Description
Object description
British private and NCO served with 70th Bn Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in GB, 1940-1942; private served with 1st Bn Gordon Highlanders, 153rd Infantry Bde, 51st (Highland) Infantry Div in North Africa, 1942-1943
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1922-1940: reaction to declaration of Second World War, 9/1939; attitude towards Germans; his family's social attitudes. Aspects of period as private and NCO with 70th Bn Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in GB, 1940-1942: enlistment, 1940; his own standards as recruit; opinion of 'The Mint' as an account of recruit training; habits of his comrades during training; generosity of his comrades and their attitudes towards officers; code of conduct amongst recruits. Recollections of operations as private with 1st Bn Gordon Highlanders, 153rd Infantry Bde, 51st (Highland) Infantry Div in North Africa, 1942-1943: attitude of troops towards Egyptians; impressions on arrival in Egypt, summer 1942; story of demotion from corporal to private in GB; artillery bombardment before Battle of El Alamein, 10/1942.
REEL 2 Continues: reaction to screams of wounded; story of desertion of his company commander and how he was subsequently promoted; question of confusion of battle; problems of depicting atmosphere of combat in literature; attitude towards Germans; question of his attitude towards Nazism and patriotism; his attitude towards Second World War as compared to First World War; question of patriotism and poetry; inequality of sacrifice in war.
REEL 3 Continues: anecdote illustrating officer-other ranks relations in battle; his writing of war poetry; his technique for writing war poetry; his reading of poem 'Walking Wounded'; background to writing 'Walking Wounded'; poetry and barrack room language; his attitude towards W H Auden and Christopher Isherwood going to America prior to outbreak of Second World War; status of war poetry.
REEL 4 Continues: his folk memories of First World War; comparison between ancient and modern warfare; background to writing poem 'War Graves at El Alamein'; reads poems 'War Graves at El Alamein' and 'Walking Wounded'.