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Description: | Detailed ms diaries, transcribed from the originals but with additional annotations (148pp, August 1914 - March 1918 and 86pp, April 1918 - January 1919), covering his service as the Veterinary Officer in command of GHQ 2nd Echelon (August 1914 - May 1915), describing his embarkation on 14 August on board SS ERMINE, the Battles of Le Cateau and the Marne, and the movement of GHQ through France; then with the 11th Division (4 May - October 1915) based back in the United Kingdom at Milford before embarkation on the SS LAKE MICHIGAN from Plymouth to Alexandria, Egypt (4 July) via Gibraltar and Malta, then departure for Lemnos on 14 August aboard the FRANCONIA and then to Gallipoli on the REDBREAST, landing at Suvla Bay on 20 August, the harsh fighting on their arrival (including maps, photograph and a diagram of their position); then service as Assistant Director of Veterinary Service at XI Veterinary Hospital at Rest Camp A, Alexandria, Egypt (1 November 1915 - 22 April 1916); as Assistant Director of Veterinary Service at GHQ in Ismalia and Cairo, Egypt (April 1916 - May 1917); then his Appointment as Deputy Director of Veterinary Services to Desert Mounted Corps HQ at Khan Yunus (10 August 1917 - 1919), describing Turkish attacks and fighting in and around Gaza (September - November 1917), an encounter with an Australian poet (November 1917), the aftermath of the Second Battle of Gaza, an extensive account of sites of biblical interest in Jerusalem and surrounding areas (January 1918), attacks by German planes at Talaat-ed-Dum, his embarkation for the UK (17 June 1918) on leave aboard the SS KAISAR, casualties sustained by both sides (May - August 1918), the bombardment of enemy troops from Sarona (19 September 1918) and the subsequent prisoners and captured animals, his camp at Semakh and a cholera outbreak (October 1918), the march on Damascus (October 1918) before transfer to Homs where he describes the Citadel, visit to Aleppo (5 January 1919), offering his opinion on the Armenian Massacre there (March 1919) and his presence at the subsequent court martial; then following the break up of the Desert Mounted Corps, his transfer to GHQ in Cairo (ca April 1919). The diaries describe his duties as an officer in the Veterinary Corps and responsibility for the various animals under his care, including inspection and embarkation of the animals, sickness and injury and problems with supplies, and contain reflections written whilst he was sitting on the banks of the Suez Canal in 1916 concerning the history and geography of the surrounding area. Together with 20 photographs (May - September 1918) of Bethlehem, Jerusalem and the surrounding area, the advance of Anzac troops on Ammam (May 1918) and a photograph of the author taken on 1 January 1918 at Desert Mounted Corps HQ.
Cataloguer SCJ
Catalogue date 2004-10-13 | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Argyle, E P | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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