Description
Object description
British civilian in Liverpool, GB, 1939-1941; marine served with Royal Marines in GB, 9/1941-7/1943; marine served with No 41 (Royal Marine) Commando, Special Service Bde in GB, Italy and French Algieria, 7/1943-12/1943; NCO served with No 41 (Royal Marine) Commando, 4th Special Service Bde in GB and North West Europe, 3/1944-11/1944
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Liverpool, GB, 1922-1939: family; education; employment. Aspects of period as civilian living in Liverpool, GB, 1940-1941: occasion when family home was bombed; reasons why his father would not allow family to use public air raid shelters; dealing with incendiary bombs; pattern of German bombing; public morale; attitude of civilians towards German aircrew; perceived performance of Royal Air Force and anti-aircraft defences; opinion of Liverpool Fire Brigade; living conditions; change in employment. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Marines in GB, 9/1941-8/1943: background to enlistment, 9/1941.
REEL 2 Continues: process of enlistment and preference for Royal Marines, 9/1941; arrival of call-up papers; lack of problems adjusting to life in Royal Marines; problems he had with bayonet practice; live firing exercises at Havant, 1941; joining Royal Marine Commandos, 7/1943; use of cap comforter. Aspects of training as marine with No 41 (Royal Marine) Commando in Sicily, Italy, 9/1943: composition of troop.
REEL 3 Continues: training; character of American rations; training with Bren Gun crew; relations with Sicilians. Recollections of operations as marine with A Troop, No 41 (Royal Marine) Commando, Special Service Bde at Vietri sul Mare, Salerno, Italy, 9/1943: unopposed landing on jetty at Vietri sul Mare, 9/9/1943; objective to hold positions in Molina defile along Route 18; nature of fighting with Germans in Molina defile on Route 18.
REEL 4 Continues: under German mortar fire; carrying NCO back for medical treatment; aiding Sergeant Donald Bulloch's Vickers Machine Gun crew; casualties amongst the crew; throwing hand grenades at Germans and attempt to aid Sergeant Donald Bulloch; encounter with German; obtaining spare rifle from Corporal Milligan; fluid nature of fighting; opinion of Germans; use of damaged Bren Gun; attempts to count remaining members of A Troop; in reserve at Salerno; taking of hills near Pigoletti; casualties from accidental shelling from Allied artillery; state fatigue; cultural recreations at Catania, Sicily.
REEL 5 Continues: Recollections of return to GB from Italy via North Africa, 12/1943: his selection for return to GB; role driving Axis vehicles to docks at Catania, Sicily, Italy for transport to North Africa; his appreciation of culture in Catania, Sicily, Italy; in transit at Bône, French Algeria, 12/1943; Arab hostility towards Italian prisoners of war; fighting with United States Military Police in Algiers, French Algeria, 12/1943; voyage aboard HMT Otranto from Algiers, French Algeria to GB; state of commando on arrival at Deal Barracks. Aspects of period as marine with No 41 (Royal Marine) Commando in GB, 1/1944-6/1944: billeting in Ramsgate; weapons training; move to Hastings; amphibious landing training; issue of canvas trolleys; organisation of unit at Hastings; description of ammunition box.
REEL 6 Continues: relations with landladies they were billeted on; assembling at Littlehampton; musical talents of commandos in sealed camp at Littlehampton; briefing for D-Day landings. Recollections of operations as marine with A Troop, No 41 (Royal Marine) Commando, 4th Special Service Bde at Lion-sur-Mer, Sword Beach, Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944: embarkation in landing craft; crossing English Channel; landings on Sword Beach; wounding of Marine Charlie Hall; helping officer with Universal Carrier stuck on beach; behaviour of Royal Navy beach master; assembling of A Troop off beach; advancing inland.
REEL 7 Continues: duties as runner between troop and commando headquarters; running in crouch position; opening fire on Germans with Bren Gun; different uses for Bren Gun; under German mortar fire; wounding of troop commander Captain Caryll Powell; his rescue of wounded Captain Caryll Powell under fire.
