Anson, Colin Edward (Oral history)

German Jewish schoolchild in Frankfurt, Germany, 1933-1939; private served with 87th Company, Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps in GB, 1940-1942; served with 10 Inter-Allied Commando in GB, 1942-1943; served with 40 Commando, Royal Marines in GB and during landings on Sicily, 1943; NCO served as interpreter with 2nd Commando Brigade in Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece and Italy, 1944-1945; served as interpreter with Field Intelligence Agency, Technical in Germany, 1945-1946

REEL 1 Background in Berlin, Germany, 1922-1933: family; education. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Frankfurt, Germany, 1933-1939: his reaction to Nazi takeover, 1933; his membership of Bibel Kreis youth organisation; his attitude towards Nazi regime; sense of approaching war; his father’s opposition to Nazi regime and subsequent death in Dachau Concentration Camp, 1937; attitude in Germany towards France and GB; question of contact with father after his arrest; family’s personal relationship with Gustav Noske’s family. Aspects of leaving Germany for GB on Kindertransport, 1939: background to leaving Germany. REEL 2 Continues: attachment to Kindertransport, 2/1939. Aspects of period as refugee in GB, 1939-1940: allocation to market garden training by Christian Service Union, 1939; reception in GB, 2/1939; his reaction to British tolerance of personal individuality; description of Christian Service Union at Wallingford; learning English; question of why he was not interned as enemy alien, 1940. Recollections of period as private with 87th Company, Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps in GB, 1940-1942: enlistment in Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps, 12/1940; contact with civilians in London, early 1941; his respects for attitude of civilians under bombing; fire-watching duties in Bootle. REEL 3 Continues: formation of unit band in South Wales, summer 1941; posting to Defensible Barracks at Pembroke Dock, 1941; his desire to transfer to another unit and visit of recruiter for special service. Aspects of period as private with 10 Inter-Allied Commando in GB, 1942-1943: background to recruitment to unit, 8/1942; arrival of officer to process recruits from Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps; his adoption of an English name; posting to Achnacarry for basic training, late 1942. Aspects of operations as private with 40 Commando, Royal Marines in GB and during landings on Sicily, 1943: attachment to 40 Commando, 5/1943; voyage from GB to Mediterranean aboard Devonshire, 7/1943; landing on Sicily, 7/1943. REEL 4 Continues: advance inland; wounding aboard Queen Emma during air attack off Sicily, 17/7/1943; treatment for wounds in Sicily and convalescence in Egypt, 1943-1944; story illustrating his desire to return to his unit. Recollections of operations as NCO with 2nd Commando Brigade in Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece and Italy, 1944-1945: joining brigade as interpreter on Vis Island, Yugoslavia, 4/1944; character of German POWs on Vis Island; function of raid on Brac Island; problems with weather in Albania, 9/1944; capture of booby-trapped German strongpoint in Albania; reception from Greek civilians on Corfu, 10/1944; processing of Axis POWs on Corfu, 10/1944; surrenders from German punishment battalion in Albania, 9/1944. REEL 5 Continues: tensions between different political factions on Corfu, 10/1944-11/1944; return to Italy, late 1944; standing by at Ravenna for operations in Po Delta, spring 1945; sense of anti-climax on VE Day, 5/1945; disbandment of 10 Commando on return to GB. Recollections of period as interpreter with Field Intelligence Agency, Technical in Germany, 1945-1946: his translation work from German Armaments Ministry; information gleaned from documents on German war production; atmosphere amongst civilians in Frankfurt am Main; relations between Germans and American and British occupying forces. Demobilisation and return to civilian life, from 8/1946.