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Description: | Photocopied ts account (18pp), written in 1976, of his experiences during the First World War which included service with the 1st Battalion Hampshire Regiment (11th Brigade, 4th Division) in France, December 1916 - April 1917, on garrison duty in Ireland, January - March 1918, and then with the 2/4th Battalion Hampshire Regiment (186th Brigade, 62nd Division) on the Western Front, May 1918 - 1919, describing his enlistment in December 1915, his arrival in France (which was delayed due to medical work on his bad teeth), involvement in the Battle of Arras (April 1917) and the attacks against the Hindenburg Line at Havrincourt and Solesmes (September - October 1918), his recreational activities including film shows, Christmas celebrations, a fellow soldier's experience of shell shock, and the muted response to the Armistice announcement. Watts spent a period in a French hospital recovering from a minor head wound in January 1917 and was evacuated in April 1917 back to the United Kingdom suffering from 'trench foot', recuperating at Field End Lodge Voluntary Hospital in Middlesex and Roseneath Voluntary Hospital in London, before returning to the Western Front and serving with the Army of Occupation in Germany until his demobilisation.
Cataloguer APR
Catalogue date 2001-06-07 | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Watts, G | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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