Description
Object description
British officer served with Sudan Defence Force at Khartoum and Wadi Abu Hamed, Sudan, 1927-1928; commanded No 3 Motor Machine Gun Bty, Western Arab Corps, Sudan Defence Force in Sudan 1928-1933
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of period as officer with Royal Fusiliers and Royal Tank Corps in GB and Turkey, 1918-1927: recollections of Chanak, Turkey, 1922; service with Royal Tank Corps, 1923-1927. Aspects of period as officer with Sudan Defence Force in Sudan, 1927: background to secondment from Royal Tank Corps to Sudan Defence Force at Khartoum, 1927; lifestyle and duties; posting to Wadi Abu Hamed to counter raiders; lifestyle; encounter with Bint Rodina; Sudanese party and whipping ceremony; problems during desert crossing; learning Arabic language; introducing controls on mess expenditure; drinking habits. Recollections of period commanding No 3 Motor Machine Gun Bty, Western Arab Corps, Sudan Defence Force at El-Fashir, Sudan, 1928-1933: situation in Darfur Province; newspapers; air support.
REEL 2 Continues: description of Headquarters, Western Arab Corps at El-Fashir; dispositions; exercises; machine gun training and competence of Sudanese troops; taking recruits from French territories; Sudanese troops' enjoyment of patrols; recruitment policy; visits to villages and story of 'dead' car; resolution of border dispute with French Equatorial Africa and contact with French officials; preparations for operations against raiders including reconnaissance gaining experience of desert conditions using local guide, training camels and navigation; operation and failure to catch raiders.
REEL 3 Continues: desert conditions; intelligence system; relationship with Sudan Political Service; use of corporal punishment in discipline of Sudanese troops; personal experiences illustrating belief in effect of 'spells'; story of 'leopard women'; story of Sudanese locust remover's effectiveness; Muslim observances; Sudanese troops' reaction to cartoon film; story of 'hyena man'; Sudanese troops' and servants' conditions of service including pay, rations, leave and drinking habits; desert rations; story of corporal punishment meted out to Sudanese soldier's wife.
REEL 4 Continues: opinion of Sudanese officers; British NCOs; social events and absence of military parades; medical problems including attack of dysentery and effects of wrong treatment; medical provision; mass injection programme following rabies scare; use of Greek owned civilian lorries.