Description
Object description
British rifleman served with 2nd Queen Victoria Rifles, 2nd London Div and 8th Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps, 28th Armoured Bde, 9th Armoured Div in GB, 2/1940-6/1942; NCO served with 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps. 7th Motor Bde, 1st Armoured Div in North Africa, 10/1942-12/1942; served with 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps, 4th Armoured Bde in North Africa, Italy and North West Europe, 12/1942-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Waterloo, London, GB, 1919-1939: family; education; employment; pre-war interest in British Army; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training with King's Royal Rifle Corps in GB, 1939-1940: call-up for military service, 15/11/1939; treatment during basic training; character of NCOs; advance training in Chisleden; show business members of unit. Aspects of period as rifleman with 2nd Queen Victoria Rifles, 2nd London Div and 8th Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps, 28th Armoured Bde, 9th Armoured Div in GB, 2/1940-6/1942: posting to 2nd Queen Victoria Rifles, 2/1940; reasons for removal of battalion motorcycles; role as Bren Gun operator in motorcycle sidecar combination; coastal defence at Fyfield, summer 1940; exercises as part of 9th Armoured Div around Northampton, 1941; reaction to not being on active service; boredom in Breckland Training Area and reasons for volunteering for service in Middle East. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Duchess of Bedford from GB to Egypt via Cape Town, South Africa, 6/1942-7/1942: question of security in South Africa.
REEL 2 Continues: ashore in Cape Town, South Africa and reaction to racial segregation; German submarine threat between South Africa and Egypt. Recollections of operations as NCO with Mortar Section, C Coy, 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps, 7th Motor Bde, 1st Armoured Div during Battle of El Alamein, Egypt, 10/1942-11/1942: effect of climate on diet; joining unit at El Alamein; role as Ordnance 3 Inch Mortar operator; question of troop's state of exhaustion during battle; effect of chaplain's addresses; terrain looking westward from El Alamein; state of Deutsches Afrika Korps prisoners of war; battalion's attempt to drive a wedge with tanks into Axis positions; sight of burnt out tanks; effects of German air-bursts on equipment; bayonet charge against Italian Army troops at Rahman Track; state of morale; sight of Allied reserves being committed to breakout, 11/1942; action at Kidney Ridge; opinion of Deutsches Afrika Korps and Italian Army troops; air activity during battle.
REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as NCO with Mortar Section, C Coy, 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps, 4th Armoured Bde in North Africa, 12/1942-5/1943: discovery of Axis equipment for proposed triumphal march through Cairo, Egypt; advance with 7th Armoured Div through Cyrenaica, Libya; method of avoiding bombs from German Air Force Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bomber attacks; story of discovering vulgar letter dated 1915 in box of ammunition; advance towards Tripoli, Libya; loss of company commander at Beni Ulid, Libya, 1/1943; state of Tripoli, Libya, 1943; attending close-quarter combat course; period being cut-off at Medenine, Tunisia; use of mobile Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) coffee stall; premature announcement that resistance had ceased in Tunisia; memories of action at Enfidaville, Tunisia; relaxation in Tripoli, Libya after end of North African Campaign, 5/1943. Recollections of operations with C Coy, 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps, 4th Armoured Bde in Italy, 9/1943-1/1944: encounter with jellyfish off Palermo, Sicily, 9/1943; rumour of German stocks of mustard gas at Bari, 9/1943.
REEL 4 Continues: attack on Scerni, 11/1943; contact with Italian civilians and their method of hiding belongings from Germans; crossing River Sangro to form bridgehead under Major John Hunt, 11/1943; character of attack on Licolli Ridge, 29/11/1943; his reconnaissance patrol to German Strongpoint Casa Casone; capture of German Strongpoint Casa Casone; cutting of line of communication by swollen River Sangro; wounding of Major John Hunt bringing up supplies; reconnaissance patrol from bridgehead on River Sangro; mortaring of reconnaissance patrol; effect of barbed wire on his trousers; threat from German Army patrol; unit casualties to mines.
