Description
Object description
British private served with 2nd Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, 10th Infantry Bde, 4th Infantry Div in France and Belgium, 10/1939-5/1940
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1909-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as private with 2nd Bn Bedfordshire and Hertforshire Regt, 10th Infantry Bde, 4th Infantry Div at Carvin, France, 10/1939-1/1940: opinion of Bren Gun; lack of firepower in British Expeditionary Force; opinion of quality of militiamen in battalion; prior move from GB to France, 30/9/1940-1/10/1939; billeting arrangements; making hurdles for trench revetments. Aspects of period as private with 2nd Bn Bedfordshire and Hertforshire Regt, 10th Infantry Bde, 4th Infantry Div in Maginot Line near Metz, France, 1/1940-2/1940: unit role; patrolling; sabotaging rolling stock; German decoy methods; skirmish with German Army troops; German Army tunnelling activities under wood.
REEL 2 Continues: symptoms of shell shock; working of Warrant Officer III Class system. Aspects of period as private with 2nd Bn Bedfordshire and Hertforshire Regt, 10th Infantry Bde, 4th Infantry Div at Lannoy, France, 3/1940-5/1940: patrolling Belgian border; relations with French. Recollections of operations as private with 2nd Bn Bedfordshire and Hertforshire Regt, 10th Infantry Bde, 4th Infantry Div in France and Belgium, 5/1940: German attack, 10/5/1940; move into Belgium; sight of Westland Lysander colliding with Heinkel He III aircraft; defence of canal line; accuracy of German mortar fire; withdrawals; supply problems; German Army sniping and mortar fire; shelling of suspected Fifth Columnists; thwarting of German canal crossing; absence of looting.
REEL 3 Continues: retreat towards Nieuport, Belgium; wounding of officer; scene on beach at La Panne, Belgium; commandeering lorry; German Air Force dive-bombing attack; casualties caused by shrapnel; embarkation on merchant ship; transfer to destroyer; attitude towards Germans; impressions of French Army; calm behaviour on beaches.