Brain, Cyril Geoffrey (Oral history)

British trooper and NCO served with Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry (Prince of Wales's Own Royal Regiment) in GB, 1936-1940; officer served with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt, 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB, 7/1940-7/1942; served with West Dorset Scout Section, Home Guard in GB, 7/1942-3/1943; served with GHQ Liaison Regiment (Phantom) in GB and North West Europe, 3/1943-5/1945

REEL 1 Aspects of period as trooper and NCO with Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry (Prince of Wales's Own Royal Regiment) in GB, 1936-1940: enlistment in Territorial Army, 1936; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; mobilisation at Wincanton Racecourse, 10/1939; qualifying as rough riding NCO with Royal Scots Greys, 1939. Aspects of period as officer with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt, 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB, 7/1940-7/1942: background to joining battalion, 7/1940; narrow escape from sentry; military attitude towards uncoordinated private; encounter with Prime Minister Winston Churchill whilst guarding his home at Chartwell; contracting jaundice, 1941; near accident with grenade at Reservoir Camp, 1942. Aspects of period as officer with West Dorset Scout Section, Home Guard in GB, 7/1942-3/1943: attachment to Home Guard, 7/1942; duties training 'behind-the-lines' warfare. Aspects of period as officer with GHQ Liaison Regiment (Phantom) in GB, 3/1943-7/1944: orders to report to Boodles Club, London, 3/1943; course at Richmond, 4/1943; sources of intelligence for unit; posting as patrol officer to A Sqdn at Chiddingfold, 1943. REEL 2 Continues: merging of A and B Sqdns; preparations for move to Normandy, France; sight of first German V1 Flying Bomb over Redhill, 6/1944. Recollections of operations as officer with B Sqdn GHQ Liaison Regiment (Phantom) in Normandy, France, 7/1944-8/1944: effect of HMS Warspite firing broadside; landing at Courseulles-sur-Mer, 8/7/1944; mosquito threat in River Orne Valley; involvement in Operation Totalize, 8/8/1944-13/8/1944; squadron attachment to 1st (Polish) Armoured Div; accidental bombing of 1st (Polish) Armoured Div by United States Army Air Force; opinion of German resistance at Falaise Gap; accidental bombing of Poles and Canadians by Royal Air Force, 14/8/1944; shooting up of ambulance by Supermarine Spitfire; extreme fatigue experienced; reasons for being relieved of command, 8/1944. REEL 3 Continues: reconnaissance sortie to locate German railway gun at Saint-André-d'Hérbertot. Recollections of operations as officer with B Sqdn GHQ Liaison Regiment (Phantom) in North West Europe, 9/1944-5/1945: reception received from liberated populace; liberation of Ghent, Belgium, 6/9/1944; German V2 Rocket attacks on Antwerp, Belgium, 10/1944; rapid move to Givet in Ardennes, France 16/12/1944; relief in Brussels at failure of German Ardennes Offensive, Belgium, 12/1944; encounter with Field Marshal Montgomery at Spa, Belgium, 12/1944; harassment received from Messerschmitt Me 109 at Spa, Belgium, 25/12/1944; German V2 Rocket attack at Spa, Belgium, 25/12/1944; crossing River Rhine with 3rd Canadian Infantry Div, 3/1945; sight of inmates of Emslandlager II at Aschendorf and execution of some of guards, 20/4/1945. REEL 4 Continues: news of end of war and final artillery exchange at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, 5/1945; scene at Wilhelmshaven Dockyard, Germany, 5/5/1945; occupation of Frisian Islands, Germany, 5/1945; overturning of order by Polish officers that Germans girls in labour should lie on lawn so wounded could occupy beds; discipline in Polish Army and execution of NCO for war crime; attitude of Poles towards Germans.