Description
Object description
British NCO served with 15th, 2nd and 6th Bns, Welch Regt on Western Front and Germany, 1917-1919
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Sketty, Wales, 1898-1916: family circumstances; education; Welsh Congregational Chapel religion and question of Welsh speaking; recreations; work and apprenticeship as carpentry joiner, 1912-1917; sings coronation song from 1902; stories illustrating influence of grandfather; reactions to approach of war; attitude to Boer War veterans; reactions and preconceptions on outbreak of war, 4/8/1914; news of casualties and progress of war.
REEL 2 Continues: failed attempts to enlist underage. Background to recruitment into Welsh Regt at Swansea, 11/1916: effect of news of casualties to 14th Bn Welch Regt in Somme offensive, 1916; procedure and medical; reactions of parents and employers. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine with C Coy, 59th Training Reserve Bn, South Wales Borderers at Kinmel Park, Rhyl, 11/1916-5/1917: issue and care of uniform; hut accommodation and orderly duty; origins of recruits; relationship with recruits and NCOs; tea; morning routine; PT; breakfast food rations; drill.
REEL 3 Continues: lunch; lectures; canteen and pay; recreations including 'crown and anchor' and 'housey housey' games; church parades; lack of contact with civilians; practical jokes; special friends; issue of equipment; rifle and bayonet training; route marches and songs sung; inculcation into traditions of SWB; kit inspections and preparations; selection and duties as 'stick man'; guard duties.
REEL 4 Continues: opinion of Brigadier Blackadder; relationship with NCOs; nicknames; effects of training; reactions to possibility of posting to Western Front. Period with draft at Infantry Base Depot at Rouen, 5/1917: journey out; hand grenade training; PT instructor Bombardier Billy Wells; gas training with PH helmet gas mask; trench fighting; opinion of instructors and MPs; expectation of posting to Welch Regt and 38th Div. Recollections of joining 9 Platoon, C Coy, 15th Bn, Welch Regt at Proven, 5/1917-7/1917: cattle truck railway journey with draft; meeting officers originating from Sketty area; question of proportion of Welsh in unit.
REEL 5 Continues: tent accommodation. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine during period in Ypres area, Belgium, 31/7/1917-5/8/1917: question of prior briefing; use of soap; move into reserve line at Canal Bank; account of attack towards Steenbeek over Pilckem Ridge, 31/7/1917, including fighting order, ground conditions, reaction to soldier's loss of nerve, advance across No Mans Land, consolidating shell hole positions and personal morale; nature of shell hole line; German shellfire; confused situation; accident opening bully beef tin; ration parties; food rations; water supply; question of mules' ability to predict shellfire; return to Canal Bank on relief, ca 5/8/1917; cleaning uniform for inspection and punishment for dirty boots; subsequent move to march to Fleurbaix sector; latrines; absence of lice and rats; stand to; sentry duty
REEL 6 Continues: . sentry duty; work improving shell hole trench; rifle cleaning and inspection; question of use of rifle; night stand to; fatigue. Period at Fleurbaix and Bois Grenaix, Bethune area, 8/1917-3/1918: approach to front line; breastwork trenches and drainage arrangements; nature as quiet sector; minenwerfer fire; wiring parties; reconnaissance patrols including selection, password, warnings to neighbouring units, passing through barbed wire, moving across No Mans Land, reaction to German star shells, collecting intelligence, return to front line and report; story of making dummy soldier as decoy to attract German patrol; observation post in iron replica of tree trunk; rhythmic machine gunner.
REEL 7 Continues: sniping post in iron replica of tree trunk; air attacks on German observation balloons; fighting patrols; lice and rat problem; rest periods including working parties, farm billets, guard duty, drinking habits, visits to Merville, relationship with French and Belgian civilians and sleeping arrangements; opinion of Portuguese troops; attending NCOs' drill course and subsequent promotion to lance corporal; opinion of senior NCOs and officers; rum, cigarette and food rations; move to Houplines, 3/1918: return of soldiers wounded on Somme, 1916; letter contact with GB; story of soldier attempt to sell broken watch to Chinese labourer.
REEL 8 Period at Houplines, 3/1918: acting as covering party for mining operations; damage to eyes caused by German mustard gas shells, 16/3/1918; evacuation to GB. Period in St Luke's Hospital, Bradford, 3/1918-6/1918: reactions to temporary loss of sight; medical treatment for eyes, chest and skin blisters; encouragement of cigarette smoking to clear chest; recovery of sight; reaction to contemporary use of mustard gas; visitors. Period in convalescent hospitals and camps in GB, ca 7/1918-11/1918: in GB, ca 7/1918-8/1918: leave; question of return to active service; question of activities of malingerers. Gas mask drill at Infantry Base Depot, Rouen, 8/1918. Period with C Coy, 2nd Bn, WR in Somme area, 8/1918: reception; situation; nature of long serving regulars and their foreign service slang; nature of open warfare operations; period as Lewis gunner including necessity of concealing Lewis gun during advance, role of crew members, opinion of Lewis gun; crossing Sambre-Oise Canal and news of Armistice, 11/11/1918.
REEL 9 Continues: reactions to news of Armistice, 11/11/1918. March into Germany, 11/1918-12/1918: foot problems and use of whale oil; sings examples of songs sung; overnight billets. Recollections of periods at Flamersheen and Sechtem, Germany, 11/1918-9/1919: billets and relationship with German civilians; daily routine; local leave in Cologne, 4/1919; move to Sechtem; question of demobilisation; posting to Pioneer Section; posting to 6th Bn, WR; recreations and sporting activities; question of black market activities; question of relationship with German civilians; learning German and French.
REEL 10 Continues: selling revolver souvenir and buying razors; journey back to GB. Duties as clerk to quartermaster during period at Prees Heath Demobilisation Centre, ca 9/1919-11/1919. Demobilisation, ca 11/1919. Post-war career: apprenticeship as carpentry joiner; question of mental and physical effects of war. Sings 'Till the Boys come Home', 'When the war is over, Mother dear', 'Roses of Picardy', 'Goodbye-ee'. Period as instructor and chief instructor with government training schemes for newly demobilised soldiers, ca 1945-1949. Review of work and role of training men in supervisory and management skills with 'Training Within Industry' Scheme in Wales, 1949-1963.
