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Private Papers of Commander H P Baylis RNVR : Diary/Journal 1915-1916

Published
Marlborough, Wiltshire : Adam Matthew Digital, 2019.
Physical Description
1 online resource
Additional Creators
Adam Matthew Digital (Firm)
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Summary
Description: Volume containing three accounts, together with a complete and edited transcription, written during the First World War, the first and most detailed covering his service, in the rank of Midshipman RNVR, as a platoon commander in the Howe Battalion (2nd Royal Naval Brigade, Royal Naval Division) in October 1914 and giving an excellent description of their march from their camp in Betteshanger Park to Dover and voyage across the English Channel to Dunkirk, their journey to Antwerp and brief participation in the defence of the fortress before they had to retreat, at first on foot and then by train to Bruges and Ostend from where they were evacuated to Dover, with many interesting references to the spy mania prevalent in Belgium, the unsatisfactory conduct of some of the Battalion's senior officers, the depressing sight of refugees and destruction during their retreat and the exhausting nature of the Antwerp expedition; the second account covering his service as second in command of B Company, Howe Battalion from January - April 1915 during which time they were under training in Dorset, sailed on the transport ROYAL GEORGE from Avonmouth to the island of Lemnos in the Eastern Mediterranean, proceeded to Egypt for further training after the failure to force the Narrows on 18 March and were employed briefly on the defence of the Suez Canal before re-embarking on the ROYAL GEORGE, sailing to Skyros in preparation for the Gallipoli landings and assisting in the rescue of survivors when the transport MANITOU was attacked, but not sunk, by a Turkish gunboat; and the third account, written largely in diary form, covering his service as a junior officer in the gunboat HMS GRAYFLY in Mesopotamia from October 1916 - April 1917 and including descriptions of his journey by light railway from Sheikh Said up to the front line and of GRAYFLY's operations up-river from Baghdad in support of the 13th Division in late March and April 1917 when she came under shellfire and air attack as well as giving a general impression of the nature of the fighting ashore; together with a ts transcript (14pp) of his diary for February - May 1915 covering the same events as his contemporary account up to mid April and then recording the Howe Battalion's final preparations for the Gallipoli landings, Rupert Brooke's funeral on Skyros, the Battalion's eventual landing at Cape Helles and participation in the Second Battle of Krithia until he was wounded on 7 May, and his evacuation on the SS SOUTHLAND to a hospital in Alexandria for treatment for his wounds. Together with two photographs showing him in naval uniform, one contemporary to the First World War.
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Note
Please note: Some of the metadata for this document has been taken from Imperial War Museums' archival catalogue.
AMDigital Reference: Documents.14963.
Original Version
Reproduction of: Private Papers of Commander H P Baylis RNVR 1915-1916.
Location of Originals
Imperial War Museums
Copyright Note
Imperial War Museums
View MARC record | catkey: 25807610