Description
Object description
British gunner served with 51st (London) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 49th Anti-Aircraft Bde, 1st Anti-Aircraft Div in GB, 9/1939-5/1940; NCO served with 51st Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 6th Anti-Aircraft Bde in Norway, 5/1940-6/1940; served with 51st Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 4th Anti-Aircraft Bde in North Africa, 10/1940-2/1942; served with No 263 Section, Field Security Section, Intelligence Corps, Headquarters, 8th Army in North Africa, 1/1943-7/1943; served with No 259 Section, Field Security Section, Intelligence Corps in Cairo, Egypt, 7/1943-9/1944; served with No 20 Section Field Security Section, Intelligence Corps in Greece, 10/1944-1/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Southampton and Shaftesbury, GB, 1916-1938: family; education; employment. Aspects of period as gunner with 51st (London) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery in GB, 1938-1939: background to joining Territorial Army, 1938; father's insistence that he should not join infantry; equipment used by unit; firing camp at Watchet; mobilisation, 23/8/1939. Aspects of period as gunner with 51st (London) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 49th Anti-Aircraft Bde, 1st Anti-Aircraft Div in GB, 9/1939-5/1940: gun site on Hackney Marshes, 9/1939; expectations of German Air Force attacks, 9/1939; move to Hyde Park; Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb incident in Park Lane doorway, 1939; move to gun site at Hurlingham, 1940; notice to move to Finland, 1/1940; opinion of commanding officer Lieutenent-Colonel Hugh MacIntyre and his role at Ash Vale; arrival of militiamen. Recollections of operations as NCO with 51st Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 6th Anti-Aircraft Bde in Norway, 5/1940-6/1940: voyage aboard MS Batory from GB to Norway, 13/5/1940; move by coaster from Harstad to Skanland; role of unit north of Narvik, 5/1940-6/1940; loss of cruiser HMS Curlew, 26/5/1940; destruction of unit equipment before evacuation, 6/1940.
REEL 2 Continues: memories of evacuation from Harstad, 6/1940; return to GB aboard HMT Lancastria, 6/1940; state of morale after Norwegian campaign. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Andes from GB to Egypt via South Africa, 8/1940-10/1941: preparations for move to Middle East, 7/1940-8/1940; reception from civilians in Gorbals, Glasgow, GB, 8/1940; embarkation aboard HMT Andes; voyage to Port Tewfik, Egypt including reception in Cape Town, South Africa. Aspects of period as NCO with 51st Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 4th Anti-Aircraft Bde in Egypt, 10/1940-1/1941: in transit camp at Beni Youssef Camp, 9/1940; distribution of unit batteries; spell as military police in Port Said brothel area; Christmas celebrations at Beni Youssef Camp, 25/12/1940; training in three drills; sight of 2nd Bn Scots Guards marching out of Beni Youssef Camp. Aspect of operations as NCO with 51st Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 4th Anti-Aircraft Bde in North Africa, 1/1941-3/1942: move to Mersa Matruh, Egypt, 1/1941; move into Libya, 1/1941.
REEL 3 Continues: sighting of gunsite overlooking Sollum, Libya; Italian Air Force raids on Sollum, Libya; sight of masses of Italian prisoners of war; move through Tobruk to Derna, Libya, 2/1941; advance to Barce then Benghazi, Libya; German Air Force attacks on Royal Navy, 2/1941; question of effect of rumours. Recollections of operations as NCO with 51st Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery during Siege of Tobruk, Libya, 4/1941-8/1941: return to Tobruk, 3/1941; method of preparing gunsite in desert; Australian troops' addiction to Two Up, 3/1941; realisation that Tobruk was surrounded; use of barrages over harbour; in action against Axis Air Forces, 4/1941; character of German Air Force attack on his Don Site, 27/4/1941.
REEL 4 Continues: reaction to air raid on his site, 27/4/1941; brief evacuation to 4th Australian General Hospital; return to gunsite; use of dummy gunsites to divert German Air Force; reasons for returning to gunsite as gunner; water allowance and method of keeping clean; uniform worn; infestation of fleas; haircuts; Navy, Army and Air Force Institutues (NAAFI) supplies; attitude of troops talking to war correspondents; climatic problems; evacuation by HMS Jervis and period of convalescence in Alexandria, Egypt, 8/1941-9/1941. Aspects of period with 51st Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 4th Anti-Aircraft Bde in Egypt, 12/1941-2/1942: rejoining unit in Canal Zone after period with Royal Artillery Depot, 12/1941; on gunsite near Alexandria. Aspects of period with General Headquarters Printing Press in Cairo, 1942: posting to unit, 3/1942.
REEL 5 Continues: character of 'Ash Wednesday', 6/1942; drilling and rifle range work; applying for commission; attempts to join special forces; acceptance for course for Field Security Section, Intelligence Corps; amusing story of hospitalisation for football injury with battle casualties. Recollections of period as NCO with No 263 Section, Field Security Section, Intelligence Corps, Headquarters, Eighth Army in North Africa, 1/1943-7/1943: background to posting to unit; problems of joining unit in Tripoli, Libya, 23/1/1943; security raids after liberation of Tripoli, Libya; duties as security guard at General Bernard Montgomery's conference for First and Eighth Armies story of Field Marshal Alan Brooke reporting staff officer for speaking on open line, 2/1943; duties in Tripoli, Libya; wish of section to be away from headquarters.
REEL 6 Continues: security raids in Gabes, Tunisia, 4/1943; move to Sfax, Tunisia, 5/1943; damage caused by US Army Air Force to Sfax, Tunisia; obtaining nominal rolls of Axis casualties and personnel in Gabes and Sfax, Tunisia; leave in Tunis, Tunisia, 6/1943; sight of executed Arabs at Sfax, Tunisia; reasons for leaving unit; character of journey from Sfax, Tunisia to Cairo, Egypt. Recollections of period as NCO with No 259 Section, Field Security Section, Intelligence Corps in Cairo, Egypt, 7/1943-9/1944: joining unit in Cairo; languages used in unit; security work including breaking diamond smuggling ring to Bulgaria and attempts to catch agents of Jewish insurgent groups; keeping watch on Communist Party of Great Britain activists; role escorting Special Operations Executive operatives to Sudan.
REEL 7 Continues: handling Special Operations Executive operatives in Cairo; arrest of Greek Government-in-Exile's War Minister; looking after Yugoslav Chetniks, 1943; responsibility for General Chiang Kai-shek's security, 1944; security for Mena House Conference, 1944; memories of Prime Minister Winston Churchill; cashing in on expenses during Mena House Conference; orders to turn backs when President Franklin D Roosevelt visited conference. Recollections of period as NCO with No 20 Section, Field Security Section, Intelligence Corps in Greece, 10/1944-1/1945: voyage to Athens, 10/1944; guarding mistress of former Schutzstaffel (SS) chief in Athens; willingness of Europeans to denounce personal enemies to security police; initial disturbances at start of Greek Civil War, 12/1944; leaving Greece, 1/1945.
REEL 8 Continues: Aspects of journey from Greece to GB, 1945: period in transit camp in Naples, Italy, 1/1945; visits to Opera House in Naples, Italy; duties on board ship; arrival in GB. Aspects of period as NCO with Intelligence Corps in GB, 1945: role examining security of German prisoner of war camps; ingenuity of German prisoners of war; behaviour of German prisoners of war towards his section; role processing former prisoners of war returning from the Far East at RAF Membury and RAF Merryfield; demobilisation, 12/1945.
