Pond, Hubert Charles (Oral history)

British officer served with 9th Bn Parachute Regt, 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in GB and North West Europe, 5/1943-5/1945; served with 9th Bn Parachute Regt, 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in Palestine, 1945-1946; staff officer served with Public Relations Section, Headquarters, 1st Commonwealth Div in South Korea, 1951-1953

REEL 1 Background in Twickenham, GB, 1923-1942: family; education; reaction to outbreak of Second World War, 3/9/1939; membership of 3rd (Twickenham) Bn Middlesex Home Guard in Twickenham, 1941. Aspects of trooper and officer with Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 1941-1942: reasons for joining Royal Armoured Corps, 1941; applying for commission, 1941 and how experience as Boy Scout helped him qualify for Royal Military College, Sandhurst; attending Royal Military College Sandhurst, Camberley, 1942; commissioning into 2nd Royal Tank Regt, 12/1942; reasons for missing draft to Iran. Recollections of training as officer with 9th Bn Parachute Regt, 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in GB, 5/1943-6/1944: reasons for transfer to Parachute Regt, 5/1943; nature of parachute training, 14/6/1943-27/6/1943; first inklings of proposed landings in France, 4/1944; briefing by Major Martin Lindsay; selection and training of assault party from A Coy at RAF Thurxton on Salisbury Plain; construction of Airspeed Horsa Glider; use of Short Stirling aircraft to tow gliders; training of glider pilots to land accurately; plan to attack four casements of unknown battery; mock-up of Merville Battery constructed at Inkpen. REEL 2 Continues: security for operation; issue of escape equipment; in secure camp at RAF Brize Norton; reaction of soldier who shot himself in foot and couldn't participate in Operation Tonga; kit issued for D-Day glider drop; reaction to final briefing for attack on Merville Battery. Aspects of operations as officer with A Coy, 9th Bn Parachute Regt, 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944: take off midnight, 5/6/1944; flight from RAF Brize Norton to Merville, 6/6/1944; fire caused by anti-aircraft fire on glider; assault on Merville Battery; use of HMS Arethusa and Royal Air Force to attack battery; move to cider farm; Le Mesnil; results of assault on Merville Battery, Recollections of operations as officer with 9th Bn Parachute Regt, 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airbourne Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-7/1944: move to Bois de Bavant. REEL 3 Continues: build up of unit's strength; discovery of suspected broken ribs, 11/6/1944; evacuation to GB for medical treatment; return to Bois de Bavant, 7/1944; use of German Jewish refugees to broadcast to Germans to persuade them to surrender; failed attempt to capture German sentry and bunker; advance and action against German rearguard, 8/1944; French civilians' treatment female collaborators. Recollections of operations as officer with A Coy, 9th Bn Parachute Regt, North West Europe, 12/1944-5/1945: battalion retraining and recruitment at Bulford in GB, 9/1944-12/1944; cancellation of leave at start of German offensive in Ardennes, Belgium, 12/1944; move to River Maas, Netherlands, 1/1945; resentment of Dutch civilians towards Allied troops; attitude of Belgian civilians to presence of Allied troops, 1945; preparations for Operation Varsity, the crossing of River Rhine, Germany 3/1945. REEL 4 Continues: participation in Operation Varsity, Germany, 24/3/1945 including destruction of German self-propelled gun and parachuting onto drop zone; rapid advance towards Wismar, Germany, 4/1945; sight of retreating Germans and refugees; initial contact with Soviet Army; Soviet troops' refusal to use houses; orders to prevent German civilians leaving Soviet Zone of Occupation and reaction to process; question of British Army troops ignoring Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's non-fraternisation order; hunting out Nazis; story of agreement with HMS Birmingham to take yachts from Wismar, Germany to form Airborne Yacht Club in GB; arrival in Denmark, 5/1945; reaction to prospect of service in Far East. Aspects of operations as officer with 9th Bn Parachute Regt, 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in Palestine, 1945-1946: arrival in Palestine, 9/1945; parachute accident, 22/2/1946; degree of danger encountered on patrols; reasons for greater sympathy for Jews; appointment with Director of Public Relations at War Office in London, GB, 1946. REEL 5 Continues: Recollections of period as staff officer with Public Relations Section, Headquarters, 1st Commonwealth Div in Korea, 1951-1952: attitude to posting, 1951; role and duties; question of sentries freezing to death; relations between different contingents in division; opinion of 1st Marine Div, United States Marine Corps; Commonwealth Divisional Artillery firing red, white and blue smoke on Chinese positions during Coronation Day, 2/6/1953; Very Important Person (VIP) visits.