Description
Object description
British private served with 20th and 18th Bns King's Liverpool Regt on Western Front, 1915-1918
Content description
REEL 1: Background in GB, 1914-1915: enlistment with King's Liverpool Regt, Liverpool, 1914; question of height and problem of size uniform; training; drafted to France, 1/1915. Recollections of operations as private with 20th and 18th Bns King's Liverpool Regt on Western Front, 1915-1918: duties with entrenchment battalion; posted to 20th Bn, Maricourt; story of wiring party; description of further training at Etaples and Corbie; story of shell landing on roof of cellar; description of carrying shells for trench mortar battery; problem of weight of shells; souvenirs; description of carrying shells in jacket pockets; effects of being gassed; story of shell shock case; story of night patrol in Givenchy sector; description of attack at Flers, 10/1916; casualties caused by own artillery; role in third wave; story of aircraft crashing; description of being blown up by shell; question of success of attack; duties carrying rations and ammunition; description of terrain in Arras area; story of obtaining job in Royal Engineers store room, Poperinghe, Belgium.
REEL 2 Continues: description of role with burial party; problem of shells exploding in guns; description of explosion in ammunition dump and casualties; transferred to 18th Bn King's Liverpool Regt; story of contracting trench fever and medical treatment; posted to camp in Cork, Ireland; discharged from army, 1919; story of finding skeleton in Ypres; memory of rows of guns; further comments on operations on 1/Jul/1916; casualties in 18th Bn; memory of buried German officer; story of losing kit and rifle and replacement; description of German offensive, 21/Mar/1918; story of taking wounded batman to dressing station; story of retreat; description of shelling and casualties; memory of being stuck in mud in trench; problem of snipers; souvenirs; story of observation balloon; opinion of effectiveness of artillery barrages.
REEL 3 Continues: memory of tanks; conditions out of line; personal hygiene; use of goose grease on feet; greatcoat; opinion of rations; story of German aircraft raid; use of bad language; memory of German POWs; attitude to taking prisoners; story of scrounger; role issuing chair and other items for use in executions; question of self-inflicted wounds; attitude to deserters; opinion of Italian troops; death of brother on 1/Jul/1916; reaction to news of Armistice while in Knowsley Park, Liverpool, 11/11/1918; story of troops at Knowsley Park refusing to drill after Armistice; opinion of Germans; discipline in 18th Bn; attitude to casualties during Battle of Somme.
REEL 4 Continues: memories of various officers killed on Somme; description of action at Guillemont; question of co-operation with French; story of being selected for Royal Engineers labour group; further comments on operations on Somme, 1/Jul/1916; story of brother being killed on Somme; effect of seeing wounded and killed; story of being slightly injured by piece of shrapnel; story of losing rifle and kit and replacement. REEL 5 Continues: description of role in night patrol; conditions in No Man's Land; problem of septic poisoning; opinion of rations; story of tobacco.