Description
Object description
British trooper served with No 2 Troop, C Sqdn, 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), 1st Armoured Reconnaissance Bde, 1st Infantry Div in France and Belgium, 1939-1940; NCO served with 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), 27th Armoured Bde in GB, 11/1940-6/1944; served with 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), 27th Armoured Bde, 3rd Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-7/1944; served with 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), 8th Armoured Bde in North West Europe, 8/1944-9/1944
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Newcastle upon Tyne and Thorne, GB, 1921-1937: family; education; employment. Aspects of period as trooper with No 2 Troop, C Sqdn, 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own)in GB, 1937-1939: reasons for enlistment in British Army, 1937; transfer to unit after initial training with 15th/19th King's Royal Hussars; opinion of equipment, 1939; nationalistic pride; use of horse cavalry drill before entering tank. Aspects of period as trooper with No 2 Troop, C Sqdn, 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), 1st Armoured Reconnaissance Bde, 1st Infantry Div in France and Belgium, 1939-1940: move to France; move from Brest to Arras, France; training during Phoney War; recreational trips to Arras, France; relations with French civilians and struggles with French language; move into Belgium, 10/5/1940; tension on start line resulting in firing on cows; retreat due to German armoured superiority; false gas alarm during retreat to Dunkirk, France; encounter with German Army motor cyclists; bayoneting German Army soldier.
REEL 2 Continues: reaction to bayoneting German Army soldier; German Air Force attacks during retreat to Dunkirk, France; arrival on beaches at La Panne, Belgium; sinking of destroyer boarded on East Mole, Dunkirk, France, 1/6/1940; evacuation by paddle steamer from mole at Dunkirk, France, 1/6/1940. Aspects of period as NCO with 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), 1st Armoured Reconnaissance Bde, 1st Infantry Div in GB, 6/1940-11/1940: reception at Dover; pro-military attitude of civilians in Shirley, 6/1940; reunion with parents after Dunkirk Evacuation; capture of German Air Force pilots in Epping Forest during Battle of Britain, summer 1940; hardening of his attitude towards Germans by 1943-1944; story of poltergeist in Theydon Bois, 1940.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of period as NCO with 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), 27th Armoured Bde in GB, 11/1940-6/1944: work clearing bomb damage and rescuing survivors in Coventry and Ipswich, 1940-1941; attitude towards Germans after witnessing effects of bombing; security surrounding Duplex Drive Tank; description of Duplex Drive Tank; change from Valentine Duplex Drive Tank to M4 Sherman Duplex Drive Tank; learning to use Davis Escape Apparatus; description of amphibious training; accidents during amphibious training at Nairn; learning techniques for steering Duplex Drive Tank in water; other preparations for D-Day landings.
REEL 4 Continues: General Bernard Montgomery's talk to unit at Fort George; postponement of D-Day, 5/6/1944. Recollections of operations as NCO with 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), 27th Armoured Bde, 3rd Infantry Div on Sword Beach, Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944: overcoming sea sickness; reasons for dropping off landing craft two and a half miles from beaches; landing on Sword Beach; attacking German 'Morris' Strongpoint; anti-tank hits on his tank; reasons for not closing hatches fully during action; role as crew commander; question of tanks usefulness at night and technique of largering; story of effect of mortaring of his tank; in action at German 'Hillman' Strongpoint. Recollections of operations as NCO with 13th/15th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), 27th Armoured Bde, 3rd Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-7/1944: capture of German tank in orchard 16/6/1944; in reserve at Lion-sur-Mer, 11/6/1944; prior recollection of airborne gliders landing, evening 6/6/1944.
REEL 5 Continues: adjusting to changing nature of fighting in Normandy; German use of term 'Tommy Cooker' to describe M4 Sherman Tank; effect of cancelling of operations; degree of difficulty in destroying German tanks; death of Sergeant Shaw from German 88mm Gun; opinion of German 88mm gun and use of Sherman Firefly Tank; superiority of German tanks; reasons why M4 Sherman Tank burned easily; tactics employed by German and British tanks; method used by tank crews to prevent accidental air attacks; degree of contact with civilians in Normandy. Recollections of operations as NCO with 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), 8th Armoured Bde in North West Europe, 8/1944-9/1944: advance into Belgium, 8/1944-9/1944; question of role of Guards Armoured Div in fighting at Elst, Netherlands; problems of using tanks in Netherlands.
REEL 6 Continues: question of inadvisability of Operation Market Garden; in action at Elst, Netherlands; wounding during abandonment of tank under German artillery fire near Elst, Netherlands; evacuation to hospital in Elst; treatment of German wounded in Elst, Netherlands; nature of wounds and reaction to discharge from army; story of joining 13th/18th Royal Hussars Regimental Association, 1989. Aspects of operations as NCO with 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), 27th Armoured Bde, 3rd Infantry Div on Sword Beach, Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944: character of landing; reasons for loss of unit's tanks; capture of three German prisoners of war near Bénouville Bridge; interrogation of German prisoners of war who revealed that canvas on Duplex Drive tanks deceived them.