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Description: | British NCO served with 9th Bn Royal Fusiliers in GB and on Western Front, 1914-1916.
REEL 1 Recollections of periods with 9th Bn Royal Fusiliers at Hounslow Barracks, 8/1914-9/1914: reception; barrack room; food rations; NCO instructors; drill; kitting out; sings 'Fred Karno's Army'; question of recruits' physical fitness; sleeping arrangements; washing; cleaning barrack room.
REEL 2 Continues: use of hand signals; kitting out and state of uniform. Recollections of period at Colchester Barracks, 9/1914-10/1914: puttees; webbing and equipment; barrack room; food rations.
REEL 3 Continues: meal time procedure and mess orderlies; route marches; cleaning rifle; rifle and bayonet training; trench digging; question of relevance of training to active service conditions on Western Front.
REEL 4 Continues: night training; opinion of officers and NCOs; story of indirectly reporting sergeant selling leave passes and using professional boxing experience to advantage in subsequent boxing bout with him; cleaning barrack room; specialist training opportunities; kit inspections. Aspects of period at Shorncliffe Camp, 10/1914-4/1915: shortage of tents.
REEL 5 Continues: coastal defence role; firing on rifle range; billeting and inspection by Kitchener during long distance march to Aldershot. Aspects of period at North Camp, Aldershot, 4/1915-5/1915: military nature of town; hut accommodation; divisional training; second hand reports illustrating soldier's ignorance of situation of friend serving with 1st Bn Middlesex Regt at Battle of Mons, 8/1914; method of erecting barbed wire.
REEL 6 Continues: method of erecting barbed wire; preparations for embarkation including hair cuts. Journey out to France, 5/1915. Recollections of operations on Western Front, 5/1915-7/1916: train journey; first impressions of trenches at Houplines; approach to front line by communication trenches; comparison of front, support and reserve trenches.
REEL 7 Continues: dugouts; trench fireplaces; latrines; collection of slivers of wood for cooking purposes prior to moving into line; securing extra bread; procedure on taking over front line positions; stand to; use of periscopes; procedure of ration and water parties; issue of food rations.
REEL 8 Continues: issue and cooking of breakfast food rations; method of making date puddings; food rations; disposal of rubbish and role of sanitary orderly.
REEL 9 Continues: trench repairs; sleeping arrangements; preparing trench mortar emplacements; reconnaissance patrols and opinion of Captain Van Someran; wiring parties; listening posts.
REEL 10 Continues: trench raids; developing ability to judge landing point of German shells; minenwerfers; view across No Man's Land as sentry; Royal Artillery gun positions and registration of targets; routine on moving into rest; working parties; lice problem.
REEL 11 Continues: brewery baths; pay; drinking habits; cigarette ration; YMCA and Church Army canteens; bingo; food rations on rest.
REEL 12 Continues: German stick bomb hand grenades; Tickler's jam; sings 'Oh What A Lovely War'; demonstration of method of making jam tin hand grenades and refusal to volunteer; sings 'I Want To Go Home' and 'Far Far From Ypres'; formation of 60 pounder trench mortar brigades and digging of trench mortar emplacements ; introduction and method of firing of Stokes mortar; gas masks; problem with zeroing of Lee Enfield rifle and training in quarry area.
REEL 13 Continues: sheepskin and goatskin coats; trench feet, issue of protective boots and effects of wet conditions; news of offensive and move to Loos sector, 25/9/1915; taking over and consolidating former German trenches in Vermelles sector; relationship with French troops; food rations; reconnaissance patrols to locate German front line; digging jumping off trenches ; minor German and British attacks on move to Hulloch sector, 10/1915.
REEL 14 Continues: acclimatisation; German minenwerfer fire in Hairpin Trench, Hulloch; effects of wet conditions; rum ration; rest periods at Sailly Labourse; trench feet and use of whale oil; story of detonation of German mine, dispute with officer over ordering precautionary rapid rifle fire and subsequent promotion to lance sergeant; working parties in Ducksbill Mines 1, 2 and 3 at Givenchy including nature of mines, work of miners and listening for sounds of German mining operations.
REEL 15 Continues: working parties in Ducksbill Mines 1, 2 and 3 at Givenchy including problems with flooding, effects of German detonation of mine whilst underground, story of two miners accidentally shot by NCO for not halting in trench when ordered illustrating their casual attitude, method of preparing and detonating mine; leave in Woolwich, London, 3/1916 including journey back, story illustrating relative wealth of munitions workers, question of civilians understanding of conditions on Western Front.
REEL 16 Continues: leave in Woolwich, London, 3/1916 including opinion of war reporters, civilian patriotism, personal morale, sleeping on floor and bicycling. Recollections of preparations for Somme offensive, 6/1916-7/1916: training; sheltering in woods from German air observation; view of air warfare activity; cancellation of planned attack on slag heap in Bapaume sector due to failure of initial assault to break thorough German front line, 1/7/1916.
REEL 17 Recollections of attack on Ovillers, 7/7/1916: prior movements, 2/7/1916-6/7/1916; equipment carried; German counter-bombardment; failure of attack in face of German machine gun fire; sheltering in shell hole; retirement to British front line; casualties; opinion of inexperienced reinforcement drafts; opinion of Captain Cazalet; role as platoon sergeant. Recollections of attack on Ration Trench, Pozieres Ridge, 4/8/1916-8/8/1916: move into assembly trenches; briefing as second wave of attack; deliberate effort to catch first wave in No Man's Land; close fighting in German front line; situation; consolidation.
REEL 18 Continues: sniping from German troops cut off by British advance; German flame-thrower attack, 5/8/1916; retreat behind barricade of corpses; collection of hand grenades ready repel German attacks; arrival of Stokes mortar crew and ammunition along communication trench dug across former No Man's Land; use of Stokes mortar and rifle grenades to repel German attacks; further ammunition supplies; absence of German shell fire; ground conditions; informal agreement with Germans not to shell ration parties and Red Cross facilities. Recollections of evacuation with leg wound to Etaples Hospital, 8/1916: attempts to save leg; amputation. Fitting with artificial leg at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Lance, David G | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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