Description
Object description
British officer served with D Coy, 3/6th Bn King's African Rifles, 26th (East African) Bde, 11th (African) Infantry Div in British Somaliland, 1/1942-11/1942; served with 11th (Kenya) Bn King's African Rifles, 25th (East African) Bde, 11th (African) Infantry Div in Kenya, 11/1942-1/1943; served as staff officer with Headquarters, 25th (East African) Bde, 11th (East Africa) Infantry Div in Tanganyika and Ceylon, 1/1943-1/1944; served as intelligence officer with 36th (Tanganyika) Bn King's African Rifles, 26th (East African) Bde, 11th (East Africa) Infantry Div in Ceylon, India and Burma, 1/1944-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as officer with D Coy, 3/6th Bn King's African Rifles, 26th (East African) Infantry Bde, 11th (African) Infantry Div in British Somaliland, 1/1942-11/1942: reasons for volunteering to serve with African units; voyage from GB to Kenya, 10/1941-1/1942; structure and composition of battalion; differences in backgrounds of unit's officers; informality of off duty life in unit; techniques of leading African troops; opinion of serving with African troops; family's military background and his own Australian background; tribal composition of unit; question of divide and rule amongst tribes; rations for African troops and officers; military qualities of African troops; discipline problems with African troops and use of corporal punishment.
REEL 2 Continues: African troops' motivation; oral tradition of Imperial German Army discipline in East Africa; application for posting to Far East. Aspects of period with D Coy, 11th (Kenya) Bn King's Africa Rifles, 25th (East African) Infantry Bde, 11th (African) Infantry Div in Kenya, 11/1942-1/1943: character of newly formed unit; question of burden of work as company commander and wish to leave unit. Aspects of period as staff officer with 25th (East African) Infantry Bde, 11th (East Africa) Infantry Div in Tanganyika and Ceylon, 1/1943-1/1944: posting to unit; training duties near Mount Kilimanjaro; nature of training in preparation for posting to Burma; question of Japanese troops' reputation.
REEL 3 Continues: psychological preparation of African troops for overseas posting; posting to Ceylon; murder of British officers by African soldier; question of smoking of narcotic 'Bhang' leading to incidents of indiscipline; nature of incidents of indiscipline amongst King's Africa Rifles; an African soldier with a grievance against him; killing of Ceylonese villager by African soldier, 11/12/1943. Aspects of period as officer with 36th (Tanganyika) Bn King's Africa Rifles, 26th (East African) Infantry Bde, 11th (East Africa) Infantry Div in Ceylon and India, 1/1944-7/1944: attitude to rejoining unit, 1/1944 and Ordnance ML 3 Inch Mortar course in Saugor, India. Recollections of operations with 36th (Tanganyika) Bn King's Africa Rifles, 26th (East African) Infantry Bde, 11th (East Africa) Infantry Div in Burma, 8/1944-8/1945: role and duties as intelligence officer.
REEL 4 Continues: question of following military procedure; condition of retreating Imperial Japanese Army troops; ravings of delirious Japanese officer who was captured; opinion of Japanese troops; material taken from Imperial Japanese Army soldiers' bodies; description of Union Jack captured by Japanese sergeant-major during Fall of Singapore, 2/1942; contact with Indian National Army prisoners of war; question of loyalties of Burmese civilians; actions at Sonali and Witok in Kabaw Valley.
REEL 5 Continues: performance of Tanganyikan troops including their tracking skills; account of stalking and shooting of Japanese sentry; nature of escape after killing Japanese sentry; employment of African servant, Tomasi Kitinya.
REEL 6 Continues: account of patrol against Japanese including disorder of patrol of African troops ambushed by Imperial Japanese Army, reasons for leading patrol against Japanese, counter-attack against Japanese in chung, wounding in leg, extraction from situation, death of Tomasi Kitinya and concern over his grave.
REEL 7 Continues: imitation of senior British officers during African troops' dances, memories of Corporal Waruhiu Itote later 'General China' of the Mau Mau during the State of Emergency in Kenya.