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Description: | British officer served with 2nd Bn East Surrey Regt in Burma, 1910-1914; served with 8th Bn East Surrey Regt in GB and on Western Front, 1914-1918; served with 2nd Bn East Surrey Regt in North Russia, 1919
REEL 1 Recollections of period with 2nd Bn East Surrey Regt in Burma, 1910-1913: background to taking home leave, 1913-1914; learning Urdu and Burmese dialects; stories illustrating role as station officer, cantonment magistrate and commandant of military prison at Thayetmyo. Recollections of period as adjutant with 8th Bn East Surrey Regt at Purfleet, 9/1914-7/1915: origins of troops; value of experienced sergeant major; selection of NCOs; lack of equipment; commanding officers including Colonel Powell; importance of briefing troops; circumstances of promotion to major.
REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of operations on Western Front, 7/1915-6/1916: role with advance party in Somme area; personal morale on introduction to front line; nature of trenches; lice problem; trench feet. Recollections of attack towards Montauban in Somme area, 1/7/1916: preliminary bombardment; personal morale; promotion to colonel commanding unit and role during attack; granting permission to Captain Wilfred Nevill's platoons to kick footballs whilst going over top with B Coy; relative success in reaching objective; moving forward to encourage further attacks; consolidation; relief, 2/7/1916; casualties; recommendation of medical officer Captain Gimsum of Royal Army Medical Corps for VC; award of DSO; story of being piped out of line by Canadian pipers; question of calling off attack until German barbed wire was cut. Recollections of period in Somme area, 7/1916-11/1916: state of ground and German flamethrower attacks on taking up positions in Schwaben Redoubt, Grandcourt sector.
REEL 3 Continues: story of being wounded in thigh during attack on Desire Trench, Grandcourt sector 18/11/1916. White feather incident during period in London, 1916. Recollections of period on Western Front, 1917-1918: initial successful attack and background to subsequent retirement in Cherisy sector, Arras area, 3/5/1917; protest prior to failed night attack in Poelcapelle sector, Ypres area, 11/10/1917-12/10/1917; German air raid on billets; undisturbed retreat from Gibercourt to Noyon, Aisne area, 5/1918, including stories of Captain Whiteman's role in organising enfilading machine gun on advancing German troops and steadying nervous troops; state of morale in Ypres area; organisation of raid in Dernancourt, Somme area, 18/5/1918; question of importance of dominating No Man's Land; recreations and visits to restaurant in Amiens.
REEL 4 Continues: visits to restaurant in Amiens; story of Brigadier Wood capturing party of German soldiers during operations at Ronsoir, 18/9/1918; minor wounds; role during period as acting brigadier at Headquarters, 55th Bde whilst advancing through Foret de Mormal; reactions to Armistice, 11/11/1918; state of unit morale and question of assimilation of drafts. Aspects of period with 2nd Bn East Surrey Regt in North Russia, 1919: question of reduced status as company commander; mobile role on train guarding railway bridges; relationship with French unit. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Irwin, Alfred Percy Bulteel | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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