Description
Object description
British officer served with Royal Corps of Signals attached to Royal Tank Corps in GB, 1929-1930 and 1936-1939; commanded 1st Armoured Divisional Signals in North Africa, 1942-1943
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1907-1927: family; education at Wellington School including interest in wireless. Aspects of period as cadet at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and as officer with Royal Corps of Signals at School of Signals at Catterick Camp, GB, 1927-1929: character of training at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; commissioning into Royal Corps of Signals; organisation of training at School of Signals, Catterick; regimental course and examination; signal courses at School of Signals, Catterick; role of Royal Artillery in realisation of need for efficient communications; dual responsibility of signals officer to Royal Corps of Signals and formation commanders; character of wireless equipment, 1929; posting procedure; opinion of Morris CDSW six wheel vehicle.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of period as officer with Royal Corps of Signals attached to Royal Tank Corps in GB, 1929-1930 and 1936-1939: reaction to posting to Royal Tank Corps; signals establishment and organisation at Tidworth Camp; duties with Light Tank Section during exercises, 1929; vehicles and equipment; importance of signals security; dependence of Royal Tank Corps on Royal Corps of Signals, 1929; training drivers and wireless operators; developments in equipment durability and valve reliability, 1929-1939.
REEL 3 Continues: importance and difficulty of accurate netting; organisation of individual and collective training; lack of signal organisation above corps level; state of wireless procedure, 1930; question of unfamiliarity of senior officers with wireless techniques; progress of signals procedure in British Army by 1936; comparison between No 9 and No 19 Wireless Sets; poor design of No 7 Wireless Set; importance of signals officers to improvise.
REEL 4 Continues: organisation of signals within 1st Army Tank Bde; training with 2nd Bn Royal Tank Regt, 1936; importance of trade testing; areas of responsibility for training of Royal Tank Corps headquarters and troop operators; relations between Royal Tank Corps and Royal Corps of Signals; character of Brigadier Percy Hobart's battlefield tour of France, 1937; infantry support and Mobile Force debate; Brigadier Percy Hobart's use of Mobile Force during 1936-1937 exercises.
REEL 5 Continues: tactical flexibility of wireless compared with line communications; problems caused by General Post Office (GPO) monopoly on live communications; explanation of signals plan for exercise; question of signals security; comparison of battery charging problems in GB, 1936 and during Battle of El Alamein, Egypt, 10/1942-11/1942; problems of operating wireless at night; status of signals foreman in Royal Corps of Signals.
REEL 6 Continues: lack of liaison between wireless users and Signals Experimental Establishment designers and Royal Tank Corps Wireless School, Bovington. Aspects of period as commander of 1st Armoured Divisional Signals in North Africa, 1942-1943: value of pre-war service; need to constantly review procedures; reasons for equipment shortages; casualties amongst signal technical staff during front line repair duties, 1942; co-operation with Western Desert Air Force, RAF; establishment of Air Support Signals Unit. Reflections on service with Royal Corps of Signals: status of Royal Corps of Signals within British Army and Royal Tank Corps, late 1930s.
REEL 7 Continues: question of dual responsibility of signals officer to Royal Corps of Signals and formation commanders; explanation of term skip distance.