Description
Object description
British officer served with 7th and 1st Bns Border Regt in GB, 1942-1943; served with 8th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 151st Bde, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in Sicily, Italy, GB and North West Europe, 7/1943-9/1944; served as liaison officer with 151st Infantry Bde, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 9/1944-11/1944; served as adjutant with 8th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 50th Infantry (Reserve) Div in GB, 1944-1945; served as staff officer with Middle East Command on Cyprus, 1945-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of enlistment and training as officer cadet at Royal Military College Sandhurst, Camberley, GB, 1941: father's military experiences; background to joining 8th Bn Durham Light Infantry in Sicily, Italy, 1943; training with University of Manchester Officer Training Corps (OTC); selection for officer training; syllabus at college; methods of instruction; weapons training; training with Thompson Machine Gun; opinion of Bren Gun; rate of wastage amongst cadets; means of assessment; discipline; training at Guards Depot, Pirbright; drill; physical training; endurance training; bicycle training; training areas used; map reading; Tactical Exercises Without Troops (TEWTS) and sand table work.
REEL 2 Continues: degree of first aid training; tactical training; opinion of training at Sandhurst; explosives training; incident when civilian explosives lecturer was killed during demonstration; commissioning into King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster). Aspects of period as officer with 7th and 1st Bns Border Regt in GB, 1942-1943: posting to 7th Bn Border Regt; coastal defence duties; attitude to serving with 7th Bn Border Regt; posting to 1st Bn Border Regt; attitude to serving with 1st Bn Border Regt; behaviour of commanding officer and senior officers; atmosphere in regiment; unit morale in 7th Bn Border Regt; attitude towards glider training; reaction to posting to 1st Bn King's Own Royal Regt (Lancaster) in Middle East. Aspects of period on draft in Middle East, 1943: voyage from GB to Egypt via South Africa; German threats to convoy; impressions of Egypt; medical problems; advice on hygiene; water; civilian servants; theft; night patrols; policy of venereal disease.
REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as officer with No 13 Platoon, D Coy, 8th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 151st Infantry Bde, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div on Sicily, Italy, 7/1943-10/1943: flight to Sicily; joining No 13 Platoon at Primosole Bridge; fragments of body near trench; reception by troops; memories of batman Arthur Atkinson; attitude of troops after Primosole Bridge; arrival of replacements and their integration in unit; atmosphere in unit; lack of need for formal discipline; lack of written orders; use of maps and map marking; style of dress in field; terrain and positions at Primosole Bridge; nature of rearguard actions carried out by Germans; advance northwards and reaction to sight of first dead man.
REEL 4 Continues: discovery of German caravan in wood; accidental discharge of his Sten Gun; mortaring by German multi-barrelled mortars; close encounter with German tanks; move through Catania; psychological effect of German 88mm Gun and MP 40 Submachine Gun; German behaviour at close quarters and on night operations; method of advancing towards Messina; instances when shelling started on sound of church bells; officer wounded during patrol; story of encounter with Germans in house during patrol.
REEL 5 Continues: camping in lemon grove; story of Mafia murder; mountain warfare training; return to GB, 10/1944; reaction of troops to visit by General Bernard Montgomery; emphasis on all members of 51st (Northumbrian) Infantry Div returning to GB; patrolling in Sicily; degree of sleep needed; defecation and supply of food; importance of tea; behaviour of Italian civilians; dust and lava rocks; concert in Catania.
REEL 6 Continues: attitude towards Germans and Italians; memorial at Primosole Bridge. Recollections of period as officer with 8th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 151st Infantry Bde, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in GB, 11/1943-6/1944: improvement in unit morale; training at Haverill; move to Southwold; training with tanks in Thetford Battle Training Area; question of tank dependency by troops; reasons for receiving airborne bicycles and TT Mines; German air raids on Southwold; reaction to transfer to D Coy; attending Exercises Smash I and II; opinion of United States Navy; issue of escape equipment; radio deception operations; sealed camp at Nightingale Wood; lack of information and effect of security on morale.
REEL 7 Continues: attending sniping course at Llanberis; role running brigade sniper's course; skills and uses of snipers; qualities of good snipers; move to Southampton area; reaction to specialist equipment assembled; embarkation aboard Landing Craft Infantry (LCI); extra equipment carried and issue of waders; wearing pyjamas under battledress; delay to Operation Overlord, 4/6/1944; sight of members of War Cabinet and foreign dignitaries. Recollections of operations as officer with 8th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 151st Infantry Bde, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div on Gold Beach, Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944: seasickness crossing English Channel; sight of night-time air and naval activity; reasons for not having breakfast; disembarkation point on Landing Craft Infantry (LCI); getting ashore; sight of frogmen on beach; moving inland under fire; sight of German infantry; capture of Russians serving with German Army.
