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Description: | Wordprocessed ts transcription (in 3 volumes, total 705pp) of an extensive series of letters written home to his parents during service on the Western Front as an officer in the ammunition column of the 3rd Brigade RHA (2nd Cavalry Division), August 1914 - February 1915; 3rd Brigade RFA (28th Division), February - June 1915; on leave in the UK with slight shell shock, June - August 1915; 181st Brigade RFA (40th Division) at Aldershot and later Farnborough, August 1915 - March 1916; back to the Western Front with 369th Battery RFA attached to 15th Brigade RHA (29th Division), March - September 1916; and in command of 14th Brigade RHA (7th Division), September 1916 - April 1917, during which time he fought in the Battles of the Aisne (September 1914), 1st Ypres (October 1914), 2nd Ypres (April - May 1915), Aubers Ridge (May 1915), the Somme (July - October 1916), the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line (March - April 1917), and Arras (April 1917), containing good descriptions of his duties and artillery tactics, trench conditions, his initial embarkation and the lack of proper rations and equipment, the receipt of letters and supplies from home, relations with French civilians, his admiration for the efficiency of the German Army, aerial warfare and the attraction of commanding an anti-aircraft gun, Zeppelin raids on South East England, the use of poison gas and tanks, and Christmas celebrations, with disparaging remarks about native troops, war correspondents and the cleanliness of the French, and occasional comments on Home Front attitudes.
Cataloguer APR
Catalogue date 1998-05-30 | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Lawson, Cuthbert G | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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