Description
Object description
British private served with 12th (Service) Bn Northumberland Fusiliers, 62nd Bde, 21st Div in GB, 1914-1915; NCO served with 12th (Service) Bn Northumberland Fusiliers, 62nd Bde, 21st Div on Western Front, 1915-1916
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of enlistment and training as private with 12th (Service) Bn Northumberland Fusiliers, 62nd Bde, 21st Div in GB, 1914-1915: volunteering with friends at drill hall in Nottingham, 8/1914; reason for joining Northumberland Fusiliers and journey to Newcastle upon Tyne to enlist; description of barracks; opinion of food; move to Aylesbury for basic training; issue of uniform and equipment; question of never having previously worn underwear; rifle training with wooden rifles; reason for being selected as machine gunner; period training for open warfare. Recollections of operations as NCO with 12th (Service) Bn Northumberland Fusiliers, 62nd Bde, 21st Div on Western Front, 9/1915-6/1915: arrival in France, 9/1915; five night march and arrival at Hill 70 sector, France, 9/1915; attempt to deliver message to officer description of attack and casualties during Battle of Loos; rumour that German commander had ordered machine guns to cease firing on British troops; wounding and return to own lines; reaction to Field Marshal Haig's negative comments about performance of British troops; battalion casualties; opinion of Field Marshal Haig. Recollections of operations with as NCO with 12th (Service) Bn Northumberland Fusiliers, 62nd Bde, 21st Div during Battle of the Somme, Western Front, 7/1916: location of battalion in reserve in Fricourt sector, 1/7/1916; German prisoners of war reaction to news of casualties on 1/7/1916; role in operations, 2/7/1916; issue of rum prior to leaving trench; problem of some men being drunk and forgetting to take rifles; description of leaving trench and crossing No Man's Land; discovery of only corpses in German trenches and sight of Germans troops running away; encounter with German soldier in trench and conversation about war.
REEL 2 Continues: question of Germans prior knowledge of attack on 1/7/1916; lack of information as to location; opinion of role of cavalry; opinion of officers; opinion of Field Marshal Douglas Haig; comparison of facing artillery and machine gun fire; reason for number of officers being kept behind in attacks; receiving five days field punishment for taking souvenirs from dead Germans; description of Lewis Gun; reaction to casualties and loss of close friends; story of accidentally killing fellow soldier; procedure for burying dead.