Morgan, John Arthur Theodore (Oral history)

British officer commanded Motor Cycle Platoon, No 3 British Military and Air Mission (Phantom) in France and Belgium, 1/1940-6/1940; served with No 1 GHQ Reconnaissance Unit and GHQ Liaison Regt (Phantom) in GB, Italy and North West Europe, 6/1940-6/1945

REEL 1 Background in London, GB, 1911-1938: family; education; employment. Aspects of period as officer with 1st n Queen Victoria's Rifles, King's Royal Rifle Corps, 1st London Div in London, GB, 1938-1939: attitude to situation in Europe, 1938-1939; background to enlistment in Territorial Army; experiences with Territorial Army, 1938-1939; mobilisation, 9/1939. Recollections of operations commanding Motor Cycle Platoon, No 3 British Military and Air Mission (Phantom) in France and Belgium, 1/1940-6/1940: joining unit at Valenciennes, France, 1/1940; entry into Belgium, 10/5/1940; unit equipment and role facilitating close support for Royal Air Force; duties gathering intelligence for General Alan Brooke; work of Corporal Zek; transfer from reconnaissance to infantry role at Wormhouldt, France; discovery of gap in French line; opinion of claim that British let French down, 5/1940; orderliness of situation on beaches at La Panne, Belgium, 6/1940 REEL 2 Continues: evacuation by destroyer from Dunkirk, France; civilian attitude towards troops returning from Dunkirk, France, 6/1940. Aspects of period as officer with No 1 GHQ Reconnaissance Unit and GHQ Liaison Regt (Phantom) in GB, 6/1940-8/1943: reformation as No 1 GHQ Reconnaissance Unit (Phantom), 6/1940; opinion of sending a squadron to Crete, Greece, 1941; duties as second in command of C Sqdn in London area, 1940-1941; taking command of F Sqdn in Ipswich area, 1941-1942; role of unit in sending intelligence to army level commanders; question of degree of usefulness of unit sent to operate with First Army in North Africa, 1942-1943. Recollections of operations as officer with GHQ Liaison Regt in Italy and North West Europe, 9/1943-5/1945: political battle to having regiment accepted into 21st Army Group, 1944; role of unit on D-Day and North West Europe, 1944-1945; reaction to being sent to educate Americans about role of unit; transfer of information between American, British and Canadian forces in France, 1944. REEL 3 Continues: role of unit in keeping potentially hostile American commanding officers sympathetic to British plight during Operation Market Garden, 9/1944; reverse role during Ardennes Offensive, 12/1944; background to becoming second in command of unit, 1943; how unit's reconnaissance role became redundant; work with Lieutenant-General John Harding at Headquarters, Allied Armies in Italy (AAI), Caserta, Italy, 11/1944; how Lieutenant General John Harding sent elements of GHQ Liaison Regt to Greece, 1944; question of how unit would have operated in Far East; his opinion of non-fraternisation order in Germany, 1945; disbandment of GHQ Liaison Regt in Germany, 1945; question of British concern over American and Soviets meeting in Germany, 1945; question of the ideal squadron officer; story of unit officer operating with Special Air Service in France who decamped because of love affair; question of achievements of former GHQ Liaison Regt officers in civilian life. REEL 4 Continues: squadron which worked with Special Air Service and French Resistance in France, 1944.