Description
Object description
British officer cadet with No 121 Officer Cadet Training Unit, Royal Artillery in GB, 1939-1940; officer served as liaison officer to French Army in Glasgow, GB, 1940; served with Sudan Artillery Regt, Sudan Defence Force in Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, 1940-1941
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of enlistment and training as officer with No 121 Officer Cadet Training Unit, Royal Artillery in GB, 1939-1940: membership of Communist Party of Great Britain and expectations of coming war; reasons for joining Royal Artillery; selection for officer training; syllabus at OCTU; live firing; instruction based on First World War. Aspects of period as liaison officer with French Army in Glasgow, GB, 1940: reasons for posting; duties as liaison officer in Glasgow; return of Chasseurs Alpins from Norway.
REEL 2 Continues: voyage from GB to Egypt. Recollections of period as officer with Sudan Artillery Regt, Sudan Defence Force in Sudan, 1940-1941: secondment to Sudan Defence Force; journey to Khartoum; description of Ordnance QF 3.7 Inch Mountain Howitzer; gunnery techniques; artillery personnel; skills of attached artificer from Royal Artillery; relations with Sudanese troops; discipline; handling Sudanese troops; question of language used; significance of religion.
REEL 3 Continues: clothing and footwear; state of health; troops' fitness; recreational activities; alcohol supply; threat of snakes and scorpions; medical services; story illustrating effects of Italian hand grenades; communications and use of civilian transport; use of line and heliograph to control guns; motor infantry tactics; story of fighting in bamboo jungle in Ethiopia and use of pistol; state of intelligence. Recollections of operations as officer with Sudan Artillery Regt, Sudan Defence Force in Ethiopia and Eritrea, 1941: Italian use of mines.
REEL 4 Continues: posting to C Troop; organisation of troop; motor transport; under small arms fire during first engagement; Italian use of armoured truck; troop duties; ammunition; duties as forward observation officer; capture of Asosa, Ethiopia; nature of Italian positions; infantry assault tactics; surprise night attack; infantry patrolling and raids; use of heliograph for fire control.
REEL 5 Continues: effect of shellfire on Italian forces; forced to withdraw by rains; overnight camps during campaign; banditry of the Shifta tribe; rations; informal messing and servants; feeding arrangements for NCOs and other ranks; story of camping near dead camels; water supply; expedition along Gondar road, Ethiopia; casualties amongst pack animals; on detachment with two guns to Eritrean coast; journey to Eritrea; landing guns from pontoon; move into positions north of Massawa, Eritrea; return to Ethiopia; guns carried by troops along tracks; accidental attack by Free French aircraft; bombardment of Chilga, Ethiopia.
REEL 6 Continues: terrain at Chilga, Ethiopia; gun positions; targets of opportunity and aims of harassing fire; capture of stores; development of attack at Chilga, Ethiopia; transfer to Kufra Oasis in Libya and garrisoning of Kufra; speed and endurance of Sudanese troops; use of horses and captured Italian motor bikes; contact with Ethiopians; antique arms carried by Ethiopians; scale of operations restricted by lack of roads; logistics arrangements.