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Description: | Microfilm copy of an ms diary, including maps, photographs and miscellaneous documents, recording his experiences on the Western Front as a platoon commander and then Intelligence Officer in the 17th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment (106th Brigade, 35th Division), February 1916 - December 1917; the 12th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, December 1917 - February 1918; and then as Company Commander with the 8th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment (185th Brigade, 62nd Division), October 1918 - January 1919; describing their initial inspection by Lord Kitchener and his introduction to trench warfare and first night patrol in No Man's Land (February 1916), attendance on a sniping course before rejoined his Battalion in Montauban in the Somme sector (July 1916), the heavy losses and fighting experienced during an unsuccessful local British attack as part of the Battle of the Somme, service in the Arras sector (September 1916) where he was appointed Brigade Intelligence Officer, his duties compiling trench maps, assessing aerial photographs and organising sniping courses, the activities of the Battalion including a trench raid before being ordered back to the Somme where he describes the terrible conditions as they advanced and the Germans withdrew to the Hindenburg line, service in the Ypres Salient (October 1917) where the Battalion suffered heavy bombardments before they were amalgamated with the 15th West Yorkshires and he was posted to the 12th West Yorkshires in the trenches along the Hindenburg Line (December 1917) until their disbandment (February 1918), then his appointment as Company Commander in a training battalion in East Anglia, returning to France with the 8th West Yorkshires (October 1918) for the advance on Solesmes, describing the civilian reaction to their liberation from German occupation and the troops' reaction to the Armistice, their duties as part of the Army of Occupation, the shortage of rations and their treatment in Kommern, near Cologne before his demobilisation. Together with a full ts transcription of the diary (110pp) containing additional photographs and background notes, compiled by his son; plus a published version of the diary (2011).
Cataloguer JSK
Catalogue date 2002-04-29 | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Hepper, E R | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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