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Description: | 4 ms diaries, September 1914 – 1919, kept during his service initially as a Private with the 1/9th Battalion The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) (81st Brigade, 27th Division) on the Western Front, describing his initial training and embarkation for France (February 1915), his billets on a farm, his first spell of trench duty in the Ypres sector and the sensation of coming under enemy fire, food and rations, the intense shelling and casualties among his unit, his involvement in the Second Battle of Ypres (22 April 1915) and subsequent wounding, his evacuation back to a hospital at Great Warley, Essex, an operation on his leg and recuperation near Brentwood; reclassified for Home Service and posted as an NCO to the 3/9th Battalion The Royal Scots based at Peebles (August 1915 – December 1916), Holmer was then transferred to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers based at Fort Matilda (December 1916 – February 1917) before embarking again for France (February 1917), training in the Bull Ring at Etaples, the chaotic train journey to join the 1st Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers (8th Brigade, 3rd Division) in the line at Arras (March 1917), conditions in the trenches, his continual poor health despite being considered fit for active duty, involvement in the Battle of Arras (9 April 1917) and the Third Battle of the Scarpe (3 May 1917) in which he was wounded, his evacuation to hospital at Boulogne and then evacuation back to the East Leeds War Hospital (May – July 1917), and his subsequent war service in the Reserve back at Fort Matilda until the Armistice.
Cataloguer APR | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Holmer, B C | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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