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Object description
British private served with 9th Bn Royal Irish Fusiliers, 108th Bde, 36th (Ulster) Div on Western Front, 3/1918-10/1918
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Croydon, GB, 1899-1917: family; education; employment; father's trade union involvement. Aspects of enlistment and training with No 110 Training Reserve and London Regt in GB, 4/1917-11/1917: sings 'Fred Karno's Army'; move to Chisledon; question of supply of rations; plays regimental tune on mouth organ; embarkation. Recollection of period as private with 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers, 108th Bde, 36th (Ulster) Div on Western Front, 3/1918-10/1918: arrival in France; move to Le Harve; rail journey to Poperinge; question of amount of equipment carried; casualities amongst regiment's pipers; formation adopted on Kemmel Road; arrival in Messines sector, 3/1918; German shelling of trenches; story of soldiers discussing nature of war; German artillery barrage at start of Spring Offensive, 3/1918; reaction to barrage, officer casualities, British counter-barrage and withdrawal, 3/1918; reformation of units; opinion of South African troops; composition of battalion; move to Kemmel Hill.
REEL 2 Continues: reads poem; Irish troops relaxing; plays mouth organ; arrival of American troops; tactics employed by French; opinion of General Horace Smith-Dorien; opinion of Australians; contracting paratyphoid fever; opinion of French peasants; story of being shelled by Germans whilst bringing rations up to village of Bailleul; reaction to sight of gas victims in field hospital; opinion of Royal Army Medical Corps; evacuation to GB via Bologne, 10/1918; reaction to end of war, 11/11/1918; post-war role as speaker for and question of effectiveness of League of Nations; physical effects of war service.
