Whittaker, Edward (Oral history)

British NCO served with 425 Bty, 107th Regt, <South Notts Hussars> Royal Artillery in GB, Palestine and North Africa, 1939-1942; POW in Italy and Austria, 1942-1945

REEL 1 Background in Nottingham area, 1918-1939: education; work as clerk in light engineering factory, 1934-1939; recreations; influence of father's experiences in First World War and reaction to approach of war; joining waiting list for Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, ca 1938. Recruitment and training with A Troop, 425 Bty, 107th Regt, <South Notts Hussars> Royal Artillery at Derby Road Drill Hall, Nottingham, 4/1939-9/1939: reasons for volunteering with friends; reception; assignment to Sergeant Albert Inger's gun team; role of gun team members including own position as No 6; origin of Sergeant Major Greensmith's nickname, 'Dragropes'; rifle drill. REEL 2 Continues: lectures; recollections of Regimental Sergeant Major Frederick Porter; opinion of NCOs; initial lack of contact with officers; opinion of Lieutenant J H Shakespear, Second Lieutenants Geoffrey Neale and Angus Carr, Captains Gerry and Peter Birkin; relationship with ORs; Sunday morning training sessions; theoretical observation post training; period at Redesdale Camp, 6/1939, including reactions to posting to Sergeant John Whitehorn's No1 gun team, daily routine, reaction to first firing of 18pdr, selection as 'stick man' for guard duty, church parade and contact with officers; reactions to approach to war. REEL 3 Recollections of initial period at Chapel School Room, Derby Road, Nottingham, 9/1939: mobilisation, 1/9/1939; guard duty; fire picket duty and false alarm at drill hall, 3/9/1939; stories relating to Lieutenant J K T Hanson and Bombardier 'Max' Miller on route marches; move to Rillington, 9/1939. Recollections of period at Rillington, 9/1939-11/1939: barn billets; illness after vaccination; standby coastal defence role; lorries and 18pdrs issued; food rations; relationship with local civilians; argument with Greensmith over leave allocation; story of trip back to Nottingham on leave. Recollections of period at Wragby, 11/1939-1/1940: 18pdrs issued. REEL 4 Continues: role of layer and failing test; selection for signals section; opinion of Signals Sergeant Jack Gore; signals training including theory, telephone procedure, Morse code, signals flags, reeling out and repairing telephone lines; prior news of posting to Palestine; issue of battledress; temporary duties as batman; relationship with local civilian woman. Recollections of journey out to Palestine, 1/1940: train journey to Southampton; seasickness during Channel crossing; train journey across France; voyage aboard HMT Devonshire to Haifa including absence of seasickness, duty as bridge lookout. REEL 5 Continues: first impressions of Haifa. Recollections of periods at Sarafand, Gedera and Hadera Camps, 1/1940-6/1940: quarantine period; light duties; erecting tents; attachment as signaller to A Troop; inspections by Brigadier Keith Dunn; accidentally discharged rifle; question of Arab/Jewish conflict; role as signaller in training exercises; period at Asluj Firing Camp including desert conditions, relationship with Australian troops, dental treatment, camel racing at Beersheba; specialist course under Whitehorn including mathematics of gunnery, establishing zero line for guns, use of panoramas at OP and barrage tables. REEL 6 Continues: multiple role as signaller/specialist; meeting friends in other units; motoring trips; relationship with Palestine Police; reactions to news of German success in North West Europe, 5/1940; vehicle tests in sand; opinions of officers including Majors Edward Batt and Peter Birkin, Captains Graham Slinn and Tony Corbett-Thompson; relationship with NCOs; preparations for posting to Egypt; use of heliographs. Train journey to Mersa Matruh, Egypt, 6/1940. Recollections of period in Mersa Matruh, 6/1940-12/1940: sunstroke whilst digging in; construction of bomb proof dugouts and gun pits; command post dugout; latrines; camouflage netting; Italian high level bombing raids; importance of digging slit trenches; digging in vehicles; effect on morale of bombing raids. REEL 7 Continues: duties as signaller at battery command post including telephone exchange rota, training from NCO of 4th Regt, RHA and relationship with Major Peter Birkin; sea bathing parties and sailing boat; close escapes from bombs; drinking habits; recreations including concert parties starring Gunner 'Sammy' Hall and canteen; daily routine; evacuation with dysentery and strict hospital matron at Heliopolis Hospital; problems with officer over territorial status whilst at Royal Artillery Base Depot, Almaza; view of RAF successful attack on Italian bombers; air raid warnings prior to night raids by Italian bombers. Account of operations as gun position signaller with Dummy Troop, Composite Bty, 12/1940: Captain Gerry Birkin; real and dummy guns; initial positions and bombardment of Fort Maktilla. REEL 8 Continues: advance following Italian evacuation of Fort Maktilla; problem with knot in telephone wire; capture of Italian position and attitude