Cook, Walter George (Oral history)

British private served as stretcher-bearer and medical orderly with 27th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps attached to 9th (Scottish) Div on Western Front, 1915-1918; served as private in Royal Army Service Corps with Disarmament Commission in Germany, 1919-1925. Served as officer with Royal Army Education Corps in GB, Malta and Iceland, 1926-1944; served as translator with 4th Anti-Aircraft Bde in North West Europe, 1944-1945. Civilian employed by German section of Foreign Office dealing with German POWs in GB and their demobilisation, 1945-46; involved with Nuremberg Trials, Germany, 1946-1948 and worked as youth officer in Germany, 1948-1956

REEL 1: Background in London, GB, 1899-1914: activities with Boy Scouts; memories of Boer War; story of Uncle Bob returning from Western Front, 1914; reason for volunteering for medical services, 1/1915; enlistment at Tollington Park church, London, aged 15; drafted to 27th Field Ambulance; composition of unit; reaction of family to enlistment. Aspects of training with Royal Army Medical Corps in GB, Jan-May/1915: posted to Tweseldown camp, Hants; description of basic military and medical training; question of medical experience in unit; opinion of accommodation and food; attitude to army life and discipline; selection of NCOs; relations between ranks; memories of Captain Tyndall; story of Sergeant Bowen and gold watch; posted to France, 9/May/1915. REEL 2 Continues: issued with extra kit prior to going to France; further training; description of voyage from Southampton to Le Havre, France, 9/May/1915; story of being given mug of tea on arrival at Le Havre. Recollections of operations as private with 27th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, attached to 9th (Scottish) Div on Western Front, 1915-1918: assessment of number of miles marched while in France; six week period of rest and re-organisation; question of previous experience treating wounded; description of preparations for Battle of Loos, 9/1915; trenches; description of operations during Battle of Loos, 15-26/Sep/1915; location in reserve trench near Hohenzollern Redoubt; gas and gas masks; description of giving wounded tetanus injections; problem of number of wounded and lack of space; description of trench system; assessment of strength of Germans; types of wounds treated including gas casualties; problem of lack of sleep; opinion of doctors; stages of medical treatment; problem in getting wounded back; question of difference between medical theory and actual battle conditions; story of treating wounded German on Hohenzollern Redoubt; attitude to fear. REEL 3 Continues: further comments on treatment of gas casualties; opinion of Scottish troops; description of evacuation of wounded from Delville Wood, Somme, 1916; number of casualties including Royal Army Medical Corps personnel; attitude to use of dum-dum bullets by Germans and nature of wounds caused by them; method of identifying self-inflicted wounds; memory of lists of executions being read out; attitude to conscientious objectors; further description of medical training; method of keeping dressings sterile; question of vulnerability of dressing stations; conditions for carrying out operations; description of treating wounded during Battle of the Somme, 7/1916; memory of preliminary bombardment; medical preparations; opinion of how unit coped with heavy casualties on opening day of Battle of the Somme, 1/Jul/1916; problem of barbed wire; description of the Thomas splint. REEL 4 Continues: further comments on Thomas splint; story of praise for medical services from CO; comparison of static dressing stations and panier system; medical transport; description of conditions on Somme front, 7/1916; attitude of soldiers to members of Royal Army Medical Corps; attitude to serving with Royal Army Medical Corps; definition of term 'walking wounded'; treatment of shell shock cases; medicinal use of rum; state of morale; story of Scottish soldier accidentally treading friend into mud and killing him; description of conditions in Ypres sector, Belgium, during Third Battle of Ypres, Jul-Nov/1917; problem of treating wounded; description of area around Passchendale; use of captured German pill box as dressing station; story of seeing ambulance loaded with wounded falling into mud and disappearing; story of rescuing soldier lost in No Man's Land; description of being gassed and treatment; story of losing contact with 27th Field Ambulance and refusal to join another unit. REEL 5 Continues: story of re-joining 27th Field Ambulance and question of being regarded as deserter; problem of ill health caused by gas; posted to base hospital at Etaples, France, on light duties; story of hospital at Etaples being bombed and machine gunned and subsequent attitude to Germans; problem of eye defect; attitude to returning to 27th Field Ambulance; opinion of role of medics; memory of amusing fellow soldiers with Cockney stories; story of role in setting up concert party; recreational activities of