Description
Object description
British private served with 1st Bn Norfolk Regt on Western Front, 1914-1915; served with 6th and 10th Bns Royal Dublin Fusiliers in Salonika, Egypt and on Western Front, 1915-1918; NCO served with Machine Gun Corps, 34th Div on Western Front, 1918
Content description
REEL 1: Background in GB, 1912-1914: story of enlisting with Special Reserve at Britannia Barracks, Norwich, 1/1912; training with 3rd Bn Norfolk Regt; employment on farm; married, 2/1914; called up on outbreak of war, 8/1914; drafted to 1st Bn Norfolk Regt; sailed from Felixstowe to St Nazaire, 10/1914. Aspects of operations with 1st Bn Norfolk Regt on Western Front, 1914-1915: entrained to La Bassee canal area, France; problem of rain and mud; baths; description of trenches and proximity of German trenches; daily routine in trenches; story of breaking ankle; home leave in GB; contracted measles; volunteered for 2nd Bn Norfolk Regt, 5/1915; issued with tropical kit for service in Mesopotamia; story of being diverted to Lemnos, Greece and transferred to C Coy, 6th Bn Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Aspects of operations in Salonika, Greece, 10/1915-1917: contracted dysentery; medical treatments including quinine and castor oil; opinion of nursing staff on Malta; location of 2nd Bn overlooking Vardar River; description of attack by Bulgarian forces; daily routine and duties; posted to Egypt; opinion of Irish soldiers; posted to 10th Bn Royal Dublin Fusiliers on Western Front, 4/1917. Aspects of operations with 10th Bn Royal Dublin Fusiliers on Western Front, 1917-1918: role as sniper.
REEL 2 Continues: further comments on role as sniper; German snipers; attitude to killing; description of night raids on German trenches; taking cap badges to identify regiments; rum ration; story of refusing to take rations up to front line; description of sniper rifle; sniper positions; question of awareness of strategy; description of role in operations during Battle of Cambrai, 11-12/1917; story of sharing food parcel; opening artillery barrage; description of leaving trench and advancing towards Hindenburg Line; casualties; held line four days before German counter-attack; story of being buried by shell blast; reaction to death of friends; effects of shellshock; description of German trenches and dugouts; comparison of attacking and defending positions; memories of Christmas 1917; contracted trench fever;
REEL 3 Continues: duties as officer's batman. Aspects of period in GB, 1918: returned to GB for medical treatment; discharged and drafted to Machine Gun Corps in Grantham; attitude to serving in Machine Gun Corps; attended NCO school. Aspects of operations with Machine Gun Corps on Western Front, 3-8/1918: posted to 34th Div; story of losing machine gun; description of being wounded at Chateau Thierry, 1/Aug/1918; medical treatment; taken to hospital in Rouen; effects of anaesthetic. Aspects of period in GB, 8/1918-3/1919: description of eight months medical treatment and convalescence at Woburn Abbey; opinion of Duchess of Bedford; problem with leg wound; memories of Armistice celebrations, 11/1918; reaction to end of war; story of wife contracting flu; army pension; children; demobilised, 3/1919; pay; cost of living; opinion of officers; comparison of British and French soldiers; opinion of Territorial Army; reflections on First World War; further comments on transfer from Norfolk Regt to Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1915.
REEL 4 Continues: story of friend in Essex Regt. Post-war life and employment: farm work; employment as coach painter.