Jones, Len (Oral history)

British private served with 1/13th Bn (Kensington) London Regt on Western Front, 1914-1918

REEL 1: Background in GB: story of enlistment with 1/13th (Kensington) Bn, London Regt on outbreak of war, 8/1914; not issued with uniform; trained during day and returned home at night; physical training in Holland Park; death of recruit during training; transferred to White City; accommodation; issued with uniform and kit; posted to Maidstone, Kent, 12/1914; sailed from Southampton to Le Havre, France. Recollections of operations with A Coy, 1/13th (Kensington) Bn, London Regt on Western Front, 1915-1918: joined Bn at front; rotation in and out of trenches; exchanged rum ration for cigarettes; various memories of officers; description of trench system; proximity of Germans; story of Cpt Thompson shot in head by sniper; cleaning trenches; latrines; night patrols in no man's land; opinion of Germans; description of attack on Fromelles village, 8-9/May/1915; no preliminary bombardment; detonation of two mines under German trenches at dawn; infantry advance; casualties; problem of lice; moved to railhead at Hazebroucke; disparity of pay between infantry and Labour Corps troops; description of baths at St Omer; story of first visit to brothel; role in operations at Gommercourt Wood during Battle of the Somme, 7/1916; duties as stretcher bearer; twelve stretcher bearers assigned to each company; stretcher bearers required to attend sick parades with Medical Officer; medical training; role in operations at Montauban, Somme, 15/Sep/1916; opinion of tanks; story of being ordered to write letter home. REEL 2 Continues: conclusion of story about letter; role in operations during Third Battle of Ypres, Belgium, 7/1917; description of conditions along Menin Road; use of duckboard track up to front line; story of being hit in thigh by piece of shrapnel and medical treatment; opinion of tanks at Cambrai; description of token shelling in morning between British and German artillery; buried in trench after shell explosion; description of digging out remains of two soldiers in trench; amusing story of soldier falling into latrine pit; billets in barn; washing facilities; issued with new uniform because of lice; fumigation of clothing; role of stretcher bearers in removing personal effects from bodies; story about friend Fred Hopkins.