Burge, Michael Herbert (Oral history)

British officer served with 2nd Bn Gordon Highlanders, 227th (Highland) Infantry Bde, 15th (Scottish) Highland Div in North West Europe, 1944-1945; served with 1st Bn Gordon Highlanders in Federation of Malaya, 1948-1949

REEL 1 Background in Chesham, GB, 1924-1942: family; education. Aspects of enlistment and training as private and NCO with 2nd Bn London Scottish, 141st (London) Infantry Bde, 47th (London) Infantry Div in GB, 1942-1944: background to volunteering; opinion of basic training received; emergency commission into Gordon Highlanders, 4/1944. Recollections of operations as officer with 2nd Bn Gordon Highlanders, 227th (Highland) Infantry Bde, 15th (Scottish) Highland Div in North West Europe, 1944-1945: duties on joining battalion in Normandy, France, 8/1944; sight of carnage in Falaise Gap, France, 8/1944; crossing River Seine at Louviers, France, 27/8/1944; willingness of Germans to surrender at Muids, France, 8/1944; dangers of eating too much concentrated chocolate; digging in under fire at Hill 144, France, 29/8/1944; D Coy casualties, 27/8/1944-29/8/1944. REEL 2 Continues: move into Belgium, 9/1944; abortive canal crossing and sight of soldier with shell shock, 16/9/1944; deployment at Gheel, Belgium; rest period in Eindhoven, Netherlands, 23/9/1944-24/9/1944; narrow escape from rifle fire at Best, Netherlands, 25/9/1944; reaction to abandoning NCO on battlefield; loss of section taken prisoner of war; rest period at Deurne, Netherlands, 10/1944; sight of treatment of female collaborators on entry into Tilburg, Netherlands, 10/1944; in defensive positions in front of Asten, Netherlands, 10/1944; threat from German Schu-mine 42 (Shoe Mine), 11/1944; in positions on River Maas, Netherlands, 11/1944; opinion of German opposition; in defence line at Kessel, Netherlands; accidental firing on his unit by British troops on stationed on flank, 12/1944; birthday celebrations, 6/1/1945. REEL 3 Continues: sound of German carol singing, 31/12/1944; evacuated state of Blerick, Netherlands; training in Kangaroo Armoured Personnel Carrier; start of Operation Veritable, 8/2/1945; tree obstacles on route to and entry into Kleve, Germany, 11/2/1945; attack on Schloss Kalbeck near Goch, Germany, 2/1945; attachment as instructor near Brussels, Belgium, 3/1945. Aspects of period as officer with 2nd Gordon Highlanders, 227th (Highland) Infantry Bde, 15th (Scottish) Highland Div in Germany, 1945: escorting hospital train from Schwerin to Soviet Zone of Occupation, Germany to pick up wounded German prisoners of war; escorting trains to Soviet Zone of Occupation, Germany; initial hostility of civilians in Lübeck to occupation. Aspects of operations as officer with 1st Bn Gordon Highlanders in Federation of Malaya, 1948-1949: emergency move to Malaya at start of State of Emergency, 1948; posting with D Company to Muar to protect rubber planters, 1948; dependence on intelligence from Federation of Malaya Police; casualties during class with insurgents in grassland, early 1949.