<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>side two <&>4:16 our division <,> was given the task <,> of defending the bridgeheads on the river <,> <.>k on the river RHINE <,> er the aussies were excluded from it they weren't taken it was a great <,> a great trip to <.>be to be able to go into germany <,> and do that job it was one of the outstanding parts of the war you know what i mean <,> but the poor old aussies who by virtue of their <,> fact that they were <,> undisciplined in fact actually they'd mutinied <.>someo i don't know which <.>ba which division it was they had five divisions <,> <.>w one of them er <,> caused quite a bit of trouble had quite a bit of trouble <,,> well that <.>was that don't know <.>whe that worthwhile bringing in but you can see where were we we left it we were going to the somme weren't we you were going to the somme could you tell us about your involvement in the somme <&>5:00 yes <,> er <.>th this as i say we left the <.>s we left left armentieres and we marched it was in autumn it was beautiful weather and we billeted it were good to get away from the trenches and to <.>b be billeted in these places <,> along the line and the people there are a different type of people to the ones up north <,> they were more friendly to us <,> er we were given <.>a the the i put it down here so i can jog my mind voc we were <.>given <.>the the new zealand division was given the task of taking the village of flers <.>an and we had to advance three thousand yards <,> on a front of eight hundred now that's a long way three thousand yard one thousand seven hundred and sixty yards is a mile isn't it it's <,> it's not <.>qu it's about a mile and a half it's a long way to go and we were given that task and it was cut up into various er objectives there was the switch trench that was the first one that was the voc trench immediately in front of us then there was the brown trench and the blue trench and <&>6:00 things like that <,> the er <,,> <.>b <.>b before we went into the line we stayed the night in in high wood there was high wood delville wood and er high wood delville wood <,> that's right high wood delville wood and er <,,><&>3 fricourt wood all woods we stayed the night in there and then we went into the <.>sw into the trench um <,,> the <.>sh the thinking of some of the troops was quite rare we had a chap <.>ca we <.>all everybody every unit had a sanitary man who was responsible for <,> the sanitary conditions in the show and <.>th he <.>th the bloke that was in that was generally the most illiterate or the most er the most backward sort of soldier of the lot <,> but this chap's name was thom t h o m he <.>was <,> wouldn't say he was illiterate but he wasn't very BRIGHT and i remember <.>n the night before we went over the top before we went over the top in the morning standing on one of his lavatory <&>7:00 tins turned upside down and giving us a lecture on patriotism and loyalty and the job we had to do this was a private just the old sanitary man laughs in another case a sanitary man <,> er he <,> and the sergeant major got hold of a a jar of rum army rum <,> went down into a deep dugout and drank it with the <.>consequen result that the poor old sanitary man he died er <,> he was asphyxiated <,> with rum and the sergeant major got away with it <,> and voc <.>we <,> any rate the morning came of the morning of the fifteenth of september <,> we were all set to go <,> and this was the first time that the division as a division had ever fought together all together they'd fought on gallipoli we'd fought in <,> as a battalion in egypt <,> er we'd done the trench warfare <&>pronounced worfor but this was the first time this was going to be <,> a testing time <,> and <.>a as you your reading would tell you that the <,> <.>th <.>b the <&>8:00 english the british er er we were still referred to as colonial troops and they didn't have a very high opinion of us the <.>th <.>th and they were very doubtful when they gave us this TASK of taking flers whether we were capable of doing it <,> um <,> but we proved otherwise and <,> so that we were given this this task it was the first <,> time as i say the division'd ever been together <,> the morale of the division was really high cos we'd worked together <,> as some we'd been together for months and months together <,> and apart from then we had the influx of the <,> gallipoli blokes they have a steadying effect <,> and we of the rifle brigade <,> <.>h had to prove ourself <.>we we were still <,> a bit offside with the others because you know er what they thought our superior style <,> so we had to prove ourself <,> and then this was the first time too that they'd ever had what they call a creeping barrage <.>y you'd know what that would be <,> and that was all a question of timing <,> and it was the first time voc <&>9:00 too that we'd had the tanks <,> and we had FOUR allocated to the division <,> er two <,> i don't think one ever got past the starting line and i don't know what happened to second one i know the third one followed us up and we took the brown line which was the second objective <,> and we were <,> very nicely <,> situated there doing <,> quite well minding our own damn business when this tank <,> stopped about a hundred yards <,> behind our <,> trench <,> with the consequential result that the germans sniffs er set to work to plaster it with <.>t er artillery fire <.>an <.