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Description: | Ms diary (126pp) kept during his service with an unnamed Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery, 2 August 1915 – 2 January 1919, detailing his enlistment at Durham Barracks and the subsequent training he received in Ripon, North Yorkshire before his embarkation to the France (April 1916) where he was part of the wagon lines, involved in transporting rations to troops across the country but primarily focusing on his impressions of the landscape of the Western Front as well as the many towns and villages he visited, including the ruined cathedral at Ypres, growing increasingly negative in tone, particularly complaining of the muddy conditions, adverse weather and living under the constant threat of bombardment, also recording his involvement in the Battle of Arras (April 1917) and the nature of the fighting going on around him until his brigade was sent briefly to Italy (November 1917), returning to France (March 1918) he continues by providing a very good account of the final months of the First World War and the Allied advance towards the German lines, announcing the Armistice (November 1918) and his demobilisation (January 1919) before concluding with the interesting statement ‘Goodbye Khaki and to war – I am a conscientious objector for the rest of my days’; together with a ts magazine and ts report (12pp), both concerning the history of the 14th Battalion Durham Light Infantry during the Second World War, a newspaper article (1p) regarding ‘the Salerno mutineers’ and two photographs of him in uniform.
Cataloguer CLS | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | Royal Artillery Royal Field Artillery British Army | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Matheson, T | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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