Description
Object description
British officer served with 8th, 5th and 6th Bns Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt (Sherwood Foresters) on Western Front, 1914-1917
Content description
REEL 1: Recollections of operations with with 8th, 5th and 6th Bns Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt (Sherwood Foresters) on Western Front, 1914-1917: enlisted with 8th Bn, 1910; mobilized on outbreak of war, 8/1914; posted to Belgium as part of 139th Bde, 46th Div; took over line at Kemmel, 3/1915; story about being wounded in mine explosion during night attack on Hohenzollern Redoubt, 14/Oct/1915; returned to GB for medical treatment and posted to reserve battalion in Grantham; returned to 8th Bn on Messines Ridge, 1916; description of position in line at Gommecourt, 5/1916; role of 8th Bn in reserve during opening of Battle of the Somme, 1/Jul/1916; casualties in other battalions; description of taking over German lines at Gommecourt; appointed CO of 6th Bn Sherwood Foresters; story of being wounded and description of medical treatment in France and GB; posted to Aldershot as officer cadet instructor, 8/1917; further comments on being appointed CO of 6th Bn Sherwood Foresters; relations between officers and men; duties as officer; description of living conditions; attitude to discipline; amusing story about drunken Irish private; further description of night attack on Hohenzollern Redoubt, 14/Oct/1915; proximity of German lines; description of preparations for attack; opinion of batman.
REEL 2 Continues: opinion of senior commanders; comparison of BEF and Kitchener's Army; opinion of chaplains; religious beliefs; importance of comradeship; attitude to fear; maintenance of discipline; attitude to riding horse; various memories of Christmas, 1916; reason sending out patrols; role in censorship of letters and writing letters of condolence; summery of movements on Somme prior to 1/Jul/1916; further comments on patrols; description of duties training officers at Aldershot, 1917-1918; demobilized, 1919. Post-war service in GB with Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt.