Description
Object description
British seaman served as coder with Naval Party 100 in Soviet Union, 1942-1943; served aboard HMS Tracker, 2nd Escort Group in North Atlantic, 1943-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Penicuik and Glasgow, GB, 1922-1940: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; background to volunteering for Royal Navy, 1941. Recollections of period as coder with Naval Party 100 in Soviet Union, 1942-1943: voyage aboard HMS Trinidad from GB to Soviet Union, 12/1941-1/1942; role of party in setting up a communications base at Polyarno; opinion of Soviet ships; attitude of Soviets towards Royal Navy presence; lack of sufficient clothing; his coding work; running of base at Polyarno; problems with radio communications in Arctic; German Air Force attacks; nature of Soviet telephone system; problems with Soviet security services; German Air Force attacks on Murmansk, winter 1942-1943.
REEL 2 Continues: provision of air raid shelters; Soviet official attempts to prevent British-Soviet friendships; Soviet accusation of Royal Navy personnel spreading imperialist propaganda; effects of diet and poor washing facilities; treatment for scabies; lack of recreational facilities; incident of being urinated on by Soviet Army soldier; making own entertainment; problems obtaining radio request; contact with survivors British ships lost in Arctic; aiding survivors of SS Bolton Castle, summer 1942; proximity of German forces to Murmansk.
REEL 3 Continues: refusal of Soviet girl to believe supplies were being brought from GB; treatment of civilians by Soviet regime; opinion of Communist system; return to GB. Aspects of operations as coder aboard HMS Tracker, 2nd Escort Group in North Atlantic, 1943-1945: opinion of Captain Frederic Walker; opinion of American built escort carriers; nature of force ten gale during convoy; hazards of German and Allied offensive action; duties sealing off Bay of Biscay at time of Normandy Landings, 6/1944; leaving ship. Aspects of period as coder aboard HMS Persimmon in Far East, 1945: voyage to Far East aboard HMS Sefton; duties with naval party.
REEL 4 Continues: his resistance to orders to transfer him from Royal Navy to British Army, 1945; prior recollection of sleeping through air raid in Murmansk, Soviet Union; readjusting to civilian life.