Description
Object description
British trooper served with 2/1st Bn Honourable Artillery Company in GB, 1914-1916; officer served with 13th Bn Royal Fusiliers on Western Front, 1916-1918
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of period with 2/1st Bn Honourable Artillery Company in GB, 1914-1915: enlisted with Honourable Artillery Company in London, 9/1914; cost of joining regiment; civilian employment with insurance company in London; medical examination and interview; reputation of Honourable Artillery Company; attitude to being commissioned; description of officer training; uniform; rifle; relationship between Honourable Artillery Company and Grenadier Guards; posted to camp in Belhus Park, Aveley, Essex; reviewed by King George V; opinion of sending 1/1st Bn to France, 1914; reason for applying for commission in Royal Fusiliers; opinion of basic training as private; further period of officer training in Tunbridge Wells including map reading and tactical exercises; opinion of standard of officers during war; description of further training at Duke of York's School, Dover and at Eastern Command School of Musketry, Hythe; gas course and bombing courses; weapons training with rifle and machine guns; posted to 13th Bn Royal Fusiliers; sailed from Southampton to Le Havre, France, 4/1916. Aspects of operations with 13th Bn Royal Fusiliers on Western Front, 4/1916-1918: joined Bn in line at Monchy; messing arrangements; commanded No 1Platoon; reception from other officers on arrival; commanded Coy as temporary captain due to loss of officers.
REEL 2 Continues: pay; relations with NCOs and other ranks; first impressions of being in the line; story of rat chewing hole in haversack; role in attack and capture of La Boiselle, 8/Jul/1916; description of bullets hitting ground and Germans running away; memories of Guy Chapman; comparison of British and German trenches; morale in Bn; description of trenches in the Ancre sector, 11/1916; opinion of breastworks at Neuve Chapelle; description of attack with Royal Naval Division, 13/Nov/1916; opinion of Australians and New Zealanders; memories of Amiens during the war; living conditions in trenches and billets; further memories of Guy Chapman; description of shelling on Somme; opinion of Bn CO Col. Smith; memories of home leave, 11/1916.
REEL 3 Continues: story of being treated for shell shock; officers' assigned mess waiter and cook; opinion of servant Pte Shrapnel; post-war service with Indian Army Auxiliary Force; role as education officer with Army in GB; demobilised, 4/1919; story of hearing news of Armistice in Cambridge, GB, 11/Nov/1918.