|
Date: |
|
Description: | British seaman served with Drake Bn Royal Naval Division on Western Front, 1918; POW, 1918
REEL 1: Background in Newark and Claypole, Notts, 1899-1914: family; education; story of illness; employment on farm; attitude to war; enlistment with Royal Naval Division, 28/Aug/1917; medical examination; reaction of parents. Recollections of training with Royal Naval Division in GB, 9/1917-4/1918: posted to Blandford Camp, Dorset; accommodation; description of uniform and kit; question of military and naval customs; opinion of food; drill; memory of visit to Blandford.
REEL 2 continues: route marches; rifle training and bayonet drill; exercises with Mills bombs; training with Lewis gun; opinion of NCO and officers; recreational and sporting activities; tactical exercises; description of further training at Aldershot; attitude to military life, drafted to France, 4/1918. Recollections of operations with Drake Bn Royal Naval Division on Western Front, 4-8/1918: description of journey to France and arrival in Somme area; posted to C Coy Drake Bn; memory of officers.
REEL 3 Continues: description of conditions in front line; question of clean trenches; memory of shell explosion; question of fear; memory of American troops; story of falling asleep on guard duty; daily routine in trenches; story of delivering bread rations; amusing story of wine; description of attack on railway embankment, 21/Aug/1918; story of shooting German machine gunner; question of German POWs. Aspects of period as POW, 4-11/1918: story of being taken prisoner; treatment of wounded by Germans.
REEL 4 Continues: problem of lice; accommodation in barns; fear of being killed by Germans; problem of malnutrition; forced labour on canal barges unloading goods; memory of stealing milk; memory of armistice and release, 11/11/1918; story of journey to Dutch border. Demobilization and post-war employment. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Clewes, James | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
|
|