Nutter, Henry (Oral history)

British private served with 6th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 6/1939-9/1939; private served with 10th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 70th Infantry Bde, 23rd (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in GB and France, 10/1939-5/1940; served with Corps of Military Police in GB, 1941-1942

REEL 1 Background near Spennymoor, GB, 1906-1939: family; education; employment as miner; marriage and family; leisure activities; awareness of approaching war. Aspects of period as private with 6th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 6/1939-9/1939: reasons for joining Territorial Army, 29/6/1939; activities in drill hall; reaction to outbreak of Second World War, 3/9/1939; issue of uniform and rifle; training; qualification to go to camp; officers and NCOs in battalion; organisation of battalion; posting to C Company; memories of Sergeant Stanley Ward; discipline; background of officers; reasons for selection as batman to adjutant Captain Claud Hutchinson and duties; officers mess; accommodation; cleaning; division of 6th Bn to form 10th Bn. Aspects of period as private with 10th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 70th Infantry Bde, 23rd (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in GB, 10/1939-4/1940: accommodation in Bishop Auckland; attitude to army life; rations; batman perks; posting to South Shields; accommodation; officers mess; relations with Captain Claude Hutchinson; batman pay; relations with civilians; training prior to war; route marches; story of march at Warminster. REEL 2 Continues: awareness of posting in France; status as labour battalion and effect on morale; journey to France via Southampton; posting with Second Lieutenant Ronald Gill. Aspects of period as private with 10th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 70th Infantry Bde, 23rd (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in France, 4/1940-5/1940: move to camp at Nuncq; duties; bugle calls and defaulters; daily routine; leisure activities in Saint-Pol-sur-Mer; relations with civilians; description of camp at Nuncq-Hautecôte; latrines; washing facilities; water and rations; contact with main body of troops; accommodation; memories of Private Jack Shreeve. Aspects of operations as private with 10th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 70th Inafntry Bde, 23rd (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in France, 5/1940: initial experience of air activity at Abbeville; German paratrooper attack on battalion; withdrawal to Gondecourt; activities in Gondecourt; requisition of property; journey to Dunkirk; separation from Second Lieutenant Ronald Gill; air activity; reaction to situation. REEL 3 Continues: hostility from refugees; taking cover from Junkers Ju 87 Stukas; effect of refugees on progress; burning of vehicles; description of march; filling of boats at Dunkirk; boarding of ship at East Mole, Dunkirk, 31/5/1940; length of time spent on beach; air activity; death of French Army soldier on beach; reaction to situation; attempt by officer to make troops do arms drill; water and rations on beach; voyage to Folkestone, GB; journey to Tidworth with stop in Ashford, GB; further details of journey across English Channel; reformation of battalion at Launceston, GB; rejoining Captain Claud Hutchison at Okehampton, GB. Aspects of period as private with Corps of Military Police in GB, 1941-1942: duties and role of unit on Salisbury Plain; reasons for return to civilian employment as miner, 1942; process of leaving army; pay and conditions; comparison between civilian employment and military service; barracks in Warminster; reason for posting to Warminster.