Description
Object description
British officer served with D Bty, 95th Bde Royal Field Artillery on Western Front, 1917-1918. Served with 2nd Defence Regt/171st Field Regt Royal Artillery in Essex and Suffolk 1940-1942; served as staff officer with Officer Control, Royal Artillery, War Office, London 1942-1944; served with Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force 1944-1945; served with British Military Mission in Denmark and France 1945-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Putney, London, 1897-1914: father's career and family circumstances; education at Bilton Grange Preparatory School, 1907-1911 including sporting activities and Boy Scouts activities. Recollections of attending Lancing College, 1911-1914: house organisation and dormitories; discipline; OTC activities including drill, rifle training, tactical lectures and exercises, signal training and illustration of value of OTC training. Period as apprentice printer, 4/1914-3/1916: preparation for taking over family firm; relationship with workers; reactions to outbreak of war during holiday in Belgium, 4/8/1914; question of enlistment underage; attitude to Germans and reaction to atrocity stories.
REEL 2 Continues: effects of recruitment on printing business and question of employing women on skilled work; news of progress of war; failed attempt to enlist with territorial units. Period with University of London OTC, 3/1916-10/1916: organisation of unit; prior interview with colonel; uniform; nature of training. Recollections of training with Cadet Unit, Royal Horse Artillery at St John's Wood Barracks and Larkhill, 10/1916-5/1917: reasons for application; learning to ride; question of 'spit and polish'; gun drill on 13-pounder gun; theoretical gunnery; practise in control of horse team and dropping into action in Regent's Park; relationship with cadets; pride in unit; hut accommodation at Larkhill firing range; issuing firing orders as observation officer on miniature range and 'bracketing' method of ranging; map reading; use of telephones and maintaining lines.
REEL 3 Continues: value of Boy Scout and OTC training; examinations; commission, 5/1917. Period at Maryhill Barracks, Glasgow, 5/1917-7/1917: training; special kit; personal morale on leaving on active service. Period with Ammunition Column, 21st Div in Arras area, France, 7/1917-9/1917: journey out; duties; infantry training course. Recollections of period with D Bty, 95th Bde Royal Field Artillery in Ypres area, 9/1917-11/1917: joining unit on Verbrandon Molen road, Hill 60 sector, 25/9/1917; German observation; reception and opinion of officers; officers' dugout; characteristics of 4.5 howitzer and effect of differing charges; nature of gun position and camouflage; role commanding centre section; question of replacement of older NCOs; destruction of battery by German shellfire, 26/9/1917; posting to liaison role with Headquarters of Sherwood Foresters in Bodmin Copse sector, 27/9/1917; move into gun positions in Sanctuary Wood, 30/9/1917; question of siting gun positions.
REEL 4 Continues: firing barrage on infantry SOS calls; importance of keeping guns on zero line; role in action; German random area shellfire; question of registering targets; role of forward observation officer; inferior range to corresponding German guns; daily routine; firing rate; synchronised watches; minenwerfer fire; types of HE shell fuse; use of gas, shrapnel and HE shells; effects of German gas shells and wearing gas mask; effects of muddy ground conditions; wooden sleeper track; tours of duty and periods in wagon lines; food rations; drinking habits; whisky and rum ration; effects of cigarette smoking and cigarette ration; parcel and letter contact with GB.
REEL 5 Continues: latrines; question of shaving; lice problem; role of officer's servants; case of No 2 Field Punishment; relationship with officers and case of nervous battery commander; death of sergeant ordered to retrieve dial sight during German shell fire on gun position. Period at Oppy, Arras area, 11/1917: question of move out of Sanctuary Wood gun positions and German aerial reconnaissance; view of observer parachuting form observation balloon shot down by German aircraft. Period at Epehy, Somme area, 12/1917-3/1918: main and firing gun positions; question of difficulty in concealing gun positions; role commanding firing section; rat problem; observation post and role as forward observation officer; story of visit to OP from Lieutenant General Congreve and opinion of high command; role as Forward Observation Officer; use of messenger pigeons; importance of telephone lines; GB leave, 12/1917.
REEL 6 Continues: importance of horses; story of painting of Millard passing Cloth Hall, Ypres, 10/1917. Recollections of operations during German offensive, 3/1918-4/1918: bad visibility and lack of observation due to mist on attack, 21/3/1918; question of prior knowledge of attack; German shellfire and opening fire on SOS lines; situation and withdrawal; exchange of direct fire with German battery; providing covering fire for retreat with forward section; view of German troops wearing captured British uniforms; role securing ammunition and food supplies during retreat as acting battery captain; situation and state of unit. Period at Mont des Cats, Kemmel, 4/1918: fire of French 75mm guns; role as gun position officer; visit from brother. Recollections of operations in Aisne area, 5/1918-6/1918: status as quiet sector; opinion of inadequate former 75mm gun positions under direct German observation at Cormicy; German attack 27/5/1918, including German shellfire on gun positions, difficulty in getting guns out, role of gun team members, abandoning guns after removing firing mechanism, inadequate nature of former 75mm gun positions and personal morale; situation during retreat; activities of German aircraft; end of retreat.
REEL 7 Rest period in Harfleur, 6/1918: state of division; recreations and visits to estaminets; sports day. Story of being blinded by direct hit on dugout by German gas shell at Mailly Maillet, Somme area, 29/7/1918. Medical treatment and evacuation to GB, 8/1918. Convalescence in GB, 8/1918-11/1918: successful appeal against being passed as fit by medical board; blue glasses. Period at Royal Artillery Depot, Woolwich, 1918-1919: acceptance of lump sum rather than disability pension on demobilisation, 2/1919; award of pension, 1991; absence of duties; reaction to leaving unit; Armistice celebrations in London, 11/11/1918; demobilisation, 2/1919. Post-war career: return to family printing business; question of shell shock; mental and physical effects of war service; tennis and golf activities; question of rejoining army; awareness of approach of war; effects of war on printing business, 1939-1945. Rejoining army and refresher course for artillery officers at Shrivenham, 8/1940. Period with C Bty, 2nd Defence Regt/171 Regt Royal Artillery in Essex and Suffolk, 1940-1942: golf contacts; variety of guns used; coastal defence role; gun positions at Sizewell; story of inspection of general; opinion of other ranks; movements; conversion to 25-pounder unit and appointment as battery captain on formation of 171st Field Regt Royal Artillery, 5/1941.
REEL 8 Continues: role on appointment as battery captain on formation of 171st Field Regt Royal Artillery, 5/1941; relationship with officers; background to leaving unit, 8/1942. Recollections of period as staff captain with Officer Control, Royal Artillery, War Office, Hobart House, London, 8/1942-9/1944: duties selecting officers to fill posts; question of commanding officers' requests for particular officers; question of officers wanting posting back to former unit; knowledge of units; posting of medically down graded officers; refusing opportunity of promotion due to inferior education. Period with POW Executive, Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force at Versailles and Frankfurt, Germany, 1944-1945: intended role in documenting released POWs during advance; contacts with senior US officers; movements; minimal role; VE Day in Paris, 8/5/1945. Period as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General with British Military Mission, Paris, 1945: prior period as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General with British Military, Denmark; liaison role with French over honours and awards; role tracking and guarding German war criminals including General Karl Oberg; demobilisation, 8/1946. Return to family printing business.
