Description
Object description
British private served with 4th Bn Grenadier Guards in GB, on Western Front and in Germany, 1915-1919
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Shavey Down and Ascot, 1894-1914: story of meeting Queen Victoria, 1898; father's work in brickworks and family circumstances; education; work as gardener's boy and apprentice blacksmith, 1908-1914; Church Lads Brigade activities including camps, military drill and rifle training; reactions to outbreak of war, 4/8/1914; background to recruitment to Grenadier Guards at Reading Barracks, 8/1914. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine during training at Caterham Barracks, 8/1914-1/1915: initial chaotic situation and lack of uniforms; squad system; relationship with recruits; morning routine and breakfast; drill; tactical training; food rations; lack of rifles; route marches; recreations; story of recreations; story of being mistaken for Turkish POWs on move to London, 1/1915.
REEL 2 Recollections of period with 5th Bn Grenadier Guards at Chelsea Barracks, London, 1/1915-6/1915: guard mounting drill; organisation and duties of royal guard duty at Buckingham Palace, St James Palace, Bank of England and Hyde Park Magazine; kitting out; preparing for guard duty; rifle and bayonet training; trench warfare training; marching through London. Period with 16 Platoon D Coy 4th Bn Grenadier Guards at Marlow, 6/1915-8/1915: formation of unit; tactical training; relationship with NCOs and officers; reaction to army lifestyle. Move to Blendiques, France, 8/1915-9/1915: reactions; Channel crossing, 15/8/1915; prior lectures; farm billets; formation of Guards Div and role as pioneer battalion. Move to Vermelles, Bethune area, 26/9/1915. Recollections of attack through Loos on Hill 70, 27/9/1915-28/9/1915: prior briefing; first impressions of battlefield.
REEL 3 Continues: reactions to first impressions of battlefields; prior hand grenade training and use of grenades and lectures in street fighting; situation on advance to Tower Bridge; street fighting and use of hand grenades to clear cellars; conversation with Brigadier Heyworth; question of use and effects of chlorine gas; gas masks; use of hand grenades to clear cellars; story of being hit by German Verey light; role of officers and NCOs in action; night attack on Hill 70 and taking up defensive positions in former German communication trench; German machine gun fire; opinion of entrenching tools; situation; relief by Middlesex Regt; state of morale and story of officer buying troops beer. Period in Bethune area, 10/1915-2/1916: quiet nature of Hulloch sector; question of influence of origins of opposing German troops; nature of trenches and dugouts; movements. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine in Ypres area, 2/1916-7/1916: reputation of area; tours of duty.
REEL 4 Continues: muddy ground conditions; nature of trenches and dugouts; ration parties; food rations; water supply; rum and cigarette rations; reactions to issue of steel helmets; uniform; cold conditions; washing and shaving; latrines; rubbish disposal; lice problem; baths during rest periods; rat problem; collection of corpses and informal truces arranged with German to allow removal from No Man's Land.
REEL 5 Continues: compulsory use of whale oil on feet to prevent trench feet; state of health; stand to; sentry duty; trench repairs; recreations and conversational topics; meals; sleeping arrangements; importance of not showing light at night; wiring parties and arrangements for troops operating in No Man's Land; artillery forward observation posts; question of saps; trench raids to identify opposing German unit including preparation, use of hand grenades, getting through barbed wire and snatching German POW; question of German trench raids; German shell and minenwerfer fire; trench mortar squads; German sniping and machine gun fire; question of use of rifle; German gas shells and use of gas masks; personal morale.
REEL 6 Continues: question of shell shock and self inflicted wounds; story of accidental wound from exploding jam tin; question of discipline and case of Field Punishment No 1; relationship with other ranks and NCOs; question of officers' dugouts and their superior conditions of services; role of rear troops; opinion of high command; opinion of Colonel John Gort; question of religion; situation in reserve trenches; rest periods at Poperinghe including farm billets, German air raids, food rations, kit inspections and replacement of missing equipment, question of return to 'spit and polish', parades, route marches and songs sung, letter contact with GB, reading materials, parcels from GB, playing in inter-battalion divisional football cup competition and boxing matches.
REEL 7 Continues: rest periods at Poperinghe including concert party activities, question of gambling, visits to Toc H, Talbot House, cigarettes handed out by 'Woodbine Willie', canteens and visits to estaminets. Aspects of operations on Western Front, 7/1916-11/1918: initial reserve role and question of role as 'Guards'; attack with tank support in Flers/Ginchy sector, 9/1916; personal morale; period holding line at Thiepval; question of movements; cases of mules caught in shell holes in Ypres area, 1917.
REEL 8 Continues: muddy conditions during operations in Ypres area, 1917; importance of machine guns; role as anti-gas instructor and effects of German gas including mustard gas, chlorine and phosgene; casualties from German shell during Easter service in hut at Elverdinghe; move to replace retreating Portuguese troops during German attack in Nieppe Forest sector, 4/1918; GB leave and reactions to news of Armistice, 11/11/918. Period in Cologne, Germany, 12/1918-2/1919: reception from Belgian and German civilians during march into Germany; story of knocking off hats of German civilians not saluting regimental colours during parade; billets; inspection ; parades; relationship with German civilians; disbandment of unit, 1/1919; night patrols; recreations; question of black market; volunteering for extra month. Background to demobilisation, 3/1919. Post-war career: service with Police; question of effects and justification of war service.