Description
Object description
British officer commanded No 2 Commando, 2nd Special Service Bde in Yugoslavia, 1/1944-6/1944; prisoner of war in Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp in Germany, 7/1944-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of operations commanding No 2 Commando, 2nd Special Service Bde in Yugoslovia, 1/1944-6/1944: character of Vis Island; German intention to attack Vis Island; structure of commando brigade; foreign contingent in commando; calibre of German refugees; arms supplied to commando; command structure of commando units; commando pay; officers serving under him; his opinion of the role of commandoes; ineffectiveness of Chetniks.
REEL 2 Continues: German attempt to capture Josip Tito; Yugoslav Partisan strength; problems of execution of prisoners by Yugoslav Partisans; plans for raid on Brac Island, 5/1944; need for load-carriers; story of reluctance of commando officer to attack across minefield; attack on German occupied Hill 622 on Brac Island.
REEL 3 Continues: wounding of unit officers and Royal Marine during attack on Hill 622; use of bagpipe tune as signal. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Yugoslavia and Germany, 6/1944: his wounding and capture by Germans on Brac Island, 2/6/1944; treatment by Germans on capture; evacuation from Brac Island to mainland Yugoslavia; interview with German general; removal to Germany from Yugoslavia by aircraft; uniform worn on capture.
REEL 4 Continues: attempt to sabotage German aircraft; period under house arrest in Germany; German attempts to secure intelligence from him. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Germany, 7/1944-4/1945: removal to camp; meeting with officers who had participated in Great Escape from Stalag Luft III, Sagan; story of German shooting of Great Escapers, 3/1944; inmates of Sonderlager A.
REEL 5 Continues: memories of Peter Churchill; presence of Irishmen in camp; disposal of Red Cross parcels; method of making contact with Frau von Thyssen; account of construction of escape tunnel; arrangements for escape, 9/1944.
REEL 6 Continues: opening up of tunnel; escape through tunnel; escape plans with Jimmy James; train journey; problems moving cross-country; sabotage of railway manifests in railway marshalling yards and subsequent injury to ankle; narrow escape from recapture.
REEL 7 Continues: aid received from Soviet forced labourers; sleeping arrangements; method of navigating towards Rostock; circumstances of recapture by Germans near Rostock; treatment on return to camp; reasons for not being sent to prisoner of war camp; problems caused by his surname; relations with Randolph Churchill.