Philips, Horace Cyril (Oral history)

British NCO served with 1st Bn Welsh Guards, General Headquarters, British Expeditionary Force in GB and France, 9/1939-5/1940

REEL 1 Recollections of enlistment, training and service with 1st Bn Welsh Guards in GB and Gibraltar, 1934-1939: reasons for enlistment, 21/12/1934; duties; training and manoeuvres; stand by role during plebiscite in Czechoslovakia, 1938; conditions of service and training at Gibraltar, 1939; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; unit organisation and weapons; absorption of recruits; raising of 2nd Bn Welsh Guards. Recollections of period as NCO with 1st Bn Welsh Guards, General Headquarters, British Expeditionary Force in Arras, France, 10/1939-5/1940: voyage from GB to France, 9/1939-10/1939; prior visits to France; train journey; duties guarding General Headquarters, British Expeditionary Force at Arras; living conditions; duties on promotion to company quartermaster sergeant; relations with French civilians. REEL 2 Continues: organisation of guard duties; rations; pay parades; scares and rumours; training; guarding Lord Gort's billet; gas training; prior recollection of effects of Abdication Crisis, 1936. Recollections of operations as NCO with 1st Bn Welsh Guards, General Headquarters, British Expeditionary Force in France, 5/1940: news of German attack, 10/5/1940; taking up defensive positions round Arras; German Air Force activity; use of battalion drummers as anti-aircraft personnel; German attack on Arras; success in holding bridge; presence of German snipers in railway marshalling yards; defence of Arras; prior training in street fighting; supply problems. REEL 3 Continues: defence of bridge and problem with refugees; location of company headquarters in crypt; effects of German Air Force bombing; supply problems and requisitioning Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) stores; water and ammunition supply; positioning of anti-tanks guns on bridge; orders to 'fight to death'; defensive preparations; hand grenades; orders to evacuate positions; move through Arras and rejoining rest of unit; advance in battle order; formation of 'B' echelon; refugee problem; effects of low-level German Air Force attacks; effects of German Air Force bombing attack on crowded village; medical assistance to French civilians; move to Cassel. REEL 4 Continues: preparations for attack; skirmishes with German motorcycle troops; advance and contact; water shortage; story of being ambushed and captured whilst acting as traffic controller; initial treatment as prisoner of war; impressions of German Army troops; beginning march as prisoner of war towards Germany.