Description
Object description
British private served with 1/8th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 148th (Territorial) Infantry Bde in Norway, 4/1940-5/1940; prisoner of war in Norway, Germany and Stalag XXI-A/Z Camp, Poznań, Poland, 5/1940-6/1940
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of period as drummer with 1/8th Bn Sherwood Foresters in GB, 1936-1939: reasons for joining Territorial Army; pattern of service with Territorial Army, 1936-1939; work as physical training instructor; anticipations of coming war. Recollections of operations as private with 1/8th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 148th (Territorial) Infantry Bde in Norway, 4/1940-5/1940: question of lack of adequate equipment for Norwegian campaign; opinion of Bren Gun; duties as batman; voyage from GB to Norway including seasickness; initial impressions of Norway; expectation that unit might need to fight Norwegians; ashore at Åndalsnes, 17/4/1940; move by train to Dombås; battalion regulars; vehicle move to Nykirke.
REEL 2 Continues: night guard duties; improvised road block; attempts to dig positions and construction of sangars; German aircraft shot down; location and view from sangar; Norwegian civilian population; move to Tretten; defensive positions at Tretten; accidental firing on Norwegian troops and 1/5th Bn Leicestershire Regt; meal at Norwegian farm; news of German breakthrough; attitude of Norwegian troops; following valley across country; sheltering in hut and German Army search patrol; aid received from Norwegians; Norwegians guiding his group of stragglers to Otta.
REEL 3 Continues: meeting with other stragglers in forest; encounter with German sentry; machine gunning and taking cover in snow; getting rid of troublesome officer; journey over mountains. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Norway, Germany and Stalag XXI-A/Z Camp, Poznań, Poland, 5/1940-6/1940: discovery in huts by German Army troops; interrogation by German officer; anticipation of being shot; incarceration in hotel in Dombås, Norway; treatment by Austrian troops; removal to Oslo, Norway; offer to broadcast to GB; attempts by Germans to gain information; sense that prisoners of war would be sent to Poland; journey to Stalag XXI-A/Z Camp, Poznań, Poland via Hamburg, Germany; propaganda march in Berlin, Germany.
REEL 4 Continues: propaganda march in Posnań. Reflections on service in Norway: opinion of clothing and boots used; opinion of campaign in Norway.