Gudgeon, Denis George Frederick (Oral history)

British officer served with C Coy, 3rd/2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (Sirmoor Rifles) in India, 2/1942-6/1942; served with 3rd/2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (Sirmoor Rifles), 77th Indian Infantry Bde at Saugor Camp, India, 6/1942-1/1943; served as administration officer with No 3 Column, 3rd/2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (Sirmoor Rifles), 77th Indian Infantry Bde during First Chindit Expedition in Burma, 2/1943-4/1943; prisoner of war in Rangoon Central Prison, Rangoon, Burma, 5/1943-4/1945

REEL 1 Background in GB, 1921-1939: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training with King's Royal Rifle Corps and British Indian Army in GB and India, 8/1940-1/1942: enlistment in King's Royal Rifle Corps in GB, 8/1940; reasons for transfer to Indian Army, 1941; voyage aboard HMT Strathnaver from GB to India, 1/1942 including submarine threat; initial impressions of living conditions of Indian civilians in Bombay, India, 1/1942. Aspects of period as officer with C Coy, 3rd/2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (Sirmoor Rifles) in India, 2/1942-6/1942: choice of unit; relations between Gurkhas and British officers; recruitment of Nepalese Gurungs and Thapars to unit; preparations for proposed service in Western Desert at Loralai on North West Frontier. Aspects of period of training as officer with 3rd/2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (Sirmoor Rifles), 77th Indian Infantry Bde at Saugor Camp, India, 6/1942-1/1943: move to Saugor Camp to join Chindits, 6/1942; contact with Brigadier Orde Wingate and his attitude to Gurkhas; appointment as administration officer of 3 Column and problems of role; drowning incident involving Gurkhas in monsoon at Saugor Camp, summer 1942. REEL 2 Continues: lack of impact on him of Quit India Movement's campaign; reputation of Imperial Japanese Army soldier in 1942; move from Jhansi to Dimapur, 1/1943. Recollections of operations as administration officer with No 3 Column, 3rd/2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (Sirmoor Rifles), 77th Indian Infantry Bde during First Chindit Expedition Operation Longcloth in Burma, 2/1943-4/1943: impressions of Major Michael Calvert; crossing River Chindwin, 2/1943; first air supply drop into jungle; attack on railway line at Nan Mar, 3/1943; problems of handling mules in jungle; morale and discipline amongst Gurkhas; loss of elephant captured from Japanese; problems of natural vegetation; problems of recrossing River Irrawaddy; story of ordering Gurkhas to leave him and how Burmese fishmonger handed him over to Burmese militia at Takaung, 20/4/1943. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Rangoon Central Prison, Rangoon, Burma, 5/1943-4/1945: initial interrogations by Japanese; national composition of prisoners of war; treatment by Japanese guards and their attitude towards Chindits; rations and diet. REEL 3 Continues: survival rate of amongst Chindit prisoners of war; medical problems contracted as prisoner of war; solitary confinement punishment for losing number; his persecution by Japanese; work he was ordered to engage in; trading with Burmese civilians; impossibility of escape; letters from family; lack of communication with guards; method of following progress of war; Allied air attacks on Rangoon; march towards Waw via Pegu including wounding by strafing Allied aircraft; liberation, 25/4/1945; debriefing at Comilla, India. Question of achievements of First Chindit Expedition Operation Longcloth, 1943.