Description
Object description
British NCO served with 1/1st Bn Monmouthshire Regt in GB, Egypt and on Western Front, 1914-1918
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in London, King's Lynn and Llangibby, 1895-1914: education and family circumstances; move to Kings Lynn; move to Langibby; education; work as telegram boy; Boy Scouts activities; work as servant boy including shooting parties, 1910-1912; work as apprentice in steel rolling mills at Lysarts Steel Works, Newport, 1912-1914; reactions to outbreak of war, 4/8/1914. Recollections of recruitment and training with A Coy, 1/1st Bn Monmouthshire Regt at Stow Hill Drill Hall and Northampton, 8/1914-2/1915: reasons.
REEL 2 Continues: procedure; home billets; gradual kitting out; initial training; move to Northampton; qualification as marksman on rifle range; relationship with other ranks, NCOs and officers; billets; story of soldier with lice; billets; origins of Lewis gun; dislike of hand grenades; training with Maxim and Vickers machine gun; question of adequacy of training. Period at Rouen Camp, France, 2/1915: journey out and fatigue party duty on disembarkation.
REEL 3 Continues: difficulties in disembarking horse transport; kitting out; drill and story illustrating difficulty in understanding Scottish instructor; question of adequacy of training. Aspects of period on Western Front, 3/1915-9/1915: relationship with Belgian civilians; story of soldier drunk on rum ration; problems with in-growing toenail during route march and exchange of boots; story of being wounded in leg and back during wiring party, 24/3/1915. Evacuation to GB, 3/1915-4/1915: German aerial bombing raid on hospital; medical treatment; Channel crossing. Period in hospital at Alderney Edge, 4/1915-5/1915: train journey; diet; hospitality of civilians; success in shooting competition; story of being scalded by hot poultice; state of wounds; rejoining unit.
REEL 4 Continue: Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine during period on Western Front, 5/1915-9/1915: arrival during German gas attack, Ypres, 8/5/1915; gas masks; French Algerian gas casualties; working parties digging trenches; nature of trenches and dugouts; working party cutting corn in No Man's Land; ration parties; food rations; brazier; water supply; emergency field dressing; rum ration and ruse to get extra issue; cigarette and tobacco ration; gambling on lice; trench repairs; question of washing and baths at lunatic asylum; story of close escape from German sniper whilst visiting latrine.
REEL 5 Continues: story of close escape from German sniper whilst visiting shell hole latrine; lice and rat problems; town wine cellars; corpses; wet conditions and use of whale oil to avoid trench feet or frostbite; stand to; story of collapsing with cold during reconnaissance patrol in No Man's Land; sentry duty; question of patrols and trench raids; German shellfire; question of sniping activities.
REEL 6 Continues: relationship with other ranks; story of refusal to help officer in award of medals; opinion of officers and role as NCO; rest periods including visits to estaminets; cleaning uniform, baths, question of brothels, soldier's affair with French woman and VD cases, football activities and canteens; letter and parcel contact with GB; reorganisation as pioneer battalion.
REEL 7 Continues: German attack in Ypres area, 5/1915, including German use of British uniforms, avoiding German shellfire on roads during retreat to transport lines and prospect of German breakthrough; temporary period combined with 1/2nd and 1/3rd Bns Monmouthshire Regt; problems with incompatible ammunition with Maxim and Vickers machine guns; training with Lewis gun including local field trials, story of success in shooting down German aircraft attacking artillery observation aircraft, 1918, question of German aircraft interrupter gear, opinion, ruse of using training sessions to avoid duties and importance of cleaning; unorthodox disciplinary methods and relationship with other ranks; role on move as pioneer battalion to 46th Div, 8/1915. Period in Suez Canal sector, Egypt, 12/1915-2/1916: seasickness during voyage out.
REEL 8 Continues: submarine guard; role guarding canal dredger and installations; playing cards with Egyptian civilians; stories of rowing on canal including visit aboard warship and animal corpses; view of Egyptian road building team; lice problem; delayed Christmas celebrations on return to Western Front, 3/1916; relationship with Egyptian civilians. Aspects of operations in Gommecourt sector, Somme area, 7/1916: role digging trenches across No Man's Land and cancellation of attack; discovery and disconnection of booby trap mine in dugout on occupation of Gommecourt; casualties; view and role in collecting survivors following attack of 38th Div on Mametz Wood, 7/7/1916.
REEL 9 Continues: story of successful attack by German aircraft on party of survivors following attack of 38th Div on Mametz Wood, 7/7/1916. Various aspects of period on Western Front and Germany, 1916-1919: relationship with officers and other ranks; increase in prices; young officer; role as NCO; Armistice, 11/11/1918; role filling in trenches and story of refusal to obey orders, 25/12/1918; reception from civilians during advance; story of reburying female corpse; demobilisation, 3/1919. Post-war career: loss of job in steel works; apprenticeship and work as coach body builder; question of effects of war; story of ruse to avoid route march during war service.
