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Description: | British private served with 1/16th Bn (Queen's Westminster Rifles) London Regt on Western Front, 1914-1916; officer served with Machine Gun Corps on Western Front, 1916-1918
REEL 1: Aspects of operations as private with 1/16th Bn London Regt on Western Front, 1914-1916: posted to France and question of age, 10/1914; story of father giving permission to serve with army; description of conditions in Bois-Grenier area, France; reaction to being under fire for first time; daily routine and living conditions in trenches; story of platoon commander killed running across top of trench; weather conditions; opinion of rations; problem of water tasting of petrol and disinfectant; reads out letter to family including description of Christmas truce and fraternisation with Germans, 26/Dec/1914; problem of trench feet; posted back to GB and commissioned 2nd Lieutenant; reason for transfer to Machine Gun Corps, 7/1916. Aspects of operations as officer with Machine Gun Corps on Western Front, 1916-1917: description of leading attack; question of fear; description of conditions in trenches in Passchendaele area, Belgium; problem of flooded trenches and use of pump; story of leaving machine gun behind; description of being wounded at Passchendaele, 7/1917; nature of injury and medical treatment in France and GB; trained as Transport Officer, 1918; returned to France with 47th Div, 8/1918.
REEL 2 Continues: comments on autobiography 'Twice in a Lifetime'. Aspects of service as officer with 6th Bn Royal Sussex Regt in France, 1940; role as second in command of Bn; story of evacuation from St Nazaire, 6/1940. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | BBC Radio Devon | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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