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British NCO served with North Somerset Yeomanry, 4th Cavalry Bde, 1st Cavalry Div in Palestine and Egypt, 1940-1941; officer served as intelligence officer with 1st Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 6th Infantry Div in Lebanon and Syria, 6/1941-9/1941; served as intelligence officer with 1st Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 70th Infantry Div in Tobruk, Libya, 10/1941-12/1941; served as staff officer with Eastern Command, Barrackpore, India, 1942-1943; served as staff officer with 14th Army in India and Burma, 1943-1945
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REEL 1 Background in Dinys Powys, London and Bath, GB, 1907-1939: family; education; training as accountant; marriage and move to Bath; volunteering for North Somerset Yeomanry, 1939 including training. Aspects of journey as NCO with North Somerset Yeomanry, 4th Cavalry Bde, 1st Cavalry Div from GB to Palestine, 1/1940: train journey across France; cleaning and feeding horses aboard SS Rona in Mediterranean; dangers of unloading horses; question of historic nature of exercise. Aspects of period as NCO with North Somerset Yeomanry, 4th Cavalry Bde, 1st Cavalry Div in Palestine and Egypt, 1940-1941: role and duties; contrast between relations with Jews and Arabs; story of guarding precocious Jewish boy; morale of troops; reaction of troops to not receiving mail.
REEL 2 Continues: reaction to loss of horses; desire to play useful role; attitude to service in desert. Aspects of period as officer cadet with Officer Cadet Training Unit in Cairo, Egypt, 1941: opinion of Australians; social life; contrast between Australian and New Zealanders. Recollections of period as intelligence officer with 1st Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 6th Infantry Div in Lebanon and Syria, 6/1941-9/1941: question of how bad characters in a unit are improved by the good; role of unit during invasion of Syria; passing through battlefield to mountainous area; surrender of Vichy French Forces; deserted state of Beirut, Lebanon; relations with Free French forces; amusing account of running brothel in Syria, 1941.
REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as intelligence officer with 1st Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 70th Infantry Div during Siege of Tobruk, Libya, 10/1941-11/1941: joining advanced party; voyage aboard HMS Hotspur from Alexandria, Egypt to Tobruk; question of hazardous nature of sea journey into Tobruk; arrival in Tobruk; description of Tobruk perimeter; problems of mines within perimeter; role of advanced party; night-time patrol work; dangers of Allied and German crossfire; daytime shelling; opinion of Polish gunners; regular Axis aircraft activity over harbour; lack of Allied air support; dependence on Royal Navy for rations.
REEL 4 Continues: story of ration truce in sector of line without bunkers; opinion of Australians; water and ration supply; relative inactivity during daytime. Recollections of operations as intelligence officer with 1st Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 70th Infantry Div during Operation Crusader, Tobruk, Libya, 11/1941-12/1941: preparations for the breakout from Tobruk, 11/1941; effects of 8th Army being eight days late during Operation Crusader, 11/1941; morale within perimeter; description of advance from start line; halt under Axis shellfire; treatment of soldier in state of shock; attack on strongpoint 'Tougon' led by Teddy Ablett.
REEL 5 Continues: German counter attacks around El Hamid; capture of Axis troops; lack of rations and sleep during breakout; opinion of Gemran General Erwin Rommel; sporting element of desert war; sight of dead New Zealanders at Sidi Rezegh; state of New Zealanders after battle; attitude to being sent back to Cairo, Egypt, 12/1941; reaction to fall of Tobruk, Libya 2/1942. Aspects of period as staff officer with Eastern Command at Barrackpore in India, 1942-1943: atmosphere in India, 1942; appointment to Eastern Command at Barrackpore; liaison duties and failure of Allied tactics in Arakan, Burma; formation of 14th Army and role of General William Slim, 11/1943.
REEL 6 Continues: staff work in supplying First Chindit Expedition in Burma, 2/1943-4/1943; question of role of Chindits and problems with air support, 2/1943-4/1943. Recollections of period as staff officer with 14th Army in India and Burma, 1943-1945: character of glider landings during Second Chindit Expedition in Burma, 5/1944; role as communications officer during sieges of Imphal and Kohima, India, 1944; importance of face to face contact; morale of Allied troops during siege of Imphal, India, 1944; attitude to service in campaign; sight of dead Japanese on path to Kohima, India, 1944; story of finding dead Japanese who had shot at Buddhist statues before they died; question of both sides not taking prisoners; question of how resources were diverted to Second Chindit Expedition in Burma prolonged sieges of Kohima and Imphal in India, 1944; role of US Army Air Force; story of passing orders to Sikh battalion to move to Imphal and transport problems encountered in his role.
REEL 7 Continues: question of freelance role; question of 14th Army being a 'Forgotten Army'; opinion of General William Slim; opinion of Lord Louis Mountbatten; meeting with American General Joseph Stillwell at Ledo, Burma; story of loss of plans for invasion for Arakan, Burma; mission on River Kaladan, Burma; amusing story of peanuts that ignited in jungle.
REEL 8 Continues: contracting malaria. Reflections on military service during Second World War, 1939-1945: communications with wife; problems of maintaining balance in correspondence; agreement with wife about relationships; reaction to meeting children after five years; financial situation; initial reaction to meeting wife after five years of service.
