Description
Object description
Extracts from his ts informative memoirs (43pp) recording his service as a Territorial with 95th (Clacton) Battery, 17th (Essex) LAA Regiment RA in the UK (1939 - 1940) and 6th Commando (1st Commando Brigade) in North West Europe (March 1945 - May 1945), notably his early life in Colchester and during the 1920s; serving with RHQ, 17th (Essex) LAA Regiment RA (TA) at Stanford-le-Hope in Essex as part of the Air Defence of Great Britain (late 1939), firing on a Hampden bomber by mistake, and F Troop, 95th (Clacton) Battery RA at Clacton-on-Sea in Essex and Landguard Point in Suffolk (1940), being equipped with First World War vintage ex-naval 3ʺ guns adapted for Anti-Aircraft use and the Canadian Ross rifle and witnessing the first air raids on Felixstowe (June 1940); attending a course for Junior NCOs at RAF Biggin Hill (August 1940) which had to be abandoned because of air raids during the Battle of Britain; and active service with 2nd Troop, 6th Commando (1st Commando Brigade) during the crossing of the Rhine (Operation PLUNDER, 23/24 March 1945), capturing Wesel and killing its commander Major General Deautsch, the exploitation capturing Osnabruck and Celle despite determined German resistance and the subsequent advance over the Elbe to the Baltic (May 1945); and commenting on the attitude of 17th US Airborne Division who "proceeded to kill every Goddam Kraut in sight"; his dislike of mines, the tactics employed to penetrate the German defensive system, his experience of combat, the discovery and bypassing of Belsen concentration camp; and mentioning Brigadier Derek Mills-Roberts DSO MC (1st Commando Brigade). Also included is a photocopy of a ms letter (2pp, December 1992) with Sadler's ms annotations which he received from Brigadier R B T Daniell (3rd RHA) who describes how he discovered the existence of the Belsen Extermination Camp by chance (April 1945).
Content description
Extracts from his ts informative memoirs (43pp) recording his service as a Territorial with 95th (Clacton) Battery, 17th (Essex) LAA Regiment RA in the UK (1939 - 1940) and 6th Commando (1st Commando Brigade) in North West Europe (March 1945 - May 1945), notably his early life in Colchester and during the 1920s; serving with RHQ, 17th (Essex) LAA Regiment RA (TA) at Stanford-le-Hope in Essex as part of the Air Defence of Great Britain (late 1939), firing on a Hampden bomber by mistake, and F Troop, 95th (Clacton) Battery RA at Clacton-on-Sea in Essex and Landguard Point in Suffolk (1940), being equipped with First World War vintage ex-naval 3ʺ guns adapted for Anti-Aircraft use and the Canadian Ross rifle and witnessing the first air raids on Felixstowe (June 1940); attending a course for Junior NCOs at RAF Biggin Hill (August 1940) which had to be abandoned because of air raids during the Battle of Britain; and active service with 2nd Troop, 6th Commando (1st Commando Brigade) during the crossing of the Rhine (Operation PLUNDER, 23/24 March 1945), capturing Wesel and killing its commander Major General Deautsch, the exploitation capturing Osnabruck and Celle despite determined German resistance and the subsequent advance over the Elbe to the Baltic (May 1945); and commenting on the attitude of 17th US Airborne Division who "proceeded to kill every Goddam Kraut in sight"; his dislike of mines, the tactics employed to penetrate the German defensive system, his experience of combat, the discovery and bypassing of Belsen concentration camp; and mentioning Brigadier Derek Mills-Roberts DSO MC (1st Commando Brigade). Also included is a photocopy of a ms letter (2pp, December 1992) with Sadler's ms annotations which he received from Brigadier R B T Daniell (3rd RHA) who describes how he discovered the existence of the Belsen Extermination Camp by chance (April 1945).