Description
Object description
British private served with 1/20th Bn London Regt and Machine Gun Corps on Western Front and in Salonika, 1915-1918.
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of period in GB, 1914-1915: enlisted in London, 9/Sep/1914; civilian employment as apprentice with bridge builder on Isle of Dogs; reason for enlisting; nature of work in drawing office; problem of enlisting due to shortage of uniforms and equipment; description of firing machine gun using auxiliary aiming mark; number of men in gun team and roles; problem of ammunition belt jamming; training at Bisley; posted to France, 3/1915. Aspects of operations with 1/20th Bn London Regt and Machine Gun Corps on Western Front and in Salonika, 1915-1918: in line at Festhubert; story of burying Indian troops; method of burying dead; number of weeks in front line; moved up line in artillery formation; story of seeing soldier disembowelled; problem of trench feet and medical treatment at Casualty Clearing Station ; returned to GB for further medical treatment in Nottingham, spring 1916;opinion of nurses; role of No. 2 in gun team replacing on barrel of machine gun; story of soldier shot in head by sniper; duties with working parties including repairing barbed wire and digging trenches; changed position after firing machine gun to avoid being spotted; problem of shortage of ammunition; attitude to purpose of war; story of about cheese; parcels from home; took over from French at Vimy Ridge; description of mining operations and waiting for mines to explode; requisitioned houses in deserted French villages.
REEL 2 Continues: billeted in empty cottage; story of cooking chips; role of officer in charge of gun team; machine gun team advanced with infantry; description of machine gun and weight; description of carrying machine on shoulder along trenches; story of receiving news of Armistice while serving in Salonika; comparison of conditions on Western Front with Salonika; mobile nature of warfare in Salonika; description of return to GB via Italy and France, 2/1919. Aspects of post-war life in GB: returned to pre-war employment in drawing office; story of obtaining post with Shell Company in Egypt; memories of seeing Zeppelin shot down; story of holding plane down before take-off; fire-watching during Second World War.