troops; story of helping to build piano; description of evacuation of dressing station from Gouzeaucourt during German offensive, 3/1918; reaction to Haig's 'Backs to the Wall' order; story of ten mile walk carrying stretcher. REEL 6 Continues: description of operations in River Lys area, 1918; comparison of conscripts and experienced staff in 27th Field Ambulance; description of team of dressers and specialities; problem of cleaning wounded; ages of medical team; story of Italian friend Orlando; memories of piper Jock Inglis; description of living conditions in trenches; sleeping arrangements; personal hygiene and problem of lice and scabies; latrines; role in setting up centre to deal with toenails and earache; problem of constipation among soldiers and treatment; problem of rats; description of gangrene cases at Passchendaele; treatment of trench feet; state of health; attitude to French troops leaving behind corpses after vacating area; opinion of New Zealand, Canadian and South African troops; story of search for missing men in No Man's Land. REEL 7 Continues: conclusion of story; 27th Field Ambulance reunions; opinion of officers; story of death of cousin from flu during home leave, 1918; description of flu symptoms and number of deaths; attitude to returning to Western Front; question of awareness of civilian population to reality of war; reaction to news of Armistice while on leave in GB, 11/1918. Aspects of period as civilian in GB, 1918-1919: problem of finding employment; description of employment caring for mentally handicapped children in asylum in Liverpool; story of offer of work from War Office; reflections on period of war service; attitude to being interviewed by Imperial War Museum about war service. REEL 8 Continues: Aspects of period as private with Royal Army Service Corps with Disarmament Commission in Germany, 1919-1925: enlistment as private with Royal Army Service Corps, 12/1919; attitude to service in Germany; opinion of Versailles Treaty; description of living conditions for German civilians; opinion of accommodation and food in hotel in Dresden; description of Allied missions in Saxony area; problem of lack of communication between nationalities; role of Disarmament Commission and nature of duties; attitude to breaches of Disarmament Treaty; state of German economy and problem of high inflation; black market activities; pay; description of witnessing uprising following May Day parade in Dresden, 1920. REEL 9 Continues: further comments on uprising in Dresden; question of Germans in Saxony area re-arming; setting up of frontier petrol stations; German/Russian military co-operation; provision for heavy vehicles; growth of right-wing paramilitary organisations including Stahlhelm; connection between Chancellor Ebert and Prussian military caste; transferred to Munster, 1923; comparison of life in Dresden and Munster; use of forced German labour from Ruhr area in Westphalia; problem of intimidation of Disarmament Commission personnel by Germans. REEL 10 Continues: comments on German economic recovery, 1919-1924; posted back to GB, 1925. Aspects of period in GB, 1925-1926: description of duties working in office of VC winner Colonel Freyberg; opinion of Freyberg and character; reason for transferring to Royal Army Education Corps, 1926. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Army Education Corps in GB, 1926-1934: attended two-year teacher training course at Shorncliffe; description of first teaching post with the Wiltshire Regt in Devizes; opinion of educational standard of recruits and nature of teaching; importance of support from physical training instructors; attitude to role as teacher. REEL 11 Continues: posted to Guards Bde as Education Officer and nature of duties, 1934; description of educational work with Nery Battery; attitude to importance of education for new recruits; posted to Malta, 1934. Aspects of period with Royal Army Education Corps in Malta, 1934-1938; reason for training for cipher work; description of coding systems; duties with Atlantic, Pacific and Home Fleets; story of alert during Abyssinian Crisis; story of writing to Winston Churchill; returned to GB, 1938; attitude to policy of appeasement; posted to Iceland, 1940. Aspects of operations with Royal Army Education Corps attached to 49th Div in Iceland, 1940-1941: description of duties; question of pro-German sympathies in Iceland; description of living conditions and climate; morale. REEL 12 Continues: nature of educational courses for officers; problem of availability of teaching materials; story of interrogating captured German U-boat crews and obtaining intelligence about St Nazaire prior to commando raid; attitude of U-boat crews to interrogators; further comments on living conditions in Iceland; relations with Icelandic civilians; story of visit by Winston Churchill and effect on morale; story of men lost in snow storm; description of building of airfield and improvement in communications; opinion of roads; comparison of American and British road building; story of visits to GB aboard HMS Citral; further comments on U-boat crews; story of captured U-boat being used with British crew to disrupt German naval operations; further comments on HMS Chitral. REEL 13 Continues: posted back to GB, 1941; opinion of American equipment and efficiency. