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Description: | British private served with 266th Coy Machine Gun Corps on Western Front, 1916-1918; POW in France and Germany, 1918
REEL 1: Recollections of period as POW on Western Front; 1918: story of being captured at St Quentin, 21/3/1918; memory of bombardment and gas shells; problem with breathing; description of Germans entering dugout and reason for not resisting; surrendering of revolver and equipment; description of being taken to German lines and treatment of wounded; story of wounded corporal in machine gun team; description of German HQ at St Quentin and conditions; German iron rations; comparison of Germans and Austrians; memory of stealing apples; question of obtaining food from civilians; description of treatment by Germans.
REEL 2 Continues: problem of insufficient food and water; description of working on railway unloading ammunition; question of escape; story of Big Bertha gun; story of stealing potatoes and problem of sentry; memory of German general; response of civilian population to news of Armistice; reaction of German troops following Armistice and disarming of officers; question of Red Cross parcels; story of march to Mons, Belgium; description of POW clothes and wooden clogs; problem of dysentery.
REEL 3 Continues: problem of insufficient food during march and help from local civilians; description of facilities at Le Havre, France, including baths and canteen; effects of imprisonment and problem of walking; returned to GB and medical examination at Dover Castle; continuing health problems as result of imprisonment. Various recollections of operations on Western Front: description of trench system; nature of chalky soil and difficulty digging; duties helping Royal Engineers in trench maintenance; problem of rats; memory of wounded corporal in machine gun team; description of loading and firing machine gun and role of gun crew; amusing story of corporal and fat; effects of shrapnel; story of home leave and parents; memory of celebrating 20th birthday in trenches. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Wilkinson, James | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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