Description
Object description
British private served with 2nd (Taunton) Bn, Somerset Home Guard in Wellington, GB, 1940-1942; private served with 4th Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in GB and Northern Ireland, 1942-1943; private and NCO served with 2nd Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 10th Infantry Bde, 4th Infantry Div in French Algeria, Egypt, Italy and Greece, 1943-1945; NCO served with Intelligence Section, Headquarters Coy, 1st Bn Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regt) in Gibraltar, 1945-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1923-1939: family's military service; education; reaction to Munich Crisis, 9/1938; employment; expectation of conduct of war, 1939. Aspects of period as private with 2nd Somerset (Taunton) Bn, Home Guard in Wellington, GB, 1940-1942: opinion of training received; volunteering for Home Guard, 1940; opinion of pillboxes; uniform; exercises, training and duties; impact of events of 1940; opinion of siting of pillboxes. Aspects of period as private with Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in GB, 6/1942-12/1942: call-up to Dorchester; treatment for hernia in Military Hospital, Shaftsbury; convalescence; pattern of basic training; instruction and discipline; opinion of disadvantage of polished brasses.
REEL 2 Continues: arrival of remnants of 1st Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry at Colchester. Aspects of period as private with 4th Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in GB and Northern Ireland, 12/1942-11/1943: posting to battalion at Mistley; move to Northern Ireland; nature of field training; company command; use of Bren Gun; character of exercises; drafts from battalion; leave in Belfast. Aspects of voyage from GB to Egypt via French Algeria, 11/1943-12/1943: embarkation at Liverpool; in convoy to Algiers, French Algeria; in Maison Carrée Camp, French Algeria; joining 2nd Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry at Bougie, French Algeria; voyage to Port Said, Egypt. Aspects of period as private with 2nd Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in Egypt, 12/1943-2/1944: assault landing training; exercises on Great Bitter Lake in Sinai Desert.
REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as NCO with 9 Platoon, D Coy, 2nd Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 10th Infantry Bde, 4th Infantry Div in Italy, 2/1944-10/1944: move to Italy; allocation to 9 Platoon, D Coy; move forward to Monte Ornito area; shelling in assembly area; effects of heavy rain; description of company position; problems with cold; use of sangars; Germans in opposite positions; standing patrol; rations and water supply; description of sangar; problems with feet in company; effects of Allied bombing of Monte Cassino and eruption of Mount Vesuvius; effects to being relieved and moving into reserve positions; Italian civilian wounded by German booby trap; exchanged clothing; in counter-attack position; use of walking sticks and need to be helped into trucks; return to front line.
REEL 4 Continues: night march into former Free French Algerian troops' positions near Monte Cairo; conditions in positions; effects of German counter-barrage in valley; move to River Volturno area; training for crossing of River Garigliano; description of Bangalore Torpedo; visit by General Oliver Leese; description of crossing River Garigliano; three day period in bridgehead positions on River Garigliano; further details of crossing River Garigliano and period in bridgehead; forward sweep towards outskirts of Cassino town; terrain near Cassino town.
REEL 5 Continues: capacity of assault craft; unopposed patrol at Cassino; incident of receiving applause from American troops on return from Cassino patrol; contact with Americans; carrying mortar ammunition and Projector Infantry Anti-Tank (PIAT); kitbags held by B Echelon; in rest camp at Bari; main causes of casualties; entertainments; degree to which aircraft seen; reinforcements; advance east of Rome; daily routine out of line; being left out of battle with B Echelon on Route 6, 6/6/1944; sight of Generals Mark Clark, Harold Alexander and Bernard Freyberg on Route 6, 6/6/1944.
REEL 6 Continues: driving through Rome, 6/1944; second hand story of senior officers visit to field hospital; moving out of assembly area in rainstorm, east of Rome; nature of attack at Lake Trasimeno including casualties; timing, start-line and formation; taking cover in hedge; Sergeant-Major Edward Manley's taking command of D Coy on ridge east of Casamaggiore; flanking attack; effects of sniping; opinion of Thompson Machine Gun; German delaying tactics; incident of company member having pack shot off back; prepared German positions at Lake Trasimeno; digging in at farm; rate of advance; sight of airburst over village; move to positions south west of Arezzo; German mortaring of accidental fire; German prisoner of war; entertainment in damaged Italian church.
REEL 7 Continues: incident of being taken by Italians to escaped Allied prisoners of war; discovery of elaborate minefield; advance into Montevarchi; positions near Montevarchi; death of Sergeant-Major Edward Manley, 25/7/1944; distance from German positions; relations with Italian civilians; opinion of Germans; advance towards Florence; capture of Czechs serving with German Army during patrol; capture of Incontro Monastery and discovery of Germans hiding in crypt; carrying stretcher down terraces; nature of attack on Incontro Monastery.
REEL 8 Continues: move to Assisi for rest period; crossing to Adriatic coast; attacks on ridge lines; confusion over direction of advance; under friendly and German artillery fire; capture of Germans in farm; wounding of comrades at farm; infantry's attitude towards presence of tanks; reasons for advance faltering; contracting jaundice and hospitalisation in Bari; attending concert party during convalescence period; how he discharged himself to rejoin battalion at Taranto; orders for move to Palestine.
REEL 9 Continues: a smallpox scare in battalion; cancellation of orders for move to Palestine. Recollections of operations as NCO with 2nd Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 10th Infantry Bde, 4th Infantry Div in Greece, 1944-1945: move to Greece; street fighting; sniper fire in Athens; Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) evacuation of Athens; move into village and relations with civilians; Greek liaison officer; Greek village lifestyle; leave in Athens; impressions of springtime in Greece, 1945; return to GB, 1945. Aspects of period as NCO with Intelligence Section, Headquarters Coy, 1st Bn Queen's Own Royal (West Kent Regt) in Gibraltar, 1945-1946: formation of Intelligence Section in GB; posting to Gibraltar; observation duties; threats to security.
REEL 10 Continues: visits to Spain; weekly report; attitude to missing regimental esprit de corps; impressions of Spanish Army and Police; incident at roadblock; question of postponing demobilisation; attitude to military life and adjusting to civilian life.