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Description: | British private served with 1/16th Bn (Queen's Westminster Rifles) London Regt on Western Front, 1914-1915; officer served with Machine Gun Corps on Western Front, 1916-1918
REEL 1: Background in Lincolnshire, GB, 1897-1914: family; story of sisters keeping letters sent from Western Front; memory of outbreak of war, 8/1914; education; employment; training with OTC as school; reaction to outbreak of war, 8/1914, Aspects of training with 1/16th Bn London Regt in GB, 1914: story of enlistment with 1/16th Bn London Regt, 6/Aug/1914; cost of 25 shillings to join; opinion of platoon commander; story of commission; question of age at enlistment; knowledge of weapons and warfare; story of obtaining father's permission to go abroad; description of training; drill; accommodation; physical training; field days and exercises; billeted in barns; issued with uniform; story of inspection by Lord Kitchener, 9/1914; opinion of Kitchener; state of morale; embarked for France, 1/Nov/1918; attitude of regular troops to new recruits; effect on morale of retreat from Mons; opinion of adequacy of training.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as private with 1/16th Bn London Regt on Western Front, 1914-1915: relations with officers; problem of frostbitten feet; arrival in France and problem with disembarkation; marched to camp; reception from French civilians in St Omer area; inspected by Sir John French; moved to Bailleul sector; inspected by Lord Roberts; weight of kit and equipment; memory of singing while marching; recites poem; sings song; Christmas songs; moved into trenches, 11/1914; morale; billets with French civilians; amusing story of failure to wake up; memories of Canadian troops; problem of marching to trenches; opinion of rations; proximity of German trenches; story of not receiving bread ration; problem of water tasting of petrol and chlorine; effects of mustard gas; description of being under fire; duties in rear trenches; dugouts; nature of static warfare; casualties caused by snipers; opinion of medical treatment; sings song.
REEL 3 Continues: description of participation in Christmas truce, 12/1914; reads extracts from letter to sister dated 26/Dec/1914; description of Germans; question of organising football match; opinion of German physique; story of brother being wounded while sniping; description of end of truce; question of going over top with unloaded rifle; attitude to bayonet charges; role as machine officer at Passchendaele, 1917; assessment of war service; stand to in anticipation of German bayonet charge; story of brother in India.
REEL 4 Continues: daily routine in trenches; amusing story of brigadier and rum jar; washing facilities; shaving. Aspects of period in GB, 1915-1916: returned to GB for treatment of trench feet at hospital in Lincoln, 5/1915; posted to Reserve Bn, Richmond Park and duties as medical orderly; story of being commissioned in Lincolnshire Regt; amusing story of church parade; sent on machine gun course and role as instructor; seconded to Machine Gun Corps, 10/1916; selected for riding course; story of riding breeches and leg infection. Recollections of operations as officer with Machine Gun Corps on Western Front, 1916-1918: posted to 24th Bde; attitude to role as officer; relations with NCOs; reads from letter by Sergeant Carter; accommodation for officers; duties of batman; daily routine and duties with Machine Gun Corps.
REEL 5 Continues: stand to; inspection of machine guns; proximity of German lines; description of terrain and trenches on Somme; sleeping accommodation for officers; problem of trench feet and treatment; problem of lice and personal hygiene; morale; memory of popular songs; recreational and sporting activities including football matches; rotation out of line; rest areas near Amiens, Christmas 1916; amusing story of whisky; description of being under shellfire; increase in number of machine gun companies and formation of Machine Gun Corps; memories of CO of Machine Gun Corps Bn in 8th Div; trained for open warfare and rate of advance, 3/1917;description of going over the top; story of diabetic soldier.
REEL 6 Continues: story of organising firing party to execute deserter; entrained to Ypres sector, Belgium, 1917; description of role in operations at Passchendaele, 7/1917; story of being wounded and taking cover in shell hole, 8/1917; religious vision; nature of aerial activity; use of machine guns to fire at German aircraft; description of medical treatment for back wound; taken by train to base hospital; returned to GB for operation to remove shell splinter; nature of wound; convalescence; trained as Transport Officer and appointed adjutant with Remount Div in GB; promoted captain and posted as CO with 47th Bn Machine Gun Corps on Western Front, 7/1918; duties as colonel's adjutant in Somme area; description of advance and terrain, 1918; story of taking weather vane as souvenir; villages deserted; story of betting on date of end of war; memories of Armistice, 11/11/1918; victory march through Lille; reaction to end of war and celebrations.
REEL 7 Continues: memory of receiving signal announcing Armistice, 11/11/1918; attitude to demobilisation; daily routine and activities; problem of boredom and maintaining discipline; story of intervening in fight; demobilisation in London, 6/1919; reason for not remaining in army. Post -war life and employment: story of scholarship to Christ's College Cambridge University; reflections on period on war service. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Stovold, Jan R | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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