Description
Object description
British NCO served with D Coy 2/10th (Scottish) Bn King's Liverpool Regt on Western Front, 1917-1918
Content description
REEL 1: Background in GB: story of enlistment in Liverpool, 8/1914; reaction of parents. Aspects of training with 2/10th Bn King's Liverpool Regt in GB, 1914-1917: posted to Blackpool for basic training; issued with uniform; story of volunteering for draft to France and question of age; qualified as Lewis gun instructor; memory of Zeppelin raid over Redhill, Surrey; attitude to army life and discipline; posted to Blackdown camp, 1916; accommodation in huts; route marches in full kit and battle order; trench digging; physical fitness; posted to France, 2/1917. Recollections of operations as NCO with 2/10th Bn King's Liverpool Regt on Western Front, 1917-1918: various memories of trenches in La Bassee and Neuve Chapelle sectors including VC Trench; moved to Armentieres; billets in brewery; baths; moved into line and memory of first casualty killed by sniper; summary of movements in Belgium and France; memory of mines exploding on Messines Ridge; memory of Chinese labourers; moved into Ypres Salient; story of Portuguese troops; description of shell landing in trench and casualties; repairs to trench using tins; description of living condition in Ypres sector; use of railway sleepers for roads; memory of naval gun firing; problem of mud and rain; rations; boiling water for tea.
REEL 2 Continues: memory of corpse in shell hole; problem of water in trenches and use of shell baskets at bottom of trench; description of conditions in shell hole; memory of dead and wounded on battlefield; description of trenches; story of obtaining barbed wire for trenches; story of being wounded by shrapnel and trapped in shell hole; description of medical treatment including operation on leg; opinion of Haig; memory of tanks; description of terrain on Ypres Salient and dead horses; daylight raid and casualties; description of German dugouts; story of French farmer collaborating with Germans; story of food parcel; various memories of narrow escapes from death; story of Portuguese troops; memories of German offensive, 3/1918.
REEL 3 Continues: story of Colonel Roddy and order to fire 200 machine gun rounds a day at German trenches; attitude to survival; further description of medical treatment and convalescence in GB; posted to Kinsale, Ireland, 1918; contracted flu; relations with Irish civilians; memories of Armistice while in Oswestry, 11/11/1918; popular songs; problem of wearing kilt in trenches; description of loading and firing Lewis gun; memory of bayoneted German and British soldiers in shell hole; story of finding body parts in sack instead of bread.