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Description: | Ts transcription of a diary (19pp), 4 August 1914 - 15 May 1918, written by him whilst serving as a Private with the 21st Battalion Manchester Regiment, (91st Brigade, 30th Division) until December 1915, then the 7th Division in England and France during the First World War, describing in detail basic training and his specialist training as a signaller, embarking for France and marching to the frontline at Gommecourt Wood (November 1915), being hospitalised with trench fever, returning to the front for the first day of the Battle of the Somme (1 July 1916) and defending the trenches at Mametz, the high number of casualties and the difficulties faced by the medical staff trying to treat them, attacking and gaining control of High Wood (11 July 1916), being injured in an artillery barrage, his involvement in the fighting around Givenchy (22 September 1916) and successfully holding a trench with only four others until the arrival of reinforcements, attacking Delville Wood (25 September 1916) and helping to hold the line at Ploegsteert (October 1916), receiving a temporary transfer to the Military Police before rejoining his battalion at Beaumont Hamel (December 1916), encountering fierce resistance from German forces at the Battle of Bullecourt (25 May 1917), retiring to a rest camp to help repair roads and transport supplies, moving up to attack and take Passchendaele Ridge during the Third Battle of Ypres (October 1917), being seriously injured in an attack on Passchendaele village (26 October 1917) and spending six months in a military hospital in France before returning to England in May 1918.
Cataloguer JHK
Catalogue date 2007-12-13 | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | James, G | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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