| Places | |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | RCDIG0001209 |
| Collection number | PR04361 |
| Collection type | Digitised Collection |
| Record type | File |
| Item count | 1 |
| Object type | Diary |
| Physical description | 121 Image/s captured |
| Maker |
Heywood, Reginald Harriman |
| Place made | At sea, Belgium, France, United Kingdom: England, Western Front |
| Date made | 1918-1919; Unknown |
| Conflict |
First World War, 1914-1918 |
| Copying Provisions | Digital format and content protected by copyright. |
Diary transcript of Reginald Harriman Heywood, 1918-1919
Description
Transcript of diary relating to the First World War service of Captain Reginald Harriman Heywood, Australian Army Veterinary Corps (AAVC). Entries cover the period 18 July 1918 to 31 June 1919, in which Heywood details his service in the final months of the war and his subsequent journey back to Australia. Entries include light-hearted descriptions of his experiences and the people he encounters, and his work as commanding officer of the 4th Australian Mobile Veterinary Section (AMVS), including the work evacuating and treating diseased and wounded horses, often in terrible weather. He provides commentary on the progress of the war and the actions of various Allied and German forces, preparations for the Battle of Amiens, and his observations upon passing through the city. Heywood also writes of the increasing numbers of German prisoners of war, his observations of captured German lines, the Hindenburg Line offensives in September and October 1918, and the days surrounding the armistice on 11 November 1918. He writes of his visits to London and Paris, and also the various roles he performed in northern France and Belgium after the armistice including facilitating the post-war sale of horses at auction. With the cessation of hostilities, Heywood records the demobilisation of forces in 1919 and his journey back to Australia on HMAT Nestor. His last entry is dated 31 June 1919 and is a summary of and reflection on his service and the war. As an addendum Heywood has included a list of Allied casualty figures and the first verse of the Walt Whitman poem 'To thee, old cause.' The location of the original diary and the date and location this transcript was made is unknown.