>in an attempt to knock it out <,> but you know how artillery fire is like it was over and unders and we really got strafed the fourth one went on <,> went <.>o <.>round down our left flank sniffs and on our left was a <,> machine gun nest in <.>a in <.>a some WILLows and been giving us a lot of trouble it was firing at us and giving us a lot of casualties then <,> er they went down and cleaned it up er the barbed wire as as in the case of the first somme <,> was never cut <,> just in this intact place <,> they tried to cut it with shrapnel shrapnel'd never cut barbed wire <,> and this <&>10:00 trench <,> tank went down <,> and and cleaned up the er the <.>cl mowed them barbed wire down <,> and finished up ultimately at at the village of flers <,> <.>we er going on our our er going over the top for the first time <,> er <,,> it <.>requir <.>knew nobody <.>n knew what to expect but once it got over the top and in that exposed position you had <,> german fire coming at you machine guns and shrapnel <,> you had your own <,> er barrage the big thing about the barrage was <,> that it fell there and you had to keep up to it as close as you could <,> in fact while we were when we were doing <,> exercises <,> to <,> familiarise us with the barrage we had flags and things like that <,> the instructor said what you should do you should try to do is to lean on the barrage <,> er <.>th keep up as close as you can because as soon as the barrage lifted <,> er the germans <.>w if we didn't <&>11:00 keep up to it as soon as <.>you <,,> the barrage lifted it went on to another sector the germans were able to come up <,> and command the position so we had to keep up to the barrage as much as we could <,> but then there's always the <,> sort of the fog of war you know how how things get mixed up <,> and the timing gets mixed up and when <.>we first of all when we went out this switch trench was taken by our first our second battalion we got involved in that we had to be kicked out of there to go on and do our job <,> so <.>w eventually as i say we <,> we struggled through that <,> we had a naval gun which was firing in the rear and it was dropping short all the way through i can remember that quite well i remember too quite well getting hit in the back with a spent piece of shrapnel about that size it's a most painful thing <,> i also remember <,> er arriving in a <,> in a er shell hole <,,> and along came um <,> a sergeant of the er machine guns who was HAD been with us <,> and <&>12:00 in this shell hole was a sergeant <,> i won't mention his name and he was er scared to death he wouldn't move when he was ON parade he was one of those <,> er arrogant <,> blokes you know that held tried to hold the way <,> and here he was shivering in his shoes and this sergeant of the er <,> machine guns said <,> drew his revolver and said if you don't move from here <.>w right away he said i'll shoot you and he would've but anyway <.>w as i say we took <.>the we took that trench all right and we did all right until this darn voc er tank broke down and er the germans started shelling it we stayed there <,> for some time <,> dug further on <,> <.>counter were counterattacked and then we were relieved and we came back through the switch trench the switch trench was that <,> <&>13:00 one made by the maori battalion it was really a work of art you could drive a horse well you could drive a motor car up it <,> it was really a wonderful piece of work made by the maori battalion <,,> and er it was going back from that switch trench er going back to the switch trench to the green dump <,> er <,> that i got gassed with <.>tha <.>w i was helping to carry out a stretcher bearer we had to <,> we we couldn't er we couldn't use the trench it was so bogged up with water and that <.>w we had to be out on the open and <.>the darn gas shells they come <.>over you don't hear <.>them no explosions it just goes plop plop plop <,> and er <.>th <.>w got mixed up in that and that's where i stepped out of the somme so i went back to HOSpital and er <,> didn't join up the unit until we were in um canteen corner could you describe what the somme battlefield looked like oh well it was just er <,,> er i don't know if <.>e <.>i <.>i if you've ever <.>i i <.>k always liken it in some ways <.>to in the old days when we used to go through the main trunk line and through that <,> king country where they'd er felled all the forest and all there were just sticking up were stumps and things like that <,> that was something <,> that was er something what it looked like but then of course it was all <.>ch churned <&>14:00 up ploughed up <,> er shell holes all over the show it was really a <,> a desolate looking place <,> no life at all no and that was quite an extent <.>th the somme was er quite a big area er it <.>th the lot of the country was CHALK country <,,> er white <,> chalk you know and that sort of thing er then of course later on of course the rains came <,> left it too long but it was a <,> it was a bloody affair it was a disastrous affair and they often say er we didn't take enough ground <,> to bury our dead <.>an <.>y it's only a <,> couple <.>o a couple of years later we lost the whole lot when the germans came through on that march offensive <,> but it WAS a terrible thing <.>an <,> <.>i in the cathedral at amiens <,> um <,> there's a <,> on one of the pillars there's a plaque it just says in bare words <,> to the memory of the six hundred thousand british officers and men who perished on the somme six hundred thousand that's a hell of a lot of people isn't it <&>15:01