Description
Object description
British officer served with Transjordan Frontier Force in Transjordan and Palestine, 1935-1943
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1911-1931: family; education; enlistment in Royal Tank Corps, 1931. Recollections of period as officer with Transjordan Frontier Force in Transjordan and Palestine, 1935-1943: background to secondment to Transjordan Frontier Force, 1935; journey from GB to Zerka, Transjordan; accommodation at Zerka; move to Ma'an; camp at Ma'an; use of isolation to gain experience; Arab officers; learning Arabic; quality of troops; duties; organisation of squadron; supervising mechanisation programme; nature and suitability of vehicles for intended uses and troops; position of British warrant officers; accommodation and food for troops at Ma'an.
REEL 2 Continues: British officers' food and messing arrangements at Ma'an; recreational activities; problems for troops' families; shortage of water; role of local government intelligence officer and visitors to Ma'an; his responsibilities; relations between cavalry and Royal Tank Regiment officers; memories of John Glubb; duties at Ma'an; patrolling on frontier; track marking and use of sun compasses; rations taken on desert exercises; training exercises; communications in desert; contact with Bedouin Arabs.
REEL 3 Continues: contact with Saudi Arabian troops; posting to Jordan Valley in Palestine; descriptions of operations against Arab insurgents; appointment as workshop officer at Zerka, 1938; nature of duties; origins of staff; process of selecting suitable vehicles for re-equipment of Transjordan Frontier Force including requirements, vehicle trials, financing of project; vehicles chosen and retraining of troops; establishment of new camp; expansion of camp at Zerka; accommodation at Zerka.
REEL 4 Continues: discipline; recruitment; relations between ethnic groups in force; holidays; conditions of service for local officers including promotion prospects; relations between British and local officers; Turkish trained officers; further details of conditions of service for troops; local officers' view of political affairs; Palestine Government's relationship with Transjordan Frontier Force; contacts with Arab Legion; travelling in Middle East; leave and pay; nature of officers joining Transjordan Frontier Force during Second World War.
REEL 5 Continues: approach of Second World War and extension of his secondment; problems in equipping new mechanised squadron and guard units; role of Transjordan Frontier Force and it's workshop during Second World War and developments as war progressed; mutiny of Transjordan Frontier Force's mechanised squadron during Habforce's operations against Iraq Revolt, 1941; remedial precautions taken after mutiny; role of Transjordan Frontier Force during invasion of French Syria, 1941; expansion of workshop activities during Second World War; retention as more conventional military force during Second World War.
REEL 6 Continues: role of mechanised squadron; Arab Legion's role as embryonic Jordanian Army in contrast with Transjordan Frontier Force; life for Arabs in Transjordan; relations with Jordanians.