Description
Object description
Ts transcription (73pp) of an account (written in 1947 but incorporating quotations from a contemporary diary) describing his service as an NCO with the 236th Anti-Tank Battery, 59th Anti-Tank Regiment RA (43rd Wessex Division) in North West Europe (May 1944 - May 1945), including preparations in the UK for D-Day (May - June 1944), embarkation for France (June 1944), active service in Normandy (June - August 1944), notably around Caen and the attack on Maltot as part of Operation EPSOM (July 1944), crossing the Seine (August 1944), the advance through France, Belgium and Holland and the Battle of Arnhem (September 1944), the winter offensive in Holland and the attack on Gelsenkirchen (October - November 1944), the Battle of Ardennes (December 1944), the Reichswald Offensive (February 1945), the crossing of the Rhine (March 1945) and the advance into Germany (April - May 1945), commenting in particular on army life, the conditions of and relations with local French inhabitants, the chaotic battlefield in Normandy and heavy casualties, the enthusiastic welcome as liberators by the Dutch, and the VE Day celebrations.
Content description
Ts transcription (73pp) of an account (written in 1947 but incorporating quotations from a contemporary diary) describing his service as an NCO with the 236th Anti-Tank Battery, 59th Anti-Tank Regiment RA (43rd Wessex Division) in North West Europe (May 1944 - May 1945), including preparations in the UK for D-Day (May - June 1944), embarkation for France (June 1944), active service in Normandy (June - August 1944), notably around Caen and the attack on Maltot as part of Operation EPSOM (July 1944), crossing the Seine (August 1944), the advance through France, Belgium and Holland and the Battle of Arnhem (September 1944), the winter offensive in Holland and the attack on Gelsenkirchen (October - November 1944), the Battle of Ardennes (December 1944), the Reichswald Offensive (February 1945), the crossing of the Rhine (March 1945) and the advance into Germany (April - May 1945), commenting in particular on army life, the conditions of and relations with local French inhabitants, the chaotic battlefield in Normandy and heavy casualties, the enthusiastic welcome as liberators by the Dutch, and the VE Day celebrations.
History note
Cataloguer SHJ
History note
Catalogue date 1999-03-03