Gordon-Hall, Frederick William (Oral history)

British officer served with 2nd Bn Royal Tank Corps and 12th Armoured Car Coy, Royal Tank Corps in GB, 1924-1925; served with 3rd Armoured Car Coy, Royal Tank Corps in Egypt, 1925-1930; served with 2nd Bn Royal Tank Corps in GB, 1930-1932; attended Advanced Mechanical Class at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, GB, 1933-1935; served as technical adjutant with 1st Light Bn Royal Tank Corps in GB, 1935-1936; served on staff duties with War Office, London, GB, 1936-1939

REEL 1 Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Tank Corps in GB, 1923-1924: background to joining Royal Tank Corps, 1923; induction training at Depot Royal Tank Corps, Bovington. Aspects of period as officer with 2nd Bn Royal Tank Corps in GB, 1924: posting to unit at Farnborough; character of duties; opinion of quality of troops; use of Medium C tanks; tactical training; flag signaling. Aspects of period as officer with 12th Armoured Car Coy in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1925: use of Rolls Royce and Peerless Armoured Cars; degree of defence against rifle fire. Aspects of period as officer with 3rd Armoured Car Coy in Egypt, 1925-1930: posting to unit; use of Rolls Royce Armoured Car; duties; lessons of desert service. REEL 2 Continues: navigation in desert; attitude of cavalry and artillery towards mechanisation; detachment of mechanical instructors to 12th Lancers; secondments to staff posts; opinion of choice of 12th Lancers for mechanisation. Aspects of period as officer with 2nd Bn Royal Tank Regt in GB, 1930-1932: opinion of Vickers Medium Tank; opinion of Percy Hobart; practicing tactics on exercises; introduction of wireless; question of army's view of mechanised warfare; corp morale; artillery hostility towards mechanisation; corps promotion blockage. REEL 3 Continues: Memories of attending Advanced Mechanical Class at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, 1933-1934. Aspects of period as technical adjutant with 1st Light Bn, Royal Tank Corps in GB, 1935-1936: duties at Perham Down; steering problems with light tanks; liaison with Vickers; role during exercises. Recollections of period as staff officer with War Office in London, GB, 1936-1939: duties; proposed role of light tanks; General Davidson's work; roles of Mechanisation Board and Woolwich Design Department; question of General Staff's misconception of small calibre tank guns; light tank steering problems. REEL 4 Continues: necessity for development of power operated turrets; disparity between Royal Tank Corps and designers' specification limits; opinion of General Giffard Le Quesne Martel; relations between Generals Martel, Davidson and Hobart; Percy Hobart's concept of heavy tank; degree of Royal Artillery and Royal Engineer influence of tank design; inadequacy of commercial engines for tank design; liaison with Vickers. REEL 5 Continues: effectiveness of Mechanisation Board; development of air-intake filters; Woolwich Research Department's development of armour plate welding; attitude of War Office to foreign tank design; liaison with French Army; sources of information on foreign tanks; reaction of Royal Tank Corps to formation of Royal Armoured Corps; effect of lifting of financial restrictions; transfer to Ministry of Supply, 1939; question of quantity and quality of British armour, 1939.