Description
Object description
British trooper served with 1/1st Lincolnshire Yeomanry in Egypt and Palestine, 1915-1918; private served with 102nd Bn Machine Gun Corps on Western Front, 1918
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Lincolnshire, GB: education at Lincoln Grammar School; left school,1913; employment on farm working with horses; reason for wanting to join the Lincolnshire Yeomanry; story of enlistment and question of age, 17/Apr/1915. Aspects of training with Lincolnshire Yeomanry and 11th Hussars in GB, 4-10/1915: amalgamation of Lincolnshire Yeomanry squadrons and formation of 2nd and 3rd line units; posted to 3/1st Lincolnshire Yeomanry; billeted in huts at Burton Road barracks; daily routine and training; drafted to 11th Hussars, Aldershot; care of horses; discipline; opinion of food; granted one month's harvest leave, 7/1915; musketry course; graded 1st class marksman; transferred to 1/1st Lincolnshire Yeomanry in Norwich; 48 hours embarkation leave; medical examination; issued with tropical kit; preparations for embarkation; transported horses by train to Southampton; accommodation for horses in stalls aboard ship. Aspects of voyage aboard troopship Mercian to Alexandria, Egypt, 10-11/1915: departed from Southampton, 27/Oct/1915; story of seeing White Star liner Olympic converted into hospital ship; opinion of sleeping in hammock; problem of seasickness; care of horses during voyage; docked at Gibraltar, 2/Nov/1915; inoculations; story of Mercian being shelled by German submarine U-38 in Mediterranean, 4/Nov/1915; took up position in boat station; loss of communications; sheltered in flat bottomed boat; treatment of wounded; opinion of Laskar crew; reaction to death of two friends; damage to ship; injuries to horses; length of attack by U-38 on surface; opinion of Capt. Walker; casualties; sailed to Oran, Algeria; burial of men at sea; injured horses destroyed and put overboard; wounded taken to military hospital; shipwrights repaired ship; horses landed with winches and slings; funeral parade for seven dead aboard Mercian
REEL 2 Continues: sailed at night to Malta for further repairs; naval gun mounted on stern of ship; route marches around Malta to maintain physical fitness. Aspects of operations with 1/1st Lincolnshire Yeomanry in Egypt and Palestine, 11/1915-3/1917: disembarked Alexandria, Egypt; problem of lice and flies; condition of horses; journey by train to join rest of Brigade in camp; memories of first Christmas in desert; role in operations during Senussi revolt; desert patrols; caravan route to monastery; care of horses; problem of intense heat; description of Field Punishment No1; leave in Cairo; posted to camp near oasis; location of Turkish positions; organization of British forces; speed of advance; construction of railway track; water supplies; re-designated 22nd Mounted Bde, 4/1916; Bde transferred into Anzac Mounted Div under Maj-Gen. Chauvel, 2/1917. Aspects of operations with 1/1st Lincolnshire Yeomanry in Egypt and Palestine, 3/1917-5/1918: role of cavalry units; posted to camp at Rafah, Palestine; role in operations during First and Second Battles of Gaza, 3-4/1917; location of 1/1st Lincolnshire Yeomanry; description of terrain; reason for infantry advance being halted; problem of lack of water; story of hearing arrival of Turkish reinforcements; returned to original position on right flank; watered horses at wadi; transferred into Yeomanry Mounted Div, 7/1917; opinion of Gen. Allenby; role in operations during Third Battle of Gaza, 10-11/1917; reaction to capture of Beersheba; objective for Yeomanry Mounted Div; nature of terrain; problem of heavy rain and lack of supplies.
REEL 3 Continues: arrival of ration party; Turkish counterattack. 28/Nov/1917; problem of evacuating wounded; arrival of reinforcements; casualties and medal awards; spent Christmas at Ashkelon, 1917; nature of fighting in hills against Turks; continuing problem of water supplies for men and horses; use of camels; story of being attacked by German Taube aircraft while watering horses at wadi; health benefits of bathing in Mediterranean Sea; condition of horses; story of horse races in Gaza; reaction to handing over horses to Indian Cavalry and being drafted to Western Front; posted to camp at Sidi Bishr, 5/1918; daily routine and training. Aspects of voyage aboard troopship Caledonia to Marseilles, France, 26/May-1/Jun/1918: sailed in convoy; description of HMT Leasowe Castle being torpedoed and sunk, 27/May/1918; disembarked Marseilles, France, 1/Jun/1918. Aspects of operations as private with 102nd Bn Machine Gun Corps on Western Front, 6-11/1918:posted to camp Etaples; description of basic training as infantryman and machine gunner; issued with new kit and equipment; travelled in Albion lorries to Hazebrouck sector, Belgium; question of leave; opinion of infantry on Western Front; memories of home leave in GB; summary of movements; moved into abandoned German trenches in River Scheldt sector; use of Verey lights as signal for machine gun barrage; moved to Arras-Cambrai sector, France; accommodation in huts; description of abandoned villages; unburied dead in streets; story of receiving news of Armistice near Mons, 11/Nov/1918; opinion of billets in Valanciennes; collected salvage from battlefield; sporting and recreational activities; memories of POWs in dispersal camp.