of Italian POWs; looting from abandoned Italian equipment, return to Mersa, question of Gore's responsibility for telephone wire incident. Recollections of period in Mersa Matruh, 6/1940-1/1941: Gore's invention of telephone switching equipment; sorting out ammunition and guns dumped on Mersa escarpment; recollections of Sergeant Staniforth and Gunner Bill Knight. Recollections of period based in Suez Canal area, 1/1941: method of spotting mines; role as signallers; minesweeping; danger from British anti-aircraft fire; story of minesweeper sunk attempting to clear mine; view of HMS Formidable passing through canal. Period training for invasion of Rhodes, Greece at Tahag camp, 2/1941: carrying signals equipment on stretcher; barges; lack of secrecy; new equipment. REEL 9 Journey to Tobruk, Libya, 4/1941: preparations and re-equipment prior to move; assignment to radio set in Major Peter Birkin's OP pick-up truck; night out drinking in Cairo; convoy organisation; situation on move into Libya; fused radio; arrival at Tobruk. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine during period at Tobruk, 4/1941-12/1941: limited view as radio operator in mobile OP during initial German tank attacks, 4/1941; story of difficulty in getting ammunition supply from dump without necessary paperwork, 4/1941; method of making tea; gun positions interspersed with 1st Regt, RHA in Palestrimo sector; account of duties as signaller on A Troops gun position during German attacks, 14/4/1941, including nature of gun pits, story of opening fire at Captain Bennett's instruction on his OP, first view of Stuka raids on harbour. REEL 10 Continues: continues account of duties as signaller on A Troop gun positions, 14/4/1941, including personal morale, absence of German counter battery fire, role of artillery fire in breaking up German attack, role laying and mending telephone lines; crashed Hurricane of Flying Officer Lamb; opinion of RAF and strength of Luftwaffe; Stuka dive bombing attacks; improvements to gun pits; period attached as liaison signaller to 1st Bty, RHA, including story of mistake in repairing telephone line and comparison of military standards; moving up 4.5in howitzers to fire on German mortar positions; role repairing telephones; question of use of radio; food and water rations; parcel recovered from harbour. REEL 11 Continues: parcels and letters contact with GB; morale; question of special rations, naval supply system and story of ship sunk carrying beer ration; opinion of Padre H Parry; cigarette and rum ration; desert sores; dental treatment; state of health; latrines and story of gunner's close escape from shells; fly and lice problem, desert fauna; <small gap in tape>; recreations including conversations, news from radio broadcasts including William Joyce, cartoon drawing, editing locally produced 'A Troop Times' and concert parties. REEL 12 Continues: sea bathing parties; question of adaptations to uniforms; organisation of battery command post telephone lines and use of induction to overhear fire orders from garrison headquarters; use of captured Italian artillery; efficiency of German artillery spotting aircraft; period as OP specialist assistant registering targets from R11 in front line; machine gunning by ME 109; visibility of A Troop gun positions in aerial reconnaissance photographs; detonating unexploded 500lb bomb and thermos anti-personnel bombs; night firing. REEL 13 Continues: periods as A Troop OP specialist assistant at OP 42, 8/1941-12/1941, including reasons for posting, opinion of Captain William Pringle and Captain Graham Slinn, location and nature of OP poles; tours of duty, visibility range, situation reports, drawing panorama recording registered targets, giving firing orders for harassing fire on Italian positions, registering on Italian dummy OP pole, climbing up poles, shell fire on OP poles, role of driver signaller with OP team, promotion to lance bombardier, story of Bren Carrier blown up in nearby minefield, night firing and OP duties. REEL 14 Continues: periods as A Troop OP specialist assistant at OP42, 8/1941-11/1941 including story of forgetting message warning of patrol in village and story of firing on Italians visible; replacement of Australian with Polish troops. Recollections of operations leading to breakout from Tobruk, 11/1941-12/1941: reactions to posting as assistant to Battery Commander Major Peter Birkin, 11/1941; reactions to possibility of breakout; attending briefing conference, role as assistant and advice from Birkin; preparations and importance of timings; command post Bren carrier crew; advance into No Man's Land, 21/11/1941 including signals liaison duties with 2nd Bn, Black Watch. REEL 15 Continues: advance into No Man's Land, 21/11/1941 including signals liaison duties with 2nd Bn, Black Watch, calling up reserve unit, German POWs, question of taking over if Birkin killed, capture of 'Tiger' strongpoint, nature of fire orders sent, German shell fire on 'Tiger' position, difficulty in maintaining telephone line link, story of Black Watch NCO placed on minor disciplinary charge, reporting success to brigade headquarters; breaking