REEL 5 Continues: period in reserve at Scerni and relations with civilians, 12/1944; reaction of troops that 4th Armoured Bde was to return to GB for preparations for invasion of North West Europe, 12/1944; voyage from Italy to GB, 1/1944. Aspects of period as NCO with C Coy, 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps, 4th Armoured Bde in GB, 2/1944-6/1944: re-equipping with M3 White Half-Track; opinion of Thompson Submachine Gun and Sten Gun; contrast in equipment issued for invasion and that used in North Africa; in sealed holding camp at Southampton, 5/1944-6/1944; visit to cinema to watch film 'Stage Door Canteen' (1943) when call came to embark; sense of isolation during embarkation. Recollections of operations as NCO with C Coy, 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps, 4th Armoured Bde in Normandy, France, 6/1944: nature of landing in Normandy; lone German Air Force fighter attack on beach; role of unit eliminating pockets of German resistance; reaction to sight of dead and injured farm animals; plight of farmers; role of battalion in River Odon-River Orne valley areas; wounding by artillery fire in which fellow soldier was killed. Recollections of medical evacuation and hospitalisation in GB, 6/1944-8/1944: medical officer's decision to evacuate him to GB; under German multi-barrelled mortar fire at dressing station; story of ambulance journey with wounded soldier and the German Army soldier sniper who wounded him.
REEL 6 Continues: evacuation by DUKW and landing ship tanks; reception on return to GB; treatment he received in Basingstoke Hospital, Basingstoke and Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds; encounter with Lance Corporal Johnny Minns at Strensall Barracks, York; reasons why he turned down training job at depot. Recollections of operations as NCO with C Coy, 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps, 4th Armoured Bde in Normandy, France, 8/1944: return to battalion; listening post duties; reaction to sights witnessed in Falaise Gap; incident when soldier punched officer for showed lack of consideration for wounded German prisoner of war; conditions in German field hospital; results of use of Sten Gun against German prisoner of war with grenade; battalion casualties caused by German machine gun firing from belfry. Recollections of operations as NCO with C Coy, 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps, 4th Armoured Bde in North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1945: move to Wessem area near River Maas, Netherlands, 12/1944.
REEL 7 Continues: patrolling in snowsuits; effect of winter cold on trip flares; patrolling on River Maas, 24/12/1944; Christmas Eve celebrations with Belgian family, 24/12/1944; tactics used during advance into Germany; street fighting in Tilburg, Netherlands; Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) entertainment provided in Eindhoven, Netherlands; problems navigating through Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; sense of security in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 21/945; British Army troop's attitude to property in Germany; story of contact with Belgian Resistance in Antwerp, Belgium; promotion to sergeant, 3/1945; soldier who admitted to always deserting whist under fire; nature of his crossing of River Rhine, Germany, 3/1945; status of his section in the company; in action at Helimannhof, Germany, 3/2/1945; case of battle fatigue.
REEL 8 Continues: story relating to use of Sten Gun; question of accepting surrender from German forces; death of Rifleman Tom Marshall from leg wound, 2/3/1945; wounding of German civilians during artillery shelling; volunteering to escort dead body back from front line; first meeting with Lieutenant Edwin Bramall; sergeant-major's reaction to death of one of his soldiers; effect of lack of sleep in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; patrol towards suspected German positions; story of death of soldier who was courting his future wife's sister, Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; story of soldier saved from wounding by pocket watch; capture of tall German prisoner of war.
REEL 9 Continues: story of reconnaissance patrol and capture of German civilian; loss of platoon commander Lieutenant Hugh Elgar to German machine gun fire; unit casualties; award of Military Medal, 4/1945. Aspects of period as NCO with 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps, 4th Armoured Bde in Germany and in Denmark, 1945: arrival in Bergedorf area of Hamburg, Germany, 5/1945; celebration of VE Day, 8/5/1945; disappearance of rum jar; dealing with rapist at Bergedorf, Hamburg, Germany; move to Denmark; handling German Army troops and arrest of Schutzstaffel (SS) male personnel.
REEL 10 Continues: story of abduction of Danish girl by Germans and resulting mission to return her to her family; accident in which Danish child fatally shot soldier at Kolding, Denmark; attitude towards Germans. Aspects of period as NCO with 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps in Tripoli, Libya, 1945-1946: return to Tripoli; Arab-Jewish riots in Tripoli; story of Jewish woman bludgeoned to death with cannonball in Tripoli; character of Tripoli, 1945; leaving British Army, 2/1946. Reflections on military service in Second World War: attitude to having served in 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps; question of after effects of military service in Second World War.