Description
Object description
British private served with 1st Bn Parachute Regt, 1st Parachute Bde, 1st Airborne Div in GB and during Operation Market Garden in Netherlands, 2/1944-9/1944; prisoner of war in in Netherlands, Stalag XII-A, Limburg an der Lahn, Germany and Stalag VIII-D, Teschen, Czechoslovakia, 9/1944-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as private with 1st Bn Parachute Regt, 1st Parachute Bde, 1st Airborne Div in GB, 1944: background to enlistment in British Army, 1941; reasons for transfer to Parachute Regt; return to battalion, 2/1944; change in character of battalion; atmosphere in battalion and reasons for mutiny; new regime under Colonel David Dobie; relations with officers and NCOs; change in nature of battalion; difficulties in finding willing NCOs; light duties; reasons for volunteering for parachuting again, 8/1944; level of battalion fitness; route marches; expectations of end of war; attitude to prospect of going into action in battalion.
REEL 2 Continues: briefing for Operation Market Garden; reasons for late return from leave prior to operation; level of knowledge of plan compared to landings on Sicily, Italy, 7/1943. Recollections of operations as private with 1st Bn Parachute Regt, 1st Parachute Bde, 1st Airborne Div during Operation Market Garden, Netherlands, 9/1944: morning of flight; issue of tranquillizers; flight from GB to Netherlands, 17/9/1944; parachute drop, 17/9/1944; assembling and moving off drop zone; mortar section; reception from Dutch civilians; attitude to delays during advance along road; terrain; encounter with German armoured vehicles.
REEL 3 Continues: destruction of ammunition jeep; continuation of advance; resting in gardens; method of passing orders; discussion of route taken morning, 18/9/1944; action at road intersection; taking cover under fire; chaotic nature of action; under tank fire in ditch; supply drop and subsequent mortaring; being sniped at while collecting mortar bombs; effect of German shell on Ordnance QF 6 Pounder Gun crew.
REEL 4 Continues: food and drink; rations; obtaining shirt from civilian home; Dutch civilians; arrival in Oosterbeek perimeter; aiding wounded in cellars; exhaustion of mortar bomb supply; supply of mortar bombs; threats from mortar, artillery, tank and sniper fire; rumours of relief by XXX Corps; joining queue to evacuate on river bank; panic at embarkation point; capture by German troops. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Netherlands, Stalag XII-A, Limburg an der Lahn, Germany and Stalag VIII-D, Teschen, Czechoslovakia, 9/1944-5/1945: duties clearing bodies in Oosterbeek, Netherlands; train journey to Germany; in transit at Stalag XII-A, Limburg an der Lahn, Germany; delousing; issue of first rations; conditions in tented accommodation; move to Stalag VIII-D, Teschen, Czechoslovakia; minimal interrogation; German attempt to recruit prisoners of war to fight Soviet Union.