up German counter-attack, RAF support and German aircraft's crash landing; Birkin's courage during German counter-attack, 22/11/1941; capture of German gun; role during remaining operations, 11/1941; Australian gunner with SNH; premature explosion of gun during prolonged firing; attack of jaundice; view of successful RAF strike on German vehicles; end of siege and possessions stolen by New Zealand troops. Movements following breakout from Tobruk, 11/1941-1/1942: visit to old battlefield; loss of cartoons; acquisition of Tommy gun; story of trying to shoot birds to supplement rations. REEL 16 Continues: Christmas celebrations at Tmimi, 25/12/1941; German souvenirs; handing over equipment and return to Tobruk; conversations with Birkin and question of his homosexuality; opinion of Colonel William Seely; personal morale; New Year's Eve celebrations, 30/12/1941; loss of Tommy gun. Recollections of periods at Terhag, Sidi Bishr and Beni Yusef Camps, Egypt, 1/1942-4/1942: hockey activities; delayed Christmas party; leave in Cairo; supervising driving instruction; tank training for liaison work with County of London Yeomanry; visits to Royal Navy units; question of learning to drive; story illustrating relationship with Gore; visits to Alexandria; relationship with Egyptian civilians; invitations as NCO to officers' parties; promotion to lance sergeant. REEL 17 Continues: promotion to lance sergeant and induction into sergeants' mess; duties as camp and battery orderly sergeant; sergeants' mess and drinking habits; relationship with ORs; reorganisation and re-equipment on formation of 520 Bty; crew of Birkin's OP armoured car; training in box formation, opinion of role of 25pdrs and adaptations to signals procedures. Training during move up into Gazala area, Libya, 4/1942-5/1942: reports of party at Amariya; liaison with County of London Yeomanry Regt and signals links to tanks and battery. REEL 18 Continues: Grant tanks; identification markings on Marmon Harrington OP armoured car; use of sun compass and trig points in desert navigation; laager camps at night; RAF activity; method of repairing radio; pipe smoking; story of losing Birkin's valise; vehicle cooking; Honey tank OPs; situation in Gazala line. Recollections of operations in Knightsbridge sector, 27/5/1942-5/6/1942: prior intelligence of German attack; German attack on 520 Bty positions; story of meeting survivors of 520 Bty whilst on reconnaissance; role in tank fighting liaising with County of London Yeomanry. REEL 19 Continues: role in tank fighting liaising with County of London Yeomanry; question of effectiveness of 25pdr in anti-tank role; Stuka raid and German purple signals smoke; situation, destruction of German battery caught in open; story of changing wheel of armoured car under fire; tank casualties; view of aerial activity; period liaising with Gloucester Hussars; story of shelling German transport containing POWs from 520 Bty; view of German units passing through minefield heading east and disparagement of report by staff at brigade headquarters; cancellation of planned attack on German rear transport. Account of Knightsbridge action, 5/6/1942-6/6/1942: situation; story of taking message to brigadier and illustration of attitude to staff officers; move up with tanks; first clash with overwhelming German forces ,in Cauldron sector; breakdown of Pringle's OP tank; situation and forward nature of gun positions established. REEL 20 Continues: situation; close escape from German aircraft; absence of fireplan; German positions nearby on ridge; effectiveness of air burst shell fire; German tank recognition signals for their Stukas; orders to maintain positions; lack of role as OP personnel in close fighting; casualties; overrun of gun position by German tanks; forming makeshift crew for 25pdr until machine gunned by German tank and situation on taking casualty to regimental aid post; situation; move to join E Troop; attempt under orders of Major Robert Daniell to form square with 426 Bty and resulting casualties; opinion of order given by Daniell and question of unit morale. REEL 21 Continues: question of becoming officer and necessity of gun crew experience; SNH Australian gunner transferred to Australian Artillery; equipment collected prior to surrender to German tank crew. Recollections of initial period as POW, 6/1942: conversation with German officer; collection of group of SNH; casualties caused by RAF bombing group of POWs; personal morale; uniform and kit carried; question of escape; march westwards and collection of various groups of POWs; distribution of water by Major Peter Birkin and his enforcement of discipline; food; truck journey and RAF raid; transfer to Italian control at POW camp; giving watch to Birkin; opinion of Birkin and his post-war lifestyle including drinking habits, prison sentence for drunken driving and ostracisation by SNH officers. REEL 22 Continues: move to Tarhuna. Recollections of conditions at Tarhuna POW Camp, 6/1942-11/1942: accommodation; morale; food; contacts with GB; Red Cross documentation; learning bridge; lectures; communist POWs' proposals to usurp senior British