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Description: | British civilian worked at Woolwich Arsenal, London, 1916-1917; NCO served as battalion gas instructor with 23rd Bn Middlesex Regt on Western Front, 1918
REEL 1 Recollections of work in Light Machine Tool Shop, Woolwich Arsenal, 1916-1917: reasons for taking job; drilling holes in shell fuses; pay; shiftwork; travelling from Peckham; machines employed; problems from getting filings in eyes and lack of safety precautions; question of effects of introduction of women workers; breaks and recreations; question of workers deliberately seeking reserved occupation status.
REEL 2 Continues: question of pay differences between munitions workers and soldiers; air raid alarms and blackout at factory; story of being hurt by bombs dropped by Zeppelin; fatigue; air raids on Peckham; food scarcities; pay; interest in motorcycles and failure of attempt to join up as despatch rider; question of knowledge of conditions on Western Front. Initial call up to join Army Service Corps, 4/1917.
REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of training as gas instructor whilst posted to 6th Bn Middlesex Regt at Chatham Barracks, 4/1917-3/1918: hut gas chambers; method of detecting different gases; gas alarms. Recollections of conditions of operations as gas instructor with 23rd Bn Middlesex Regt in Ypres area, 3/1918-9/1918: inspecting gas masks; gas refresher course; story of mistaking smell of decomposing corpses for gas; first impressions on joining unit; move up to front line.
REEL 4 Continues: move up to front line and personal morale; nature of front line; breastwork trenches at Gravenstaffel; use of 'A' frames and duckboards; method of constructing new trenches; comparison of British, French and German trenches; question of trench repairs; slit trenches; wiring parties in Kemmel sector.
REEL 5 Continues: comparison of Ypres and Kemmel terrain; casualties drowned in mud in Ypres area; story of falling in shellhole; stand to; sentry duty and use of periscopes; ration parties; food rations; tommy cookers; method of brewing tea; rum ration.
REEL 6 Continues: food rations during rest periods; personal hygiene and lice problem; questions of trench feet; absence of rats; latrines; trench pumps; role of stretcher bearers.
REEL 7 Continues: evacuation procedure and medical treatment on being wounded at Comines, 29/9/1918; personal morale under concentrated German shellfire in Kemmel sector; German snipers; casualties from German machine gun fire during attack, 9/1918; story of abortive raid on Dilly Farm illustrating importance of keeping still in No Man's Land when German star shells were fired; question of avoiding German shellfire on front lines by going into No Man's Land; story of charging soldier for disobeying orders.
REEL 8 Continues: story of charging soldier for disobeying orders, his court martial and subsequent No 1 Field Punishment; spit and polish out of line; common disciplinary offences; case of shell shock; comparison of British and US soldiers' discipline. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Oxley, Henry | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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