Description
Object description
British sapper served with 56th Field Coy, Royal Engineers on Western Front, 1915-1916, including Battle of the Somme, 7/1916
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of operations with 56th Field Coy Royal Engineers on Somme, France, 1-14/Jul/1916: marched from Ypres salient, Belgium, to Somme area; set up HQ on farm; held in reserve; memories of artillery barrage and infantry advance; followed infantry after capture of Bazentin-le-Petit; description of brewery used as German first aid post; removed German wounded and set up machine gun posts; in charge of labour party digging trench into cellars; heavy German shelling and casualties; description of being injured by shrapnel, 14/Jul/1916; medical treatment at dressing station and at Boscombe Hospital, GB; memory of Scottish soldier killing German; general duties with Royal Engineers including digging trenches and erecting barbed wire positions; role in charge of supplies dump; accommodation in dugout; story of rat; story of dud shell landing on dugout; duties setting up water tanks; opinion of water quality; location of 56th Field Coy; news in trenches; period of convalescence in GB; served in Macedonia, Greece, 1916-1918. Aspects of period in GB, 1914-1915: story of enlisting with Royal Engineers at Britannia Barracks, Norwich, GB, 12/1914-1/1915; question of age; story of journey to Chatham; memories of barracks and four months training; posted to France, 1915. Aspects of operations with 56th Field Coy Royal Engineers on Western Front, 1915: memory of journey by barge up Seine to Rouen, France; amusing story of visit to brothel; story of message in packet of Woodbines; memories of soldier nicknamed 'Lousy Brown'; problem of lice and nits in clothing; problem of rats; description of travelling in pontoon wagons from Dickebusch to Ypres salient, Belgium; first impressions of front line.
REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of operations with 56th Field Coy Royal Engineers on Western Front, 1915-1916: description of digging out machine gun post hit by shell; removal of dead bodies; shell shock cases; story of sergeant being awarded DCM; story of officer's batman with shell shock; casualty rate; description of mines exploding at St Eloi, Belgium; story of removing dead bodies from trench; memories of Rev Noel Mellish, VC; comparison of British and German trenches; story of sergeant and other ranks killed in trench; problem of carrying dead body on duckboard; memories of Christmas 1915; question of Christmas truce; religious beliefs; story of locating mine at St Eloi; description of German trench lined with concrete.