Description
Object description
British officer served with 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 29th British Infantry Bde in Korea, 1951 including escaping Chinese encirclement during Battle of Imjin, 22/4/1951-25/4/1951; served as intelligence officer attached to Federation of Malaya Police in Malaya, 1957-1959
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Wirral, GB, 1929-1945: family; education. Aspects of period as gunner with Royal Artillery and officer cadet with Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, GB, 1947-1950: opinion of training; commissioning into Gloucestershire Regt. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Empire Fowey from GB to Japan 1/1951: lack of training on board; testing seasickness tablets. Aspects of training as officer with 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt in Kure, Japan, 1951: briefing about war in Korea; reaction to service in Korea; move to Korea. Recollections of operations as officer with 12 Platoon, D Coy, 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 29th British Infantry Bde in Korea, 1951: role commanding 12 Platoon; reservist character of his platoon; morale problem; deployment of platoon and company on River Imjin, 4/1951.
REEL 2 Continues: long-range patrols across River Imjin; capture of unoccupied hill; notes in English left by Chinese forces for British troops to find. Recollections of the Battle of the Imjin River, Korea, 22/4/1951-25/4/1951: lack of intelligence about impending Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) attack, 22/4/1951; reconnaissance patrol, 4/1951; start of Chinese 63rd Army, People's Volunteer Army (PVA) offensive at Gloster Crossing; patrol caught in British artillery barrage; first casualty in 12 Platoon; attempt to send help to 11 Platoon; orders for D Coy to withdraw to battalion headquarters; dispositions of remnants of battalion; realisation that battalion was surrounded; sight of battalion counter-attack; US Air Force napalm attack on Chinese forces; permission given to unit to withdraw; route taken to escape encirclement.
REEL 3 Continues