Description
Object description
British officer served with 90th Anti-Tank Regt, Royal Artillery in GB, 1942-1943; served with 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 1st Airborne Div in GB and North West Europe, 1944-1945; served with 4th Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 1st Airborne Div in India, Malaya and Java, 1945-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Southsea and India, 1922-1940: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training with British Army in GB, 1940-1941: nature of army railway from Guildford to Bordon Camp; basic training at Bordon Camp; how he was sent to Glasgow University; fire-watching in Glasgow; attending Glasgow University Student Union ball; officer training at Ilkley c1942. Aspects of period as officer with 90th Anti-Tank Regt, Royal Artillery in GB, c1942-1943: joining unit at Frinton; move to Northern Ireland and hospitality of both communities; value of battle school; disbanding of unit and move to holding unit at Otterburn, late 1943; how he dealt with unhappy gunners; opinion of unit second in command Major George Foster.
REEL 2 Continues: equipping of unit with 6 Pounder Anti-Tank guns; development of 6 Pounder Anti-Tank gun and Sabot shot. Aspects of period with 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 1st Airborne Div in GB and Normandy, 1944: reasons for volunteering for airborne forces; taking command of B Echelon; landing in Normandy; abortive nature of operation; visit to Montgomery's headquarters; crossing River Seine on pontoon bridge, 8/1944; fraternising with French civilians; advance into Belgium.
REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as officer with 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 1st Airborne Div during Operation Market Garden in Netherlands, 9/1944: encounter with elements of 43 Div; advance to Eindhoven; German shooting up of column; injuries he received in road accident; orders for his anti-tank troop to join US 101st Airborne Div; deployment of 101st Airborne Div between Wegel and s'Hertogenbosch; attitude of US commanders; advance to Driel; terrain around Driel; character of Allied and German positions at Driel; shooting German soldier in orchard; loss of one of his guns in ditch after bridge collapsed; opinion of US 101st Airborne Div; destruction of German tank; wounding of his driver Gunner Simmons and his evacuation by jeep ambulance; fate of civilians in Driel area; problems off operating in Driel area.
REEL 4 Continues: coping with German flares; reaction to discovery of dead German soldier; Allied troops relieving German POWs of personal items; character of rations; how he obtained codename 'Geronimo Pronto'; reaction to leaving Driel area; return to GB via Ostend, 10/1944. Aspects of period as officer with 1st Airlanding Anti- Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 1st Airborne Div in GB and Norway, 1944-1945: hospitality received from Essex Regt Depot at Warley Barracks, 10/1944; donation of German machine gun to Essex Regt; destination of surplus army rations at Cambridge, 10/1944; re-forming of 1st Airborne Div, 1944-1945; abortive plan to drop over River Elbe, spring 1945; deployment of division to Stavanger in Norway, 5/1945.
REEL 5 Continues: liberation of Stavanger; character of surrender of German forces in Stavanger; dealing with Russian POWs; celebration of Norwegian Independence Day; role of Norwegian interpreter on trip to Kristiansand; background to posting to 4th Airlanding Bty at Bulford Camp. Recollections of period as officer with 4th Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 1st Airborne Div in India and Singapore, 1945: character of flight to India; impressions of Karachi; character of Indian trains; opinion of Kaliyan Camp; character of Lilo Rockets; clothing worn at Kaliyan Camp; bout of dengue fever; reaction to dropping of atomic bombs, 8/1945; relaxation in Bombay; orders to move to Singapore.
REEL 6 Continues: role as officer commanding train whilst transporting unit guns from Bombay to Calcutta; measures he took to deal with fire danger from wood sparks from train at Jhansi; method of loading unit onto ship at Calcutta; thief of equipment by Indians; character of voyage with Indian troops from Calcutta to Singapore; state of Selangor Barracks on arrival in Singapore; make shift police force after Sikh police force imprisoned for co-operation with Japanese; story of Lady Edwina Mountbatten's aid work. Recollections of operations as officer with 4th Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 1st Airborne Div in Java, 1945-1946: role of unit in kampong clearing; fighting at Kramit Kampong in which one of his men was wounded.
REEL 7 Continues: attempt to carry wounded man; looting of warehouses and shooting of two looters; method used by brigadier to thwart punishment of guard who shot looters; effect of bad alcohol on paratroopers in Batavia; how his NCO adapted Indian table manners; move to Semarang; story of how Japanese Major Kido salvaged his honour in Semarang; prevalence of VD amongst paratroopers at Semarang; attending court martial in Semarang; effect of RAF mutinies in India on supplies to troops in Java; troops fishing off pier at Semarang; demand of traders for Japanese currency rather than Dutch; entertainments available in Semarang; attitude to serving in Java. Aspects of period as officer with 4th Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery in Malaya, 1946: mutiny of 13th Bn Parachute Regt at Muar.
REEL 8 Continues: how mutiny was dealt with; second hand story of chaos during Operation Zipper, 1945; stay with Swedish officer who had served with Parachute Regt; civilian attitude towards troops in Singapore, 1946; attitude to serving in Singapore. Attitude to having served with 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery during Second World War.