Description
Object description
Ts memoir (55pp, written shortly after the war) by an officer on the Intelligence Staff, 8th Parachute Battalion, 3rd Parachute Brigade (6th Airborne Division), covering the period May – August 1944, including detailed descriptions of the preparations for the Normandy Landings, details of his mission to drop South-East of the proposed bridgehead and to destroy the main Troarn road bridge and two minor ones to prevent German reinforcements, his being cut off from the world in a camp in the Midlands, the tension felt, getting new clothes and equipment, boarding the Dakotas, details of the trip across the channel, hearing Anti-Aircraft guns and feeling the flak hitting the plane, his thirteenth jump (D-Day, 5/6 June 1944), capturing German troops (mainly from Ost Battalions), the confusion with sticks getting dropped in wrong place, moving in the area of Bois de Bavent, carrying on with his mission despite being under strength and under armed, hearing the seaborne invasion start, attacks on the Troarn bridge, coming under heavy fire, being shot and captured by Germans soldiers, hearing the explosion from the bridge going up, being handed over to the French authorities, travelling to Caen, seeing the bomb damage, his treatment at the Bon Sauveur Hospital, seeing civilian air raid casualties, feeling the force of Allied bombing raids on Caen and witnessing Allied planes being shot down, the kindness of civilians and medical staff, his overwhelming praise for the French nurses, Allied shells hitting the hospital, his contracting lung problems and having blood transfusions, the evacuation of the hospital (July 1944), witnessing German troops digging in and the aftermath of Typhoon attacks, stopping at a medical transit station, seeing German wounded and dead, staying in a German Army School, meeting German parachutists who were fanatical Nazis, hearing of German atrocities to civilians and captured wounded Canadians, travelling on to a Stalag in Rennes, Brittany, being reunited with other men from his unit, escape plans, fellow prisoners being shipped out to other Stalags, his being questioned by Gestapo men, the constant Allied air-raids, his sadness at the thought of French civilian casualties, having his arm cast in cement as there was no plaster, a home-made wireless being made, the demoralising boredom, anecdotal stories from fellow prisoners, the beginnings of malnutrition, hearing the American advance on Rennes (August 1944), Germans and French collaborators clearing out, mortar rounds hitting the Stalag, looting the abandoned Gestapo HQ, liberation by American troops, witnessing the French people enjoying their liberation, moving to an American mobile hospital, and his evacuation to England in a Dakota. The account includes details of the camps, the hospitals, the staff, his treatment, the very poor food, details of fellow patients, French collaborators and the Germans, and meeting members of the resistance and marquis. Together with a brief service history compiled by his daughter (1p, 2011).
Content description
Ts memoir (55pp, written shortly after the war) by an officer on the Intelligence Staff, 8th Parachute Battalion, 3rd Parachute Brigade (6th Airborne Division), covering the period May – August 1944, including detailed descriptions of the preparations for the Normandy Landings, details of his mission to drop South-East of the proposed bridgehead and to destroy the main Troarn road bridge and two minor ones to prevent German reinforcements, his being cut off from the world in a camp in the Midlands, the tension felt, getting new clothes and equipment, boarding the Dakotas, details of the trip across the channel, hearing Anti-Aircraft guns and feeling the flak hitting the plane, his thirteenth jump (D-Day, 5/6 June 1944), capturing German troops (mainly from Ost Battalions), the confusion with sticks getting dropped in wrong place, moving in the area of Bois de Bavent, carrying on with his mission despite being under strength and under armed, hearing the seaborne invasion start, attacks on the Troarn bridge, coming under heavy fire, being shot and captured by Germans soldiers, hearing the explosion from the bridge going up, being handed over to the French authorities, travelling to Caen, seeing the bomb damage, his treatment at the Bon Sauveur Hospital, seeing civilian air raid casualties, feeling the force of Allied bombing raids on Caen and witnessing Allied planes being shot down, the kindness of civilians and medical staff, his overwhelming praise for the French nurses, Allied shells hitting the hospital, his contracting lung problems and having blood transfusions, the evacuation of the hospital (July 1944), witnessing German troops digging in and the aftermath of Typhoon attacks, stopping at a medical transit station, seeing German wounded and dead, staying in a German Army School, meeting German parachutists who were fanatical Nazis, hearing of German atrocities to civilians and captured wounded Canadians, travelling on to a Stalag in Rennes, Brittany, being reunited with other men from his unit, escape plans, fellow prisoners being shipped out to other Stalags, his being questioned by Gestapo men, the constant Allied air-raids, his sadness at the thought of French civilian casualties, having his arm cast in cement as there was no plaster, a home-made wireless being made, the demoralising boredom, anecdotal stories from fellow prisoners, the beginnings of malnutrition, hearing the American advance on Rennes (August 1944), Germans and French collaborators clearing out, mortar rounds hitting the Stalag, looting the abandoned Gestapo HQ, liberation by American troops, witnessing the French people enjoying their liberation, moving to an American mobile hospital, and his evacuation to England in a Dakota. The account includes details of the camps, the hospitals, the staff, his treatment, the very poor food, details of fellow patients, French collaborators and the Germans, and meeting members of the resistance and marquis. Together with a brief service history compiled by his daughter (1p, 2011).
History note
Cataloguer SJO