' attempt to escape; circumstances of capture. Recollections of initial period as POW in France, 3/1918-4/1918: discovery that report of brother's death was inaccurate; fears of being shot; period in wire cage; immediate removal of field dressings for reuse; casualties from exposure; question of food; working party repairing railway line; story illustrating treatment by German guards; food and loss of weight. Train journey to Freiberg area, Germany, 5/1918: conditions in cattle trucks; ruse to open cattle truck doors; question of escape; march in front of German civilians at Strasbourg; close escape whilst opening cattle truck doors; stop for baths and delousing of uniform. Recollections of conditions and lifestyle during period in Emmendingen POW Camp, 5/1918-10/1918: hut accommodation; washing facilities; question of shaving; latrines; absence of recreations; story of disrupting roll call; question of escape to Switzerland; German guards.
REEL 10 Continues: working parties in factory including work stoking boiler, ignorance of end product, reception from German manager who had lived and worked in Yorkshire, minor sabotage activities and halts in production through shortage of lubricants; food and weight loss; story of strike over proposed cut in bread ration; German civilians working in factory; stories of raiding apple and cherry orchards; lack of official notification of status as POW; question of pay; postcard contact with GB; question of progress of war. Recollections of period in Saarbrucken area, 10/1918-11/1918: movements; school billets; story of being given food by German civilian; story of attempt to escape in belief Germans had won on news of end of war, 10/11/1918.
REEL 11 Continues: story of attempt to escape on news of end of war, 10/11/1918; recapture and interrogation by German officer; move to barrack accommodation; departure of German guards. Account of walk with small party to France, 11/1918: continued belief Germans had won war; death of friend; scavenging for food and finding wine; avoidance of German civilians; crossing trench lines into former French; sector; fatigue; reception on meeting French soldiers and news of Allied victory; discovery of further POWs. Journey back to GB, 12/1918: move to Nancy; treatment by US Air Force; question of souvenirs taken in Germany; delay of brother and effects of erroneous official report of his death and burial; reaction to mother giving extra food to German POWs. Period in GB, 1918-1919: leave; period of convalescence; ruse to secure early demobilisation, 1919. Post-war career: question of disability pension; securing work at chemist/grocers.
