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Description: | 3 volumes of extracts cut out from his original ms letters to his wife during his service initially with the Chemical Section of M Company Royal Engineers at the RE Depot at Chatham (March - April 1916) and as a pioneer with No. 3 Company, 5th (Special Reserve) Battalion, Special (Gas) Brigade RE on the Western Front (April 1916 - January 1919) describing daily life in the trenches and including accounts of trench foot and lice, his work as a cook and as a section quartermaster, his organisation of and participation in concert parties and his encounters with American troops; he also expresses his concerns over Zeppelin attacks and food shortages at home. The letters record the rapid Allied retreat in April 1918 following the German offensive, the onset of the Spanish influenza epidemic (June 1918), an account of a ride in a 'whippet' tank (July 1918), the rapid movement forward of the Allied line (August - October 1918) and his exploration of the abandoned lines while also describing his feelings on hearing of the Armistice. Included within the volumes are press cuttings, postcards, photographs and concert programmes, while place names have been added throughout the letters from a contemporary diary where they had originally been omitted or obliterated by the censor, though the writer has deleted all personal details from the letters.
Cataloguer AAM
Catalogue date 2000-04-11 | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | Royal Engineers British Army Special (Gas) Brigade | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Hounsom, S J | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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