Description
Object description
British private served with 16th Bn Manchester Regt on Western Front, 1914-1918; POW in Germany, 1918
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of training with Manchester Regt in GB, 1914-1915: enlistment, 8/1914; summary of training at Heaton Park, Belton Park and on Salisbury Plain; drafted to France, 11/1915. Recollections of operations as private with 16th Bn Manchester Regt on Western Front, 1915-1918: description of trenches in Hebuterne sector, Somme, France; proximity of German lines; problem of water in trenches; accommodation in tents; casualties in 16th Bn; marched to Maricourt, 6/1/1916; memory of 21st birthday; accommodation in barn; weather conditions; story of binoculars; living conditions under continuous German shelling; problem of shell shortage; memories of Captain Elstob; reason for making will; story of German spy; description of training for Somme offensive; proximity of German trenches; description of going over the top, 1/Jul/1916; casualties; further memories of Captain Elstob; description of capturing German trenches; story of war correspondent.
REEL 2 Continues: description of being wounded and medical treatment in France and GB, evacuated to GB; posted to depot in Grimsby; posted to Kinmel Bay; story of overstaying leave and punishment; posted to Etaples base camp, France. 1/1917;memory of single track railway; medical services; recreational activities in Rouen; rum ration; memory of padre; duties in listening post; story of transport captain and watch; rations.
REEL 3 Continues: story of wounded German officer; story of Lt Col Elstob and German POWs; moved to Passchendaele sector, Belgium, 7/1917; description of Zillebeke Lake; story of volunteering to look for machine gun; problem of heavy rain; description of attack on Passchendaele, 31/Jul/1918; use of tanks; German air attacks on artillery; story of German machine gun post; description of Menin Road area; sheltered in pill-box; opinion of tactics; story of tank; memory of carrying soup; description of pill-box; story of acting CO killed by shock wave.
REEL 4 Continues: description of German assault on Manchester Hill, St Quentin, France, 21/3/1918; ordered not to retreat; evacuation of wounded; description of grenade landing in trench; bringing in wounded; description of attack on German transport column; story of being taken prisoner. 21/3/1918. Aspects of period as POW in Belgium and Germany, 3/-11/1918: marched into Belgium; opinion of treatment and description of conditions; memory of soup kitchen; taken to POW camp in Germany; story of German money; description of living conditions in camps; nature of work in kitchen; question of smuggling food out of kitchen; description of work on building site; story of potatoes; memory of Italian POWs.
REEL 5 Continues: story of German civilian; food parcels; story of cocoa; visit to village; memory of Russian women; reaction to Armistice, 11/11/1918; story of liberation and return to GB via Holland; arrived in Hull, 4/1/1919.
REEL 6 Continues: posted to camp in Yorkshire; further memories of Lt Col Elstob; story of helping wounded friend; returned to Manchester and demobilised at Ashton-under-Lyne; story of collecting and labelling body parts of Pickering brothers in Western Front.