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Description: | British NCO served with 1/9th Bn King's Liverpool Regt on Western Front, 1915-1916; served as private with 1/2nd Bn Mommouthshire Regt on Western Front and in Germany, 1916-1919
REEL 1: Background in GB: pre-war employment; enlistment with 9th Bn King's Liverpool Regt age 15, Ormskirk, 3/Aug/1914; reaction of parents; training in Liverpool and Dunfermline. Recollections of operations as NCO with 1/9th Bn King's Liverpool Regt and as private with 2nd Bn Monmouthshire Regt on Western Front and in Germny, 1915-1919: question of age and reason for transfer to Monmouthshire Regt; sporting activities including boxing; description of training; story of German soldier on Christmas Day, 1915; story of sergeant; story of death of officer, 1918; morale; attitude to overseas service.
REEL 2 Continues: marched to Ypres area, Belgium; story of fight in trench and boxing match; conditions in trenches; amusing story of whisky; problem of trench feet; training as Lewis gunner; description of being wounded in throat; story of friend running away after shelling; attitude to executions for cowardice; story of seeing King George V thrown from horse during inspection; memories of winter in Somme area, 1915/1916; problem of cold; description of operations during Battle of Loos, 9/1915; casualties; story of friend saving life.
REEL 3 Continues: attitude to loss of friends; home leave; story of being reported missing; daily routine in trenches; sentry duty; stand to; rations; night patrols; role as Lewis gunner covering mining activities; sand bags; role in operations during Battle of Somme, France, 1/Jul/1916; casualties; opinion of strategy; description of preparatory artillery barrage; attitude to senior staff; rest periods; problem of washing and shaving; recreational activities; maintenance of trenches; role in operations during Battle of Passchendaele, Belgium, 1917; description of terrain and living conditions; duckboards; problem of mud; sleeping arrangements.
REEL 4 Continues: opinion of tanks; memory of employment of cavalry at Loos, 1915; relations with local civilians; estaminets; role as Lewis gunner; ammunition; role as Lewis gunner protecting mining activites; opinion of miners; discipline; story of general and Lewis gun; opinion of officers; memory of Colonel Ramsay; problem of rats; problem of booby traps; reaction to news of Armistice, 11/11/1918. Aspects of period in Germany, 1918-1919: story of shop in Cologne billets in school; description of journey back to GB, 1919. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Trafford, Richard | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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