Lieutenant Winterburn, was the Headmaster of the village school and wrote in the Hambletonian in 1922 about his time in France during the First World War. Many of the other photographs of WWI have been taken from this document.
Experiences in France would in almost every soldier’s case fill books so the following account must be taken merely as a “snatch of life” out there. Cameras were not allowed in France so an interesting tale could be told about that alone. Nights were always busy for heavy guns. My worst experiences came during the retreat of early 1918. Although with heavy guns we were one of the few batteries which kept fighting all the way. Twice we were cut off. After six days and seven nights without either food or rest we landed in Albert, still with our guns. The photograph shows men of my own battery having their first rest after such an ordeal, in the ruins of Albert. Our rest was short and had we not moved out of Albert before evening our lot would have been sad. That night it received such a bombing from enemy aeroplanes as I never wish to witness again. We were stood on the hill slope within half a mile of the town the whole night. Next morning the Germans were in the town. We finally stopped at Forceville between Achieux and Albert. We billeted in the farm house shown. I could tell many stories of the farmers hens and also his cider in his cellar, but they must wait for another day. After being there some weeks I unfortunately left my battery on a stretcher and began a new experience.