Description
Object description
British officer served with Royal Engineers attached to Royal Air Force in Iraq, 1929-1931; served with 42nd Field Coy, Royal Engineers in Palestine, 1936; served as staff officer with 16th Infantry Bde in Palestine, 1936-1938
Content description
REEL 1 Background in New Zealand and GB, 1902-1920: reasons for enlistment in Royal Engineers; family; education. Recollections of period as officer with Royal Engineers attached to Royal Air Force in Iraq, 1929-1931: background to posting; contract with Air Ministry; journey to Baghdad; how Nairn Transport operated; character of cantonment at Hinaidi; role of Royal Air Force in Iraq and his personal duties; work surveying site for cost of conversion to airfield; Indian labour force; introduction of schedule of prices system for contracting for construction work; role in choosing site of airfield at Habbaniyah; dealing with compensation claim; problems with flooding of River Tigris; degree of contact with Iraqi civilians; work settling compensation claims for land taken for expansion of British Embassy in Baghdad; employment of servants; question of Royal Iraqi Army method of attack; lack of effect of Iraq's mandate status; work in Kurdistan; work planning installations at Muscat.
REEL 2 Continues: conditions in Muscat; visits to archaeological excavations at Ur. Recollections of period as officer with 42nd Field Coy, Royal Engineers in Palestine, 1936-1939: posting to Palestine from Egypt; composition of Canal Bde at Ismailia, Egypt; transfer to Palestine; unit transport; role of unit providing support for railway network; insurgent threat to trains; case of train being derailed at Haifa; dealing with shells and booby trapped suitcase; use of explosives to blast road through Jaffa. Aspects of period as staff officer with 16th Infantry Bde in Palestine, 1936-1938: duties; reasons for rapid changeover of units; effect of Peel Commission presence; reasons why troops preferred active service; aid given to insurgents by Arab population; attitude to Arabs to capture of insurgents; his attitude to Arab revolt; contact with Major Orde Wingate; Major Orde Wingate's formation of Special Night Squads.
REEL 3 Continues: British attitude towards Special Night Squads; size of Arab insurgent bands; system of XX wireless calls; character of Arab insurgent bands; conduct of intelligence work; role of religious leaders in insurgency; headquarters command structure; impressions of Major Orde Wingate; mobile column system; co-operation with Transjordan Frontier Force and Palestine Police Force; estimate of adequacy of men and equipment; use of elementary mine detector; training of watchmen for Jewish settlements; story of discovery of Arab insurgent hidden behind wall; degree of contact with Jewish civilians; work of Peel and Whitehead Commission and effect on military situation; effects of military presence in Palestine; degree of threat in Palestine; use of personal sidearm.