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Army Education Corps in London, 1941-1944: story of obtaining post on General Pile's staff, Knightsbridge, London; description of duties in providing educational courses and lectures for male and female anti-aircraft crew members; various memories of working with Winston Churchill's daughter Mary and her help with recreational activities; story of visit by Winston Churchill and bricklaying; co-operation with needlework teachers in London; therapeutic effects of embroidery on gun crews; location and number of anti-aircraft batteries; organisation of educational services; role in disseminating propaganda to gun crews; story of broadcasting to America about life in wartime London; problems encountered during blackout and increase in crime; effects of V1 and V2 rockets. REEL 14 Continues: Aspects of operations as interpreter and translator with 4th Anti-Aircraft Bde in North West Europe, 1944-1945: promoted to captain; story of taking food convoy to Amsterdam after end of war, 1945; description of Allied advance across France and into Germany; story of entering Munster, Germany; description of visit to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp; attitude to Germans following visit; posted back to GB and demobilised, summer 1945. Aspects of period as civilian employee in German section of Foreign Office in GB, 1945-1946: description of duties interrogating German POWs and advising on repatriation; story of first visit to POW camp. REEL 15 Continues: organisation of POW camps in GB; interrogations conducted in evening to allow POWs to work during day; description of various categories for rehabilitation of POWs; nature of re-education programme; question of determining genuine cases; problem of murders among POWs; difficulty in overcoming Nazi indoctrination of POWs; relations with Foreign Office and criticism of methods; various memories of Otto John; story of Jewish interpreter; attitude to appointment of Herr Koeppler's appointment as lecturer on British way of life, Wilton Park, Sussex; proportion of Waffen-SS among POWs; attitude to SS. REEL 16 Continues: story of meeting former POWs in Germany; comparison of camps and camp commandants; opinion of contribution of German POWs to Ministry of Agriculture; story of 10,000 POWs being allowed to stay in GB; description of POW camp in Trumpington, Cambridge; story of visit by General von Runstedt to Trumpington camp and reaction of prisoners; transferred to Neungamme camp, Hamburg, Germany, 1946. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Army Education Corps in Germany, 1946-1948: description of role in preparation for Nuremberg War Crimes trials; assessment of success of screening and re-education programme; appointed as Senior Youth Officer, Schleswig-Holstein, 1948. Aspects of period as Senior Youth Officer with Royal Army Education Corps in Germany, 1948-1956: role in appointment of youth personnel; description of organisation and collaboration with Dr Walter Blaser; refugee situation in Schleswig-Holstein area; story of obtaining Marshall Aid funds for refugee children; story of organising National Youth Course in Kiel area, 1950. REEL 17 Continues: co-operation with German ministries; attitude to communism; role in setting up scout troops and problem with uniform; visits from experts in youth problems from GB; role of Lady Prior Palmer; description of setting up probation service in Germany and relations with German young people; promoted to Senior Control Officer and co-operation with German industrialists; role in setting up Open Forum to tour Germany and description of aims; story of initiating exchange programme between engineering apprentices in Germany and GB; running of youth refugee camps and use of Island of Sylt to house refugee children; story of project to house refugee children in Kiel harbour; story of project to sail SS Pamir with mixed Anglo-German crew. REEL 18 Continues: importance of co-operation with German authorities; contacts with young people in East Germany; story of Russian radio criticism of work; support for anti-communist organisation; story of chairing conference in Schleswig-Holstein; role of secret Foreign Office Information Research Department; story of being reprimanded for criticising speech by Konrad Adenauer; relations with German authorities; attitude to resurgence of Nazism; returned to GB, 1956; attitude to Germans; opinion of German authorities on effectiveness of work; description of German economic recovery and rearmament during 1950s. REEL 19 Continues: amusing story of official send-off by Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein; question of improvement in Anglo-German relations; reflections on periods in Germany; story of being awarded MBE in Germany.