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Description: | Microfilm copy of an ms account (162pp), written in 1926, of his experiences as a driver with the 49th (West Riding) Divisional Ammunition Column RFA during the First World War, training in Yorkshire and then at Blackheath before crossing to France (April 1915) where they camped behind the front line in the Armentieres sector until being posted to the Ypres Salient (July 1915 - January 1916) where he describes his duties taking ammunition and RE stores to the batteries and the trenches, and then service with his unit in the Battle of the Somme near Doullens (July 1916 - March 1917), his duties including carrying shells from the divisional dump to the battery horse lines and later direct to the batteries sited in Happy Valley, referring to the conditions and frequency of sickness, then his involvement in the Third Battle of Ypres where he worked at an ammunition dump at Weiltje (September 1917 - December 1917) before spending a short amount of time in GHQ Reserve and then returning to the Salient where they suffered from heavy shelling and were forced to withdraw to Watou, then his move to Arras (September 1918) and advance through Cambrai and Denain supplying guns until the Armistice, after which he remained in Douai until his transfer to the Quartermaster's Stores and then demobilisation (20 May 1919); the account includes criticisms of the Column's officers, the differences between regulars and conscripts, his views on the introduction of steel helmets, the qualities of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, a glossary of army slang and a reference to a military execution.
Cataloguer JSK
Catalogue date 2002-04-29 | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Scullin, E | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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