Sim, John Anthony Noel (Oral history)

British officer served with 4th Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 49th Div in GB and Iceland, 1940-1943; served with 12th Bn Parachute Regt, 6th Airborne Div in GB and Normandy, 1943-1944; served as staff officer with 5th Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in North West Europe, 1944-1945; served with 12th Bn Parachute Regt in India, Malaya and Indonesia, 1945-1946; served with 1st Bn York and Lancaster Regt at Suez, Egypt, 1956

REEL 1 Background in Persia and GB, 1920-1939: family; education; attending Royal Military College, Sandhurst, 1939. Recollections of period as officer with 4th Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 49th Div in Iceland and GB, 1940-1943: voyage from GB to Iceland aboard Georgic, 6/1940; under canvas at Akeureyri; behaviour of Icelanders toward British troops; method of keeping troops occupied; concern of Icelanders about arrival of US forces at Akeureyri; lack of unit morale problems in Iceland; return to GB; potential use of unit for mountain warfare. Recollections of period of training with Parachute Regt in GB, 1943-1944: reasons for volunteering for Parachute Regt, 1943; initiation course at Hardwick Hall; parachute training at Ringway with Armstrong Whitworth Whitley; grouping personnel into different parachute battalions. Recollections of training with 12th Bn Parachute Regt, 6th Airborne Div in GB, 1943-1944: background to posting to 12th Bn Parachute Regt at Larkhill; organisation of training. REEL 2 Continues: parachute training on Salisbury Plain; weight of weaponry carried by each paratrooper; exercise between two airborne divisions; morale of 6th Airborne Div; move to RAF Keble, 5/1944; briefing for D-Day operations; need for rest prior to D-Day; state of unit morale on eve of D-Day. Recollections of operations as officer with 12th Bn Parachute Regt, 6th Airborne Div in Normandy, D-Day, 6/6/1944: embarking aboard Short Stirling aircraft at RAF Keble, 5/6/1944; flight across Channel; parachute descent and landing; move to rendezvous near River Orne; signalling with red light on dropping zone; firing on German staff car; leading unit to their defensive positions on south side of Ranville; joining up with bulk of unit in defensive positions; duties in front of C Coy clearing houses; attempts to converse with French civilian who turned out to be English. REEL 3 Continues: character of his forward screen position along hedgerow facing Longueval; range finding for naval gunfire support; opening fire on advancing German troops; under-fire from German self-propelled guns; shooting of German officer who stepped from self-propelled gun; casualties amongst his forward screen position and withdrawal; reoccupying position and removal of dead; sight of gliders landing on drop zone near Ranville. Recollections of operations as officer with 12th Bn Parachute Regt, 6th Airborne Div in Normandy, 7/6/1944-12/6/1944: support for Royal Ulster Rifles advance from Longueval to Ste Honorine la Chardonerette, 9/6/1944; withdrawal from Longueval to Pegasus Bridge, 10/6/1944; withdrawal into reserve, 11/6/1944; transfer to B Coy; arrival of supplies with quartermaster; orders to attack Breville, 12/6/1944. REEL 4 Continues: assembling in church at Amfreville, 12/6/1944; plan for attack on Breville, 12/6/1944; character of advance under fire at Breville, 12/6/1944; reaction of British paratrooper to accidental shooting of German, 12/6/1944; under artillery fire at Breville, 12/6/1944; strange sound coming from Breville, night-time, 12/6/1944; his discovery of wound from action; evacuation to GB via Arromanches; sight of battle fatigue casualties of 50th and 51st Divs at Arromanche. Period of hospitalisation in GB, summer 1944: arrival in Portsmouth and sight of V1 passing over Woking, 6/1944. REEL 5 Continues: recovery from wounds at Warley Hospital, Blackburn. Aspects of operations as officer with 12th Bn Parachute Regt in Normandy, 8/1944: return to unit; role as commanding officer of D Coy during advance to River Seine; abortive attempt to advance at Pont l'Evecque; discovery of reason for decimation of unit at Breville, 6/1944. Recollections of operations as staff officer with Headquarters, 5 Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in North West Europe, 1944-1945: staff work during Ardennes counter offensive, 12/1944-1/1945; flight from GB to Germany for Rhine Crossing, 3/1945; visibility over drop zone and German flak; character of his parachute descent and landing; assembling of 12 Bn Parachute Regt at wrong end of drop zone; landing of gliders amongst paratroopers; casualties amongst gliders; discovery of German Army officer's reaction to drop; advance across Germany. REEL 6 Continues: reasons for pause in advance at Luneberg; abortive plan for parachute drop over River Elbe; dispositions at Wismar; return to GB, 5/1945. Recollections of operations with A Coy, 12 Bn Parachute Regt in India, Malaya and Indonesia, 1945-1946: preparations for move to India; training in India, summer 1945; planned role of unit during Operation Zipper the invasion of Malaya; problems of landing and re-embarking at Port Dickson, 8/1945; internal security duties in Singapore, autumn 1945; reasons for transfer to Batavia, Java, move to Semarang; rescue of Dutch civilians from Indonesian insurgents; relations with Japanese troops serving under unit's control; return to Singapore for guard duties at Changi Prison; selection of two unit members to train as hangmen for Japanese war criminals; appearance and demeanour of Japanese war criminals; use of Japanese POWs to clean up Singapore. REEL 7 Continues: dealing with Japanese POWs; Japanese war criminal who claimed right to be shot rather than hung because he possessed a British First World War medal; disbandment of unit in Palestine, 1946. Recollections of operations as officer with 1st Bn York and Lancaster Regt during Suez Crisis, 1956: background to return to unit; use of Yorkshire police forces to get his men back from leave to Dover Castle; embarking aboard New Australia at Southampton; surveillance by US warship on voyage to Port Said; disembarking at Port Said; air strike threat whilst marching troops to El Gamal Airport; narrowness of brigade front; arrival of United Nation troops to take over unit's positions; interview with Robin Day about reasons for delay in United Nations taking over from Egyptian troops; his feelings about justification of Suez intervention.