Watts, John Cadman (IWM interview)

British medical officer served with Royal Army Medical Corps in Palestine, Egypt and Italy, 1938-1944; served with 195 Airlanding Field Ambulance, 6th Airborne Div in Normandy, 6/1944; served as staff officer with 6th Airborne Div in North West Europe, 1944-1945; commanded 225 Parachute Field Ambulance, 5 Bde, 6th Airborne Div in India and Java, 1945; served as senior surgeon with Commonwealth Hospital, Kure, Japan, 1950-1951.

REEL 1 Background in GB, 1913-1937: family and education; medical training at St Thomas' Hospital, 1930-1932. Reasons for joining Royal Army Medical Corps, 1937. Recollections of period with Royal Army Medical Corps in Palestine, 1938-1939: arrival, 10/1938; work at casualty clearing station in Jerusalem; methods of dealing with gunshot wounds; nature of soldier patients; question of patient hardihood in 1930's; lack of sense of danger during Arab Revolt; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Recollections of period as surgeon at El Dabaa, Egypt, 1939-1941: role as surgeon; triage problems in mobile war; first gas gangrene case; reasons for gas gangrene cases and how they were treated; maggots in wounds; use of sulphonamides; contrast in wounds caused by high velocity bullets and everyday injuries; anaesthetics used; soldier's reaction to wounds; treatment of Italian patients. Period with Army General Hospitals in Egypt, 1941: work with burn cases in 8 General Hospital, Alexandria, 1941. REEL 2 Continues: work at 9 General Hospital, Cairo. Period of casualty clearing station work in Palestine, summer 1941-1942: reasons for why CCs is less disorganised than general hospital; nursing staff. Period with general hospital in Tripoli, 1943 including first use of air evacuation of casualties. Working with malarial cases in Sicily, summer 1943. Recollections of period as surgeon in Italy, 1943-1944: work at Mercatello, near Sorrento, 1943-1944; ski-ing holiday in Annioni, early 1944; length of tour of duty and posting back to GB, 4/1944; Salerno landings, 9/1943. Recollections of period as medical officer with 6th Airborne Division in GB and North West Europe, 1944-1945: joining 195 Airlanding Field Ambulance, spring 1944; reaction to amount of equipment issued for D-Day landings; glider crossing to Normandy, 6/6/1944; landing in Normandy, 6/6/1944. REEL 3 Continues: question of time taken to get casualties to Field Ambulance; relations with US medical staff; move to Dinant, Belgium as staff officer during Ardennes offensive, 12/1944; attitude to staff work; glider landing during River Rhine Crossing, 3/1945; push through Germany, spring 1945; German civilian who shot his whole family, Wismar, 5/1945; Russian shooting of staff of German ambulance train, 5/1945; finding British airborne POWs in German military hospital; impressions of Russians in Wismar, 5/1945. Period as commanding officer of 225 Parachute Field Ambulance, 5 Bde, 6th Airborne Division preparing for Operation Zipper in India, summer 1945: preparing for Operation Zipper ; question of why operation would have been a failure if it had taken place. REEL 4 Continues: calling off of operation, 8/1945; liberation of Singapore, 8/1945; handling German naval POWs in Singapore; 'Count Bobbi' character in German Air Force journal. Period with 6th Airborne Division in Java, 1945: Japanese handing over weapons to Indonesians and then attempting to re-capturing them; rice denial tactics adopted at Semarang; reasons for unpopularity of Dutch; Dutch confusion over his rank and titles. Recollections of period as senior surgeon at Commonwealth Hospital, Kure, Japan, 1950-1951: posting to unit; role as senior surgeon; treatment for gas gangrene wound; question of suspicion of regular army medical officers; incident of anti- British Australian registrar; use of US PX dollars; method of treating frost-bite cases. Story of how his opinion of Field Marshall Montgomery changed in post war period.