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Description: | British officer served with 5th Bn Royal Fusiliers and 9th Bn Royal Sussex Regt on Western Front, 1914-1918
REEL 1: Background in Bristol, 1887-1914: family; education; employment; commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in 5th Bn Royal Fusiliers, 8/1914; reason for enlisting; role in training reservists. Recollections of operation with 5th Bn Royal Fusiliers and 9th Bn Royal Sussex Regt on Western Front, 1914-1918: journey to France and arrival in St.Nazaire area, 9/1914; daily life and duties; accommodation; description of locations and movements and arrival in Armentieres area, 1914; memory of First Battle of Battle of Ypres, 11/1914; duties as 2nd Lieutenant in charge of 15 Platoon D Coy; story of fraternization with Germans, Christmas 1914; memory of 5th Bn Medical Officer Dr.Wilson (later Lord Moran) and improvement in sanitary facilities; daily routine and living conditions; rum ration; memory of batman; question of lack of battle experience; description of operations in the Hooge area, 8/1915; memory of padre Joe Snooks; story of Dr.Wilson's cure for trench feet; description of attack by C Coy at Guillemont during Battle of Somme, 8/1916; further comments on character and popularity of Dr.Wilson.
REEL 2 Continues: memory of Brigadier Harper, 51st Div. Commanding Officer; story of promotion to Major and role as second in command of 5th Bn, 12/1915; nature of duties and opinion of adjutant; further comments on role during Battle of Somme, 8/1916; attitude to tanks; comparison of weather on the Somme and Passchendaele; role in actions at Vimy Ridge and Messines, 1917; description of duties as company commander; communications and intelligence gathering; opinion of rations and accommodation at Bn HQ; comparison of living conditions of officers and men; description of role during German offensive and retreat in Somme area, 3/1918; casualties; question of abandoning supplies and equipment during retreat; morale; memory of dry river bed of Somme; story of lone soldier at Hooge, 1916.
REEL 3 Continues: attitude to air operations during war; story of Forward Observation Post during Battle of Cambrai, 11/1917; further memories of retreat, 3/1918; reaction to news of Armistice, 11/Nov/1918; story of being wounded in shoulder and medical treatment, 3/1918; memory of being buried in dugout; medals; opinion of officers and importance of being in front line; reflections on period of military service; problem of lice; sanitary facilities and health of men; attitude to discipline; story of man receiving death sentence for disobeying order; attitude to cases of shell shock; memory of meeting Haig, Gough and Plumer.
REEL 4 Continues: memory of leave and changing attitude of civilians; attitude to censoring letters; question of keeping a diary; opinion of Siegfried Sasson and other war poets; memory of author Richard Aldington and reference in book 'Death of a Hero'; story of wounded men being left to die. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Hill, Murray Victor Burrow | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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