REEL 8 Continues: medical evacuation of Captain Caryll Powell in Willys Jeep Ambulance; personnel weapon carried by bren gunners; amusing incident involving unlocked door and a priest; night, 6/6/1944. Recollections of operations as NCO with A Troop, 41 (Royal Marine) Commando, 4th Special Service Bde in Normandy, France, 6/1944: withdrawal of Germans from defended road at Lion-sur-Mer, 7/6/1944; surrounding radar station at Douvres-la-Délivrande, 7/6/1944; strength of unit; probing defences of radar station at Douvres-la-Deliverance; recovery of disabled tank; his use of horse; use of Bangalore Torpedo to penetrate defences of radar station at Douvres-la-Délivrande attack on radar station at Douvres-la-Délivrande, 17/6/1944; opinion of German trenches and camouflage; surrender of radar station at Douvres-la-Délivrande, 17/6/1944; lack of unit transport.
REEL 9 Continues: further details of using horse and bartering it with officer of Royal Army Service Corps; move into front line at Sallenelles; policy of dominating no mans land; use of captured German equipment; psychological strain of patrol work; reasons for his reluctance to being promoted to corporal; decimation of unit NCOs; resting of troops in the line; experience of his younger brother on landing craft during D-Day landings, 6/6/1944; his sense of responsibility of command; uncovering of buried dead German in shallow grave; state of devastated village in Normandy; attempt to give the Germans the impression that there were more troops on the ground than there were.
REEL 10 Continues: arrival of reinforcements; loss of reinforcements to German mortaring during first patrol; reaction to use of machine guns being fired on fixed lines; problems handling men's morale; reaction to sudden withdrawal of Germans from positions in front of unit; advance across northern France; capture of four German 88mm guns; accidental firing on British unit; aiding passage of vehicles of 6th Airborne Div troops across crossroads under German mortar fire.
REEL 11 Continues: story of how troop commander Captain Terence Stevens extricated himself from a dangerous situation during reconnaissance of river ford at Pont l'Eveque, 8/1944; advance towards Honfleur; advancing along sunken lane; grenade fighting in bocage; under German automatic fire in meadow; encounter with unalert airborne soldier; threat of German snipers.
REEL 12 Continues: story of accompanying commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Eric Palmer; his capture of German sniper; injury to NCO crushed by tank; night march towards Honfleur; sight of destroyed German vehicles on bank of River Seine; relieving Canadian troops after the German surrender at Le Havre; patrolling towards Le Havre; story of mortaring of German positions on outskirts of Le Havre.
REEL 13 Continues: method of dealing with shell jammed in barrel in mortar; use of Bofors Anti-Aircraft Guns against German positions in Le Harve. Aspects of period as NCO with A Troop, 41 Commando, Royal Marines in De Haan, Belgium, 1944: move to De Haan; German booby trapping methods; complaint from Belgian farmer about the destruction of his haystack during mortaring exercise, 10/1944. Recollections of operations as NCO with A Troop, 41 Commando, Royal Marines, 4th Special Service Bde during landings at Walcheren Island, Netherlands, 2/11/1944-5/11/1944: planned objectives for landing; bombardment of Germans positions at Walcheren; character of landings using Buffalo Amphious Vehicle; size of German pillboxes; advancing on foot on flooded road after landings.
REEL 14 Continues: Captain Terence Stephens' demand for Germans to surrender in lighthouse; description of flame-thrower and its use; reasons why flame-throwers not used; unit attack over sand dunes with No 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando; behaviour of Captain Terence Stevens under fire; reaction to charging forward in attack; German method of marking minefield; his rescue of wounded Corporal Milligan and other comrades from minefield; German anti-personnel mines.
REEL 15 Continues: handling of German prisoners of war; problems of dealing with German bunkers; wounding by artillery fire; casualties. Aspects of period with Holding Operational Commando, Royal Marines in GB, 1944-1945: evacuation to GB; recovery from wounds; provision to place him with unit at Wrexham; lack of money to pay for comforts during hospitalisation; apprehension by Corps of Military Police at Waterloo Railway Station, London, early 1945; further trouble with naval and Corps of Military Police in Portsmouth; reporting to and processing at Holding Operational Commando at Wrexham; his altercation with commando dentist.