Description
Object description
Two albums, negatives, and assorted loose prints relating to the service of Captain Ian C Williamson who transferred from 14th Battalion The Queens Regiment to R Troop, 139 Battery, 99th LAA (Light Anti-Aircraft) Regiment, Royal Artillery, and then 1st Battalion The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment). The albums contain photographs from Captain Williamson's service in the Middle East, Sicily and Italy during the Second World War, and in Greece in the immediate post-war period.
Includes:
Scenes on board troopship in transit from Avonmouth to Basra, including 'crossing the line' ceremonies; Arab boats on the Shatt al-Arab river in Iraq; portraits of 139 Battery officers, NCOs and other ranks (also 329 Battery cooks) in camp near port of Shuaiba; portraits of Arab shepherds and children; scenes in Basra; portraits of 'personalities' in R Troop - names mentioned include Baker, McClean, 'Percy' Palmer, Horton, Prior, Waite, Rose, Sgts Wray and Quirck; Group shots of R Troop drivers in front of their Bedford QLB Bofors artillery tractors; scenes of the Tigris at Baghdad;
Scenes in Palestine including the 'Nairn Bus' - American-built vehicles operated by the Near Eastern Transport Company cross-desert service which ran between Damascas and Baghdad; scenes on a railway journey between Damascas and Haifa; scenes in Haifa, Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Scenes in camp at El Quassasin in Egypt, April 1943, including Bofors guns at 329 Battery Gun Park; scenes at Ismailia, Pyramids and Sphinx at Cairo.
Scenes during invasion of Sicily, July 1943, including view from a landing craft heading towards Amber Beach at Marzamemi, Lentini airfield with Spitfire Mk Vc Trop; 329 Battery HQ at Augusta, incuding jeeps; abandoned German Ju 87, Bf 110 and Me 410 at Catania airfield; HM Monitor ROBERTS; portraits of Bofors guns and crews in camouflaged prepared positions - No. 1 Gun commanded by Sgt Wray, No. 2 Gun Sgt Robinson, No. 3 Gun Sgt Moyes, No. 4 Gun Sgt Quirck MM, No. 5 Gun Sgt Wener; No. 6 Gun Sgt Moss; a Bofors gun being manhandled into an LST (Landing Ship Tank) at Messina.
Scenes in Italy including portraits - including pencil sketch - of commanding officer of 99th LAA Regiment, Colonel William Alexander Williams, DSO, MC and Bar; Captain Williamson with a convoy of trucks at Paola Hill, September 1943; scenes at Termoli including gun cleaning and shooting practice; ski party and jeeps at Melilli; Mount Vesuvius erupting, 23 March 1944; Bedford QLB tractors towing the guns up to 2nd AGRA (Army Group Royal Artillery) concentration area at Aquafondala,near Cassino, 3 April 1944; R Troop HQ and improvised showers at Aquafondala; unloading smoke canisters from trucks; jeeps at Smoke OP (Observation Post) at Mt Trocchio; New Year's Day at San Buono; muddy scenes in the mountains showing ration mules and guns being winched into position; scenes of destruction in Cassino, with knocked out US Army M4 Sherman tanks and German Marder III self-propelled anti-tank gun; laying smokescreens during operations to cross the Rapido River; catured German Nebelwerfer; knocked out and abandoned Pantherturms (static gun emplacements built using Panther tank turrets) on the Hitler Line; scenes in Rome; captured German Tiger I tank of s.Pz.Abt. 508 surrounded by civilians; views of Lake Trasimeno, Tivoli, Naples, Ravello and Pompeii, circa July 1944.
Further scenes in Italy when Captain Williamson was serving in the Carrier Platoon, Support Company, 1st Battalion The Buffs: Royal artillery M10 3-inch SP guns and Sexton 25pdr SP guns at 'RATD' Salerno; official photos showing King George VI arriving in a Douglas Dakota and reviewing RAF personnel at Castiglione airfield, July 1944; leave in Rome March 1945; training with Weasel amphibians; scenes on the Senio River line, winter 1944-45; Weasels and LVT-4 Water Buffalo 'Fantails'; portraits of Wasp (Universal Carrier) flame throwers and their crews, including one vehicle commanded by Captain Williamson; Humber armoured cars crossing a Bailey bridge over the Senio River; disarming Chetniks at Palmanova, May 1945; scenes in Venice and Lazaretto, May 1945; Lake Como, August 1945; group portraits of the MG sections, Support Company and Carrier Platoon of 1st Battalion The Buffs; scenes on leave in England.
Scenes showing 1st Battalion The Buffs in Greece in 1946: arrival in Salonika; scenes in Kilkis; Greek peasants; Carrier Platoon and Mortar Platoon training; interior of Support Company office at Kilkis with CSM Purdy and Cpl Overton; British memorial and bathing party at Lake Doiran; inspections and reviews on Greek Army Day; attending a ski course with the Lovat Scouts on Vermion Oros near Mount Olympus; 'Albukera Day' sporting activities.