Craster, Oswin Edmund (Oral history)

British officer served with Jedburgh Team Stanley, F Section, Special Operations Executive in France, 8/1944-9/1944; served with Jedburgh Team Zebra, Force 136, Special Operations Executive in Burma, 2/1945-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in GB, 1916-1939: family; education; employment. Aspects of period as officer with 5th Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 184th Infantry Bde, 61st Infantry Div in GB, 9/1939-10/1943: enlistment; battalion duties, 1940; unit postings, 1940-1943; volunteering for special duties, 1943. Aspects of period as officer with Special Operations Executive in GB, 11/1943-7/1944: recruitment to Special Operations Executive; training at STS 45 Hatherop Castle and STS 65, Milton Hall, Peterborough; opinion of training; fellow trainees; level of French language ability; anticipating work behind German lines; composition of Jedburgh Team Stanley; wait until after D-Day. Recollections of operations commanding Jedburgh Team Stanley, F Section, Special Operations Executive in Langres area, France, 8/1944-9/1944: parachute drop into and reception, 31/8/1944; moving between safe houses after landing; composition of Maquis; attempts to liaise with local Vichy French group in forest; nationalities of captured prisoners serving with German forces including Indians and Russians. REEL 2 Continues: opinion of hazards facing teams dropping into France before summer 1944; need to be aware of German reprisals against local population in choosing ambush sites; locations and targets of ambushes; use of pig tracks through woods; problems with Marquis' charcoal gas powered lorry; casualties in ambushes; opinion of effect of actions on German forces; change in Marquis attitude toward Jedburgh Teams of his calling in Royal Air Force air strike on German Army troops at Belmont; question of having missions set for team in GB; nature of air supply drops; reasons for not being able to put railway demolition training into practice; opinion of bravery of schoolchildren members of resistance; disposing of uniform on landing; cover story; question of political attitudes and female members in Maquis; story of Germans torturing of female nurses in chateau at Belmont; arrival of Free French military units, 9/1944; writing report on team; story of joining 2n Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 1944. REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as officer with Jedburgh Team Zebra, Force 136, Special Operations Executive in Burma, 2/1944-5/1945: application to join Force 136; formation of team; period in Colombo, Ceylon; parachute drop into Toungoo area, 2/1945; waiting for arrival of Burmese Independence Army personnel; meeting Lieutenant-Colonel Tom Carew and Captain Basil Brown of Jedburgh Team Weasel and their poker playing activities; use of Benzedrine; pro-Allied attitudes of Karens; crossing Pegu Yomas Hills; use of elephants and oxen; orders to contact Z Force; prior recollection of behaviour of Special Air Service in Langres area, France, 9/1944; suspicion of Buddhist priests in Burma; intelligence gathering; use of steam generator for wireless transmission; pro-British attitude of Karens; supply of rupees; accident with wireless battery acid whilst riding elephant; circumstances of death of Captain David Britton, 3/6/1945; attitude amongst regular forces to active service on eve of demobilisation and repatriation; story of being reprimanded by British Army officer over dress en route to Rangoon. Aspects of period as officer with Force 136, Special Operations Executive in Burma and Malaya, 5/1945-10/1945: recuperating from illness in rest house at Kalimpong, India appointment as Force 136 liaison officer liaising with regular units in preparation of invasion of Malaya. REEL 4 Continues: preparations in Rangoon, Burma for Operation Zipper, the invasion of Malaya; celebrations in Rangoon Harbour on Japanese surrender, 15/8/1945; reaction to Japanese presence in Singapore, Malaya, 8/1945; view of unpacking of portraits of British Royal Family in Sultan's Palace at Johore Bahru, Malaya, 8/1945; parade at Johore Bahru; story of saving Force 136 officer after suicide attempt in Singapore, Malaya; form of hospitality known as 'Chinese suppers' offered to army officers in Singapore, Malaya; problems returning to GB from India, 1945; repatriation problems; opinion of effectiveness of Special Operations Executive operations in France and Burma; threat posed by Imperial Japanese Army cavalry units in Burma.