Description
Object description
British officer served with 1st Bn Royal Berkshire Regt (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) in GB, 1939-1940; served with 1/1st Bn King's African Rifles, 22nd (East African) Infantry Bde, 12th (African) Div in Kenya, Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland, 1940-1941; served with 22nd (East African) Infantry Bde, 12th (African) Div in Italian Somaliland, 1941; served with 1/6th Bn King's African Rifles, 22nd (East African) Infantry Bde, 12th (African) Infantry Div in Ethiopia, 1941
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of enlistment and training as officer with 1st Bn Royal Berkshire Regt (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) in GB, 1939-1940: background to joining British Army, 1939; selection for officer training; lack of military training or knowledge; expectation of coming of war; choice of regiment; reception on arrival at battalion; reasons for volunteering for service with King's African Rifles; exercise on North Downs; voyage from GB to Kenya. Recollections of period as officer with 1/1st Bn Kings African Rifles, 22nd (East African) Infantry Bde, 12th (African) Infantry Div in Kenya, 1940-1941: reception in Nairobi; choice of battalion; journey to Marsabit.
REEL 2 Continues: arrival at battalion; qualities of troops; religious and tribal groupings in battalion; sources of friction; method of handling African troops and dispensing justice; character of battalion; British officers and NCOs; initial duties as second in command of A Coy; case of African wanting to commit cannibalism; common offenses; dealing with incident of mutiny.
REEL 3 Continues: recreational activities; attending tribal dances. Recollections of operations as officer with 1/1st Bn King's African Rifles, 22nd (East African) Bde, 12th (African) Infantry Div in Ethiopia, 1941: advance through Ethiopia towards Italian Somaliland; question of lack of equipment within African units; speed of advance and efficient logistics; method of commanding African troops in action; in action at Colito; memories of Sergeant Nigel Leakey VC; how he was placed under close arrest during advance to Colito.
REEL 4 Continues: crossing River Bilate; advance on Italian positions; use of Boys Anti-Tank Rifle; Sergeant Nigel Leakey's attack on Italian tanks; protection of Italian prisoners of war; formation for advance; Italian surprise at dawn flank attack; Sergeant Nigel Leakey winning Victoria Cross; body searches and Ethiopian irregulars treatment of casualties; burial of dead at Colito; reaction to accidental bombing by South African Air Force. Aspects of period as officer with 22nd (East African) Infantry Bde, 12th (African) Infantry Div in Italian Somaliland, 1941: duties with Brigade Reinforcement Camp; orders to collect officers' alcohol ration from Mogadishu; problems with polluted water; gifts from Somali chiefs; use of whisky.
REEL 5 Continues: messing in field; importance of hierarchy; African troops' rations; move forward from Kenya into Italian Somaliland; African troops' sense of direction at night; question of African sensitivity of status; effects of full moon of some African troops; status of sweepers and clerks; question of language as mark of status; road movement in Italian Somaliland; story of purchase of racing camel and tea boy. Recollections of operations as officer with 1/6th Bn King's African Rifles, 22nd (East African) Infantry Bde, 12th (African) Infantry Div in Ethiopia, 1941: character of Addis Ababa.
REEL 6 Continues: opinion of battalion; character of Lakes Campaign; atrocities by Ethiopian irregulars; Italian reliance on rivers for protection; opinion of artillery support received; sight of Italian cavalry under artillery fire; attitude of African troops; opinion of Italian forces faced; state of information; communications; behaviour of Italian prisoners of war; impressions of campaign; journey conveying girls from Addis Ababa; leave.
REEL 7 Continues: importance to understand customs of African troops; the problem of bloodlust; authority of officers; carrying out bayonet charge; African troops' attitude towards wounding; medical evacuation.