REEL 8 Continues: further details of disembarkation on Gold Beach; advance inland; orders to find lost Brigadier Ronald Senior; fate of Brigadier Ronald Senior. Recollections of operations as officer with 8th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 151st Infantry Bde, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: briefing for attack on Saint Pierre with armoured support; nature of German opposition; disposal of bicycles; capture of Saint Pierre; German counter-attack and withdrawal; use of Projector Infantry Anti-Tank (PIAT) against tanks; stopping of German infantry attack; effect of German 88mms Guns on British tank attack; withdrawal to Point 103; character of German tank and infantry attacks; character of bocage; German use of tanks in bocage; problems with communication; disabling of Tiger Tank with Hawkins Grenade.
REEL 9 Continues: capture of German tank crew; effect of destruction of German Tiger Tank; attitude to Allied Psychological Warfare detachments; use of artificial moonlight; artillery support 74th Field Regt, Royal Artillery; heavy machine gun support from 2nd (Machine Gun) Bn Cheshire Regt; air support from Hawker Typhoons; patrolling; encounter with German patrol; ability to smell Germans at night; sniping; communications; German use of mines and booby traps; front line positions dug into banks; German method of camouflaging positions; failed attempt to bayonet attack German machine gun positions; use of mortars and anti-tank guns; shouting matches with Germans; move through rubble of Villers Bocage; attack on Mont Pinçon; reaction to sight of dead in Falaise Gap; discovery of German deserters hung in orchard. Recollections of operations as officer with 8th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 151st Infantry Bde, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 8/1944-9/1944: rapid advance across River Seine, France; expectation of liberating Paris, France; character of advance into Northern France.
REEL 10 Continues: quality of German prisoners of war taken; discovery of further hanged German deserters; treatment of those suffering from shell shock; recovery of band instruments lost during retreat to Dunkirk, France in 1940; use of motor transport; capture of German 88mm Gun crew; supply of fuel; traffic control; contact with civilian population; civilian treatment of collaborators; character of encounters with German stragglers; liberation of Brussels, Belgium, 2/9/1944; assault crossing of Albert Canal, Belgium including embarkation in assault craft, German fire, width of canal, water conditions, boats sinking and disembarkation; taking up positions on far side of Albert Canal, Belgium.
REEL 11 Continues: positioning of Bren Gun and sniper in upstairs of farm; terrain on far side of Albert Canal, Belgium; German counter-attack; advance towards Gheel, Belgium; taking up positions in wood behind German positions; captured German ration party; sight of unit prisoners of war being taken away; discussion of situation with NCOs; regaining contact with unit; capture of German officer's mess supplies; advance to Valkenswaard, Netherlands; relations with Dutch civilians; question of promotion and character of replacement company commanders; reasons for being sent as liaison officer to brigade headquarters; turnover amongst other ranks; example of company commander who ordered bayonet charge on German machine gun positions in bocage; question of company commander's incompetence.
REEL 12 Continues: question of battle seasoning; fitness of replacements; absorption into regiment and dilution of Durham element in unit. Recollections of period as liaison officer with 151st Infantry Bde, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in Netherlands, 9/1944-11/1944: sight of airborne armada during Operation Market Garden; story of sending NCO to attend guard of honour for Field Marshal Montgomery; use of amphibious vehicle; character of Brigadier Desmond Gordon and his daily routine; story of visit of Brigadier Desmond Gordon to division to discuss decorations; size of brigade at Elst; his accommodation at Elst; use of command vehicles; communications including Victor Target system and use of telephones; character of terrain in The Island; sight of German frogmen who partly demolished bridge at Nijmegen; story of party at battalion headquarters; overhead cover for slit trenches; German activity in Netherlands.
REEL 13 Continues: return of division to GB, 11/1944. Aspects of period as adjutant with 8th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 50th Infantry (Reserve) Div in GB, 1944-1945: Christmas celebrations, 25/12/1944; role to train for Far East; mixed character of replacement personnel; reaction to issue of plastic cap badges; attitude to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; dispersal of unit; administration of demobilisation procedure; character of new commanding officer who had been captured at Gazala, Libya, 6/1942; reasons for requesting posting; training to fight in Far East. Aspects of period as staff officer with Middle East Command in Cyprus, 1945-1946: nature of journey to Cyprus; duties in Cyprus; campaign against bandits; smuggling organisation; character of Special Investigation Branch, Corps of Military Police; black market contraband; story of non-existent British unit in Egypt.
REEL 14 Continues: second hand story of road building racket in Egypt; living conditions; creation of camps for illegal Jewish immigrants from Palestine; improvisation for camp facilities and use of German prisoner of war labourers; character of Jewish illegal immigrants; behaviour of British troops under provocation; character of release leave. Reflections on military service: attitude to training with Z Reserve in GB, 1950; lessons learnt from military service; question of combat endurance and war weariness.