NCO; illustration of rumours; lice problems; latrines and showers; Italian guards; recreations; news of El Alamein operations, 10/1942; question of dysentery. Recollections of journey to Vitrella, Italy, 11/1943: move to Tripoli; conditions during voyage to Naples; initial impressions of Naples; disembarkation. REEL 23 Continues: delousing, train journey. Recollections of period at PG 68 POW camp, Vitrella, 12/1942-1/1943: duties in camp office; show camp status; relationship with Italian officers; cartoon drawing; Italian priest; train journey to Udini. Recollections of conditions of service and lifestyle at PG 57 POW Camp at Gruppignano near Udine, 1/1943-9/1943: situation; Italian and British uniforms issued; hut accommodation; contacts with Jack Sykes and John Walker; relationship with POWs; library book provision; quizzes; sources of news; roll calls; cricket matches. REEL 24 Continues: cricket matches; sporting activities; concert party activities; question of escape; Italian hut searches; development of bartering system and role of cigarettes as currency; selling drawings; construction of 'blower' cookers from cans and work of camp 'tinsmiths'; hair cutting; camp currency; parcels from GB; stories of POWs shot by Italian guards; morale; question of stealing amongst POWs. REEL 25 Continues: news of Allied advance and Italian surrender, 9/1943; reaction to arrival of German troops; security arrangements Germans employed on entraining POWs; train journey to Spittal-on-the-Drau, Austria; 9/1943. Period at Spittal-on-the-Drau POW camp, 9/1943-10/1943: reputation of German guards; conditions; photographic record of POWs; work parties and story illustrating POWs' relationship with Austrian women; morale. Period at Graz POW Camp, 10/1943: compulsory work until NCO status confirmed by Red Cross; division into work parties; journey to Kleintau. Recollections of conditions, lifestyle, daily and seasonal routine at 208L Work Camp (attached to Stalag XVIII A) at Kleintau, 10/1943-4/1945: accommodation; composition of lumberjack working party including Austrian guards and civilians; food arrangements; winter sawing felled trees into logs. REEL 26 Continues: layout of camp; cutting wood for local use; winter rolling of logs down hillside, stacking logs and removal to Kleintau woodyard; spring planting of trees; story of dispute with Austrian foreman; summer felling of trees and techniques of crosscut sawing; learning German; removing bark from trees; relationship with Australian and New Zealand POWs and question of prejudice against Maori POWs; musical instruments; relationship with Austrian guards; question of relationships with Austrian women; question of sabotage; view of US air raids and US POW from crashed aircraft. REEL 27 Continues: news of D Day invasion, 6/1944; crash landed German aircraft; loading logs onto trailer for transportation to Kleintau; US air raids; dispute with friend over differing sense of humour, his subsequent death in log jam accident and funeral arrangements, 12/1944; drinking extra strong beer; news and propaganda relating to war situation. REEL 28 Continues: securing supply of drawing materials for cartoons; accidental destruction of cartoon collection; identity checks by Gestapo; signs of approach of US and Soviet Union forces and question of escape. Recollections of escape from Kleintau, 4/1945: preparations; escape; meeting Austrian guard and his decision to let them go; food shortage; decision to surrender on news of delayed approach of Soviet forces; period in jail prior to move to Pegau. Recollections of period in Pegau POW Camp, 4/1945: previous visit to camp to view German film of D Day operations; situation and nationality of POWs; work digging defences; POWs shot by young guards; electrified fence; question of concentration camps. REEL 29 Recollections of march to Markt Pongau, 4/1945: composition of POW party; relationship with French and Russian POWs; relationship with Austrian civilians in bombed town; division into parties of 50; pooling of resources and scavenging for food; stealing handcart; view of German soldiers executed as deserters; march through mountains. Period in Markt Pongau POW Camp, 4/1945-5/1945: situation and attitude of German guards; news of end of war, 8/5/1945; food; Mongolian POWs; relationship with US POWs; rejection of Frei British recruitment whilst at Kleintau; liberation by US troops. REEL 30 Continues: story of POW who saw Goering; view of US helicopters. Journey back to GB, 5/1945: US hospitality during period at Salzburg airfield; airlift to Rheims; period at Rheims Camp; airlift to RAF Duxford; reactions. Aspects of service prior to demobilisation, 5/1945-1/1946: extended leave; question of effects of POW experience; reversion to bombardier; period at Newcastle upon Tyne; duties administering records of LIAP leave system at Folkestone and Shorncliffe camp; demobilisation, 1/1946. Post-war situation: dissatisfaction with position offered at light engineering factory, course in business studies and securing work at City Treasurers Department, Nottingham Council, 1946; reasons for not rejoining SNH on re-formation, 1948.