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Description: | British gunner served with F (later 6th) Bn Tank Corps in GB, on Western Front and in Germany, 1917-1919.
REEL 1 Background in Belfast and Brampton, Chesterfield, 1898-1916: move to Chesterfield, 1908; education; effects of outbreak of war, 4/8/1914; work as railway clerk and question of women workers, 1915; question of volunteering and reserved occupation status. Recollections of conditions of service and training with Heavy Branch Motor Machine Gun Corps at Bovington Camp, 11/1916-5/1917: conscription and reasons for selection of unit; hut accommodation; kitting out; relationship with other ranks; route marches; rifle and revolver training; training course on 6- pounder gun on Whale Island; Lewis gun training; recreations. Move to France, 14/5/1917.
REEL 2 Move to France, 14/5/1917. Period training with Mark IV tanks of 17 Coy, F Bn Tank Corps at Auchy-les-Hesdin tankodrome, 5/1917-7/1917: driving and maintenance; use of unditching beams and fascines; practise driving in battlefield terrain conditions; question of absence of practise in infantry co-operation. Recollections of conditions of service, daily routine and lifestyle in Ypres area, 7/1917-11/1917: policy of having two crews for each Mark IV tank; role as maintenance crew and effects of ground conditions; tank supplies; close escape from German shell; role as officer's servant to Major Storey and story of stealing to replace his stolen kit.
REEL 3 Continues: tent accommodation and German shellfire on billets; food rations, maintenance duties; baths; lice problem; food rations; German shellfire; visits to Talbot House; letter and parcel contact with GB; cigarette smoking; latrines; relationships with other ranks, officers and NCOs; move to Cambrai area, 11/1917. Recollection of operations in Cambrai area, 11/1917: prior period at Auchy-les-Hesdin tankodrome; method of entraining tanks; camouflaging tanks at Gouzeaucourt; composition of unit.
REEL 4 Continues: secrecy during waiting period at Gouzeaucourt; preparing tanks for action; laying of tank guidance tapes, 19/11/1917; account of attack in F 23 Foggie II towards Masnieres, 20/11/1917, including move up to line, British artillery barrage, role of crew members of Mark IV Female tank; advance across No Man's Land, German barbed wire, tactics on reaching Hindenburg Line, restricted view from tank, personal morale, question of effect of German machine gun fire and wearing chain mail masks, tank crew equipment and uniform, slight ditching in communication trench, accompanying infantry, collapse of Masnieres bridge objective, situation, question of success of operations, break from conditions inside tank, infantry success in crossing canal, supply tanks, relief crew, salvaging machine guns from tank after it had been hit and return to rallying point; role as spare personnel; move to Gouzeaucourt; cold weather.
REEL 5 Continues: story of tank crew member who lost his wig in collapse of Masnieres bridge; role directing traffic during successful German counter-attack, 27/11/1917; question of situation. Period in Bray-sur-Somme and Wailly, 12/1917-3/1918: being wrongly reported missing; concert party activities; sporting activities; change of unit title to B Coy, 6th Bn Tank Corps, 1/1918; opinion of officers; cold conditions; question of introduction of Whippets tanks and Mark V; move to Wailly, 2/1918; tank races. Recollections of German offensive, 3/1918-6/1918: evacuation forced by German long range shelling on Wailly camp, 21/3/1918; joining infantry in trenches; German gas shells; reserve role during retreat; effects of tracks on road surface; supplies; confused situation; travelling cross country; end of retreat.
REEL 6 Continues: Re-equipment and training with Whippet tanks at Merlimont Camp, 6/1918-8/1918: opinion of Whippets; opinion of Hotchkiss gun; method of driving; erecting tents and sandy conditions; interchangeable nature of crew; absence of co-operation training with RAF; German air attack, 11/1918. Aspects of advance, 8/1918-11/1918: role dealing with German machine gun posts; reaction of German infantry to tanks; question of German anti-tank guns at Cambrai, 11/1917; effect of German small arms fire; restricted view from tank; advance role in front of infantry; question of communication with tanks; story of missing tank action due to injury whilst starting tank engine, direct hit to tank by German shell and reactions to scene on salvage mission; effects of German shell hits on tanks; German booby traps; relationship with Guards troops; question of Whippets ability to cope with battlefield conditions; local and workshop repairs.
REEL 7 Continues: story of actions of Lieutenant Colonel Richard West for which he was awarded Victoria Cross; GB leave; Armistice, 11/11/1918; importance of religion. Period as lance corporal in Tank Store at Roetgen, Germany, 1918-1919. clerical duties; hotel billets; relationship with German civilians; recreations; return to GB, 11/1919. Period in Harwich Camp, 11/1919: old up due to rail strike; disobedience amongst troops illustrated by casual attitude on guard. Demobilisation, 11/1919. Post-war career: work as railway clerk; opinion of war service; review of activities with Home Guard in Chesterfield, 1940-1945. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Potten, Eric | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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