Description
Object description
British officer served with 1st Bn Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regt) in India, 1936-1939
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as officer with 1st Bn Green Howards in India, 1936-1939: background to joining regiment, 1936; prior knowledge of service in India; advantages of service in India; character of voyage aboard HMT Nevasa from GB to India, 1936; return voyage to GB, 1939; initial impressions of Bombay; train journey from Bombay to Meerut; description of bungalow quarters at Meerut; relations with senior officers in unit; adjutant's briefing including instructions to grow moustache; attending courses with 17th/21st Lancers at Saugor; reasons for high standard of training in India; riot control procedures.
REEL 2 Continues: further details of riot control procedures including picking out ringleaders; route marches at Meerut; effects of heat exhaustion; use of alcohol by British forces; method of combating boredom with exercise during daily routine; prohibition of spirits for other ranks; character of operations in Waziristan; pursuit of Fakir of Ipi; description of moving light column at night; company casualties; suspicion of political officers; opinion of Pathans; Pathan treatment of British wounded and dead.
REEL 3 Continues: retaliation of Gurkha troops towards Pathan bodies; question of accuracy of Pathan snipers; reasons for high morale on North West Frontier; limited female company; cases of women who tried to smuggle themselves onto North West Frontier; discouragement of marriages of young officers; occurrence of venereal disease amongst other ranks; punishment for contracting venereal disease; importance of sport for fitness; activities with horses including pigsticking; foundation of Green Howards Hunt at Lahore; discouragement of resigning from club; attending shooting parties; degree of contact with Indians.
REEL 4 Continues: attitude to service in India as junior officer; acceptance of British presence in India; gradual Indianisation of armed forces; relations with Indians; Indian respect for British; story of respect shown by Indians to British Raj; lack of understanding of Mahatma Gandhi's passive resistance; opinion of Mohammedanism and Hinduism; causes of Indian poverty; benefits of British rule; effect of caste on servant system; employment of servants; relations with servants; behaviour of his Baluch bearer.
REEL 5 Continues: trustworthiness of servants; treatment of servants by other ranks; attitude to Indian babu class; sense of security during visits to towns; buying curios; opinion of rural and urban Indians; inter-rank relations; mess life; leave entitlement; pressure to use leave positively; opinion of usefulness of training in India during Second World War; limited co-operation with RAF; relations between British and Indian Army personnel; opinion of senior officers; question of harsh treatment of junior officers not always being beneficial; contact with Anglo-Indian and European civilians; difference in outlook of police and army; opinion of work of missionaries.