Description
Object description
Microfilm copy of a well-written and perceptive ts account (237pp), including extensive extracts from contemporary diaries and letters, covering his service as a Church of England chaplain with the 6th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment under training in the United Kingdom (October 1939 - April 1940), on active service in France with the 12th Division from April until their evacuation from St Nazaire in June 1940, and on garrison duties and under training in the United Kingdom again (July 1940 - February 1943); with 9th Armoured Division HQ, also under training in the United Kingdom (February 1943 - May 1944); with the 21st Petrol Depot RASC in Normandy (June - July 1944); with the 4th Battalion Dorset Regiment (43rd Division) during the campaign in North West Europe and Germany (July 1944 - June 1945) and with the 1st Corps District in Germany (July 1945 - January 1946). The narrative gives invaluable insights into the frustrations of an Army padre's life, the troops' attitude towards religion and the war and the boredom of training in England, while the 1944 - 1945 sections have interesting references to the recovery of the wounded and dead and burials, a meeting with Field Marshal Montgomery, contacts with French, Belgian and Dutch civilians and German prisoners of war, and especially to a religious screening in August 1945 of 62 German pastors who had been in the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe. Together with an original notebook containing his register of services, his officers' release book, a ms letter (2pp with envelope) dated 31 October 1944 with references to the likely duration of the war, a group photograph of the 6th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment in Maidenhead in January 1942, a photograph of him in his study, two photographs of Iserlohn, West Germany, and six photographs of caricatures (including one of A R C Leaney) which were drawn on blackout boards at Horton Grange, Maidenhead, by Private Roberts in December 1941.
Content description
Microfilm copy of a well-written and perceptive ts account (237pp), including extensive extracts from contemporary diaries and letters, covering his service as a Church of England chaplain with the 6th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment under training in the United Kingdom (October 1939 - April 1940), on active service in France with the 12th Division from April until their evacuation from St Nazaire in June 1940, and on garrison duties and under training in the United Kingdom again (July 1940 - February 1943); with 9th Armoured Division HQ, also under training in the United Kingdom (February 1943 - May 1944); with the 21st Petrol Depot RASC in Normandy (June - July 1944); with the 4th Battalion Dorset Regiment (43rd Division) during the campaign in North West Europe and Germany (July 1944 - June 1945) and with the 1st Corps District in Germany (July 1945 - January 1946). The narrative gives invaluable insights into the frustrations of an Army padre's life, the troops' attitude towards religion and the war and the boredom of training in England, while the 1944 - 1945 sections have interesting references to the recovery of the wounded and dead and burials, a meeting with Field Marshal Montgomery, contacts with French, Belgian and Dutch civilians and German prisoners of war, and especially to a religious screening in August 1945 of 62 German pastors who had been in the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe. Together with an original notebook containing his register of services, his officers' release book, a ms letter (2pp with envelope) dated 31 October 1944 with references to the likely duration of the war, a group photograph of the 6th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment in Maidenhead in January 1942, a photograph of him in his study, two photographs of Iserlohn, West Germany, and six photographs of caricatures (including one of A R C Leaney) which were drawn on blackout boards at Horton Grange, Maidenhead, by Private Roberts in December 1941.
History note
Cataloguer Backlog
History note
Catalogue date 1979-12-08