Description
Object description
British officer served with 6th Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 6th Anti-Aircraft Bde, British Expeditionary Force in GB and North West Europe, 1938-1940
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as officer with 6th Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 1st Anti-Aircraft Bde at Blackdown Camp and Hackney Marshes, GB, 1/1938-9/1939: family military connections; prior military training, 8/1937-1/1938; description of QF 3 Inch Anti-Aircraft Gun including fire control system, predictors and rate of fire; summer firing camp; transport; absorption of reservists; journey from GB to France, 9/1939; gunnery tactics; state of unit; pay rates; state of morale and discipline; deployment on Hackney Marshes, 3/1939-4/1939; expectations of war; opinion of effects of air power during Spain Civil War; later story of finding skeleton in cupboard in billets at Abbeville, France.
REEL 2 Continues: use of requisitioned civilian transport; Light Aid Detachment. Recollections of period as officer with 6th Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 1st Anti-Aircraft Bde in France, 9/1939-5/1940: crossing English Channel, 9/1939; opinion of French Army and civilian hygiene; deployment in sections around Abbeville; move to Arras; construction of gun positions and shelters; storage of shells; absence of searchlight or barrage balloons; small arms; effects of cold weather conditions; problems with morale; move to Béthune; suicides caused by drinking absinthe; orders to move into Belgium following German attack, 10/5/1940; opinion of Maginot Line; state of discipline and morale.
REEL 3 Continues: recreational activities in Lille; effects of leave on morale. Recollections of operations as officer with 6th Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 1st Anti-Aircraft Bde in France and Belgium, 5/1940-6/1940: advance in Belgium; gun positions in open fields near Louvain, Belgium; rations; firing at German aircraft formations; night moves; effects of fatigue; German Air Force bombing of Ypres, Belgium; action near La Panne, Belgium; reasons for loss of anti-aircraft guns; delays caused by refugees; effects on morale of action; foraging for food; training in gun laying; clearance of refugees; German propaganda leaflets; destruction of anti-aircraft guns and transport; use of section of unit as bridge demolition guard.
REEL 4 Continues: action on canal; withdrawal to dunes at La Panne, Belgium; march along beach to Dunkirk, France; sight of French cavalry; lorry jetty; embarkation from damaged East Mole at Dunkirk, France; role of Corps of Military Police; good order on beach; voyage aboard destroyer to Dover, GB. Aspects of period as officer with 6th Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery in GB, 6/1940-12/1940: recovery from effects of campaign; reformation of unit and posting to south coast; posting to cadre of new regiment and role training recruits; invasion scare; selection procedure on volunteering to join Commandos. Aspects of operations as officer with th Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 1st Anti-Aircraft Bde in France and Belgium, 5/1940: opinion of press reports; confused situation in Belgium; question of adequacy of training as preparation for campaign and lessons learnt.