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Description: | British private served with 10th Bn Royal West Surrey Regt on Western Front and in Italy, 1916-1919
REEL 1: Background in GB, 1915-1916: story of enlistment in Brighton, 1915; question of age and reason for volunteering; physical fitness; question of pressure to enlist; description of cavalry training with Sussex Yeomanry and attitude to discipline; question of serving overseas; posted to France, 9/1916. Recollections of operations with 10th Bn Royal West Surrey Regt on Western Front, 1916-1917: moved to Passchendaele sector, Belgium; description of role as No 1 in Lewis gun team with B Coy during attack on Messines Ridge; effect of Lewis gun fire; equipment and weapons carried; weather conditions and problem of mud; recovery of wounded; question of firing on stretcher bearers; casualties; problem of aiming Lewis gun; question of fear; description of communication trench Poppy Lane.
REEL 2 Continues: description of holding line at Passchendaele; problem of rats and lice; personal hygiene; opinion of rations; sanitary and washing facilities; humour in the trenches; attitude to mental breakdowns and self-inflicted wounds; description of receiving shrapnel wound in neck at Menin Gate, 1917; nature of wound and medical treatment; posted to base camp at Boulogne; posted to Italian front, 1918. Aspects of operations with 10th Bn Royal West Sussex Regt in Italy, 1918: accommodation with farmer; memory of Zeppelins over Mount Grappa; description of role as Lewis gunner with Bn; comparison of trench systems on Western Front and Italy; posted back to France following German offensive, 3/1918. Aspects of operations with 10th Bn Royal West Surrey Regt on Western Front, 1918: description of retreat in Somme area following German breakthrough; opinion of organisation and reassembly of unit.
REEL 3 Continues: transferred to Ypres sector; description of mines exploding under German positions on Messines Ridge; story of attack on German machine gun post; opinion of German troops; memory of British POWs; story of death on morning of Armistice Day, 11/11/1918; reaction to news of Armistice. Aspects of period with Army of Occupation in Germany, 12/1918-3/1919: attitude of German civilians; story of British soldiers being stabbed; question of fraternization with Germans. Further recollections of operations on Western Front, 1916-1918: memory of visit to Waterloo monument, Belgium; attitude of Belgian civilians to Germans; memory of German POWs.
REEL 4 Continues: story of No 2 in Lewis gun team being tied to wheel of wagon as punishment for insolence; attitude to discipline in front line; opinion of officers; story of role in grenade attack on German trenches at Passchendaele; opinion of American, Italian and German troops; attitude to shooting Germans; question of fraternization with Germans; daily routine out of line; story of home leave and description of scene at Victoria Station, London; question of protection against various types of enemy fire; opinion of conditions in Passchendale sector
REEL 5 Continues: state of health; attitude to conduct of war. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Dann, William Trayton | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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