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Description: | Album containing an ms journal (282pp) covering: his service as a subaltern in the RFA with 61st Howitzer Brigade, Royal Field Artillery (RFA) (11th Division), principally with C/61 then B/61 batteries, in Northamptonshire, Surrey and Wiltshire (October 1914 – August 1915) including details of the formation of his unit (September 1914) and good, often amusing, descriptions of training and conditions generally, as well as references to individual officers, especially Colonel Dunlop, NCOs, men and horses; service with the Brigade on the Western Front, initially with 7th Meerut Division, then with the Guards Division in the Laventie and Loos sectors (August 1915 – February 1916) with good descriptions of the Battle of Loos and interesting references to the stoning of native troops (p42), his work as an observer, the effect of enemy snipers and the German aerial torpedo, technical problems with the guns, including short shooting (pp81 – 82) and fraternisation in his sector (Christmas 1915), as well as many anecdotes concerning inexperienced subalterns at the front (November 1915 – January 1916); service in the Ypres sector (February – March 1916) with excellent details about Army life and references to his servant receiving Field Punishment No 1 and his own evacuation after being shot by a sniper (both March 1916); details of the battery’s service during his absence (March 1916 – January 1917) contributed by the acting battery commander, Captain A M Livingstone, including descriptions of being in actions in the Ypres sector (June 1916) and in the Somme Offensive (July 1916) with a record of further casualties and personnel changes and of the incorporation of the battery into 75th Brigade RFA (May 1916); service with his battery on the Western Front (January 1917 – January 1918) including good references to RFA officers, especially General Wardrop (April 1917), and excellent descriptions of the Battles of Messines (June 1917), including the action for which he was awarded the Military Cross, and Third Ypres (July – October 1917) as well as mention of the Battle of Cambrai (November – December 1917) with details of casualties to 74th and 75th Brigades, RFA, and many useful references to Brigade officers as well as details of his duties as a temporary battery commander of C/75 and D/75 (September 1917 – January 1918) and excellent descriptions of the operational difficulties faced by the batteries; service with A/75 then D/75 batteries (January – April 1918) in the Arras sector with references to the use of gas shells including deaths caused by short shooting (March 1918), also details concerning the behaviour of officers in the mess and while near the front line (February 1918) and good descriptions of the rumours, chaos and confusion evident in Allied lines during the German Spring Offensive and more details of casualties, including the death of a young subaltern in his battery; also his commission warrant, five photographs and his Cambridge degree certificate (1916).
Cataloguer AC | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | 74th Brigade 7th Meerut Division Royal Field Artillery British Army 11th Division 75th Brigade Indian Army 61st Howitzer Brigade Guards Division | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Wills, John Pearce | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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