51464: Interview with L.J. Ounsworth, Royal Artillery
First part of six sections of a recording of a long interview with L.J. Ounsworth, Royal Artillery (interviewer unknown). Length 30 mins approx, includes: training at Hedon Race Course, Hull after joining up as a signaller. They completed two years of peace time cavalry training within six months. Continues directly into the second part.
Second part of six sections of a recording of a long interview with L.J. Ounsworth, Royal Artillery (interviewer unknown), continues directly from the first part. Length 30 mins approx, includes: his battery - the 2nd Heavy Battery - on the Somme 1916; moving forward he encountered men from the depleted 8th East Yorks. during the advance; and watching the successful cavalry charge of the Deccan Horse (an Indian cavalry regiment) to capture German machine gun positions, the troops were alerted to the location of the machine gunners by a French plane repeatedly diving onto their positions; also witnessed was the unsuccessful attempt by a German officer POW (prisoner of war) to escape, he had taken the rifle of one of the soldiers guarding him and a column of Germans, and then as they all made a break for it the British soldiers around reacted, and the attempt was quelled. Later on Ounsworth received 4 gunshot wounds. Continues directly into the third part.
Third part of six sections of a recording of a long interview with L.J. Ounsworth, Royal Artillery (interviewer unknown), continues directly from the second part. Length 30 mins approx, includes: forward observation during the battles on the Somme, and being wounded by a bomb blast which blew him out of the shell-hole he was sheltering in. Continues directly into the fourth part.
Fourth part of six sections of a recording of a long interview with L.J. Ounsworth, Royal Artillery (interviewer unknown), continues directly from the third part. Length 30 mins approx, includes: after receiving 4 gunshot wounds during the battle of the Somme he describes initial treatment at an advanced dressing station in Bernafay Wood, where he was lain next to a shell shock victim, then the ambulance evacuation across former No Mans Land to Belloure Wood [?] then to Dives Copse [?], and then transfer to a school in Corbie. He says that the presence of nurses at the battle front is "rubbish", he does not appear to have received medical attention since the advanced dressing station until reaching a hospital in Rouen. At Rouen the wounded are treated by a Scottish doctor Capt. O'Neill. He explained further about the conditions at the dressing stations like Bernafay Wood. He describes the evacuation by boat from Rouen, and later the journey to Rochdale to a 'hospital'. The hospital is actually the Birchhill workhouse infirmary on Swithybridge Road, Rochdale, (the workhouse continues to operate during this time). Apparently the doctor (Heywood or Heyworth) there was only informed that day that more than 600 wounded were to arrive at his institution built to care for 200. The local churches etc. assist in the preparation of the hospital, and Ounsworth also describes how gifts were pressed on the wounded, or thrown threw the windows/doors of the trucks whenever they slowed down through towns. In Rochdale they are tended by a Dr Wright, Dr Coker, Dr Scar and his son, all civilians, with little visible involvement from the military. Later Ounsworth describes the appalling conditions at North Command Depot Royal Artillery at Ripon. Continues directly into the fifth part.
Fifth part of six sections of a recording of a long interview with L.J. Ounsworth, Royal Artillery (interviewer unknown), continues directly from the fourth part. Length 45 mins approx, includes: the appalling conditions at North Command Depot Royal Artillery at Ripon, which provoked a successful mutiny over rations. After refusing to eat, a Captain P.W.M. Bate arranges for another better meal to be prepared and served to the men. Conditions are so poor that Ounsworth does all he can to get posted back to active service, eventually ending up in the 144th Heavy Battery in France. He describes in detail the football games he plays in for his battery in Britain - nine of the eleven players were English or Scottish League professional footballers. On arrival at Le Havre he endures the terrible conditions of the bullring there (a sort of assault course [at Etaples?]) He witnesses a mutiny in May 1917, but does not know what happened to those involved. He reaches his battery on the day of the start of the battle of Messines, 7 or 8 June 1917. He descibes coming under bombardment with gas shells, as well as the technicalities of other ordinance. Continues directly into the sixth part.
Last part of six sections of a recording of a long interview with L.J. Ounsworth, Royal Artillery (interviewer unknown), continues directly from the fifth part. Length 30 mins approx, includes: introduction of wireless to the battery so they can communicate with the observer planes. Later, after the Armistice, he describes the ill-feeling towards strikers on the home front, in particular some Welsh miners who were drafted into his battery weeks after the Armistice. He also describes disturbances and riots with police [military police?] on stations in England as former troops (already discharged) try to board trains which soldiers are not allowed to travel on.
