Fielder, Harold Sidney (Oral history)

British sapper served with 26th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 51st (Highland) Infantry, Saar Force in France, 2/1940-6/1940; NCO served with 26th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 128th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB, 6/1940-7/1942; served with 26th Assault Sqdn, 5th Assault Regt, Royal Engineers, 79th Armoured Div in GB and North West Europe, 8/1942-5/1945

REEL 1 Recollections of operations as sapper with 26th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 51st (Highland) Infantry Div, Saar Force in France, 2/1940-6/1940: enlistment in Royal Engineers, 1939; joining unit in France, 2/1940; duties on Maginot Line; treatment for dysentery; opinion of Maginot Line; accidental fire in Maginot Line; impressions of French Army troops in Maginot Line; work felling trees to obstruct roads; conditions during evacuation of Saint-Nazaire, 6/1940; evacuation aboard MS Batory from Saint-Nazaire, 17/6/1940. Aspects of period as sapper with 26th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 128th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB, 6/1940-7/1942: reception on arrival in Plymouth; reforming of unit; admonition of unit by Brigadier Frederick Browning; public morale during German Air Force attacks in Croydon; monument to shot down German Air Force crew in his home village. Aspects of period as NCO with 26th Assault Sqdn, 5th Assault Regt, Royal Engineers, 79th Armoured Div in GB, 8/1942-6/1944: conversion of unit to armoured assault role. REEL 2 Continues: role as tank commander of Churchill Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE); character of unit and movements; preparations for D-Day landings. Aspects of operations as NCO with 26th Assault Sqdn, 5th Assault Regt, Royal Engineers, 79th Armoured Div in Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944: loading on landing craft; crew of his tank Three Charlie; crossing English Channel; positioning of vehicles in landing craft; threat of German beach obstacles; disembarking from landing craft under fire; dropping of fascine in ditch; personal morale during landings; offer of food by French civilian at night. Recollections of operations as NCO with 26th Assault Sqdn, 5th Assault Regt, Royal Engineers, 79th Armoured Div in North West Europe, 6/1944-5/1945: attack on German strongpoint around radar station, 7/6/1944; activities in Normandy, 6/1944-8/1944; death of comrade showing compassion to wounded German; use of Petard Mortar against sniper at Falaise, Normandy, France. REEL 3 Continues: carnage witnessed in Falaise Gap, summer 1944; mining of his Churchill Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE) near crossing of River Orne, Normandy, France; conversion to Buffalo LVT-4 Amphibian on Ghent Canal, Belgium, 10/1944; problems with tracks on Buffalo LVT-4 Amphibian; participation in landings at Walcheren Island, Netherlands, 1/11/1944; relations with Dutch civilians; bridging work during crossing of River Rhine, Germany, 3/1945; relations with German workers whilst removing damaged bridges; ignoring of non-fraternisation order; behaviour of British Army troops in Germany; slashing of British troops with razor blades by German women in Dortmund; prior recollection of incident of commanding officer having his wife visit camp at Kirkcudbright because she thought he was being unfaithful.