Smith, Herbert Edward Payne (Oral history)

This media is not currently available online. Contact the Image and Film Licensing team about access

Description

Object description

British private served with 11th (Service) Bn Welsh Regt, 67th Bde, 22nd Div on Western Front, 9/1915-10/1915 and Salonika, Greece, 10/1915-11/1918

Content description

REEL 1 Aspects of enlistment and training with 11th (Service) Bn Welsh Regt in GB, 9/1914-9/1915: formation of battalion in Cardiff, 9/1914; reasons for enlistment; basic training at Maindy Barracks, Cardiff; haircuts; train journey to Lewes, 4/1915; sleeping in witness box at Lewes Crown Court; issue of khaki uniforms; background of recruits in battalion; posting to Aldershot, 5/1915; duties as part of guard for King George V and Queen Mary at Aldershot. Aspects of operations as private with 11th (Service) Bn Welsh Regt, 67th Bde, 22nd Div on Western Front, 9/1915-10/1915: landing at Boulogne, 6/9/1915; weight of equipment; transfer in cattle trucks to Maricourt sector, Somme, France; move into front line; problem of rats. Recollections of operations as private with 11th (Service) Bn Welsh Regt, 67th Bde, 22nd Div in Salonika, Greece, 10/1915-11/1918: voyage aboard SS Megantic from Marseille, France to Salonika, 10/1915; hostility from civilian population; move into in Vardar sector; operations against German troops of 59th (4th Posen) Infantry Regt, Imperial German Army on Machine Gun Hill; gas mask and gas attacks; description of trench system; daily routine; stand to; rations; amusing story of geese, 12/1916. REEL 2 Continues: night operations as member of Scout Section and role of section; story of Bulgarian soldier in No Man's Land; use of Harrison's Pomade to combat lice problem; receiving seven days Field Punishment No 1 for throwing away shirt; washing clothes and personal hygiene; extremes of climate; prevalence of malaria and dysentery; leave in Salonika; rum ration; various memories of comrades in battalion; composition of 67th Bde; story of leading patrol of South Wales Borderers; description of Lee Enfield .303 Rifle, Mills Bombs and wire cutters; comparison of Allied and Bulgarian artillery; communication with home; newspapers; food parcels; operations during Vardar Offensive, 9/1918; opinion of Bulgarian and Greek troops; role of Scout Section on reconnaissance patrols; terrain. REEL 3 Continues: preparations for attack including marking barbed wire with white tape; story of being wounded by shellfire, 18/9/1918; nature of wounds and medical treatment recieved; attitude to being wounded; returned to GB, 12/1918; role in post-war formation of Cardiff Pals Benevolent Association; use of whale oil to prevent frostbite; opinion of medical treatment recieved from nurses

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1945-1989 (production), First World War (content), First World War (association)
Creator: Smith, R P (Production company)
Smith, R P (recorder)
Smith, Herbert Edward Payne (interviewee/speaker)
Production date: 1981-12-26
Dimensions: whole: Duration 90, Number Of Items 3
Catalogue number: 13054

Object associations

Our collections information

We have over 1.7 million object records online, and we are adding to this all the time. Our records are never finished. Sometimes we discover new information that changes what we know about an object, such as who made it or used it. Sometimes we change how an object is interpreted. We sometimes make mistakes in our spelling, transcription or categorisation, or miss information out of our records.

Read more about our collections and the information we hold. Developing our collections information

If you have concerns about the language in this record, or you have information to improve it, please share your feedback.

We receive a lot of comments and can't respond to each one, but we do read them all and will respond where we can.

Related content

A side on view of a line of soldiers being led along a duckboard by a medical orderly. Their eyes are bandaged as a result of exposure to gas and each man holds on to the shoulder of the man in front.

Art.IWM ART 1460 © Factum Foundation for Imperial War Museums

Western Front

How Gas Became A Terror Weapon In The First World War

The trench warfare of the Western Front encouraged the development of new weaponry to break the stalemate. Poison gas was one such development. The first significant gas attack occurred at Ypres in April 1915, when the Germans released clouds of poisonous chlorine.

IWM

Western Front

What Was The Battle Of Verdun?

The Battle of Verdun (21 February-15 December 1916) became the longest battle in modern history. It was originally planned by the German Chief of General Staff, Erich von Falkenhayn to secure victory for Germany on the Western Front.

a landscape in the snow. On the left, a red earth trench lined with duckboards stretches away from the viewer. A group of soldiers clamber from the trench, going 'over the top'. Two lie dead in the trench and another has fallen lying face down in the snow. Those who have survived plod forward towards the right without looking back. They walk beneath a grey, stormy sky, with clouds from shell and gunfire in the distance.

First World War

The Powerful Western Front Paintings Of The Nash Brothers

Brothers Paul and John Nash were both commissioned as official war artists during the First World War - Paul from 1917 and John from 1918. Prior to becoming official war artists, both of the brothers had seen active service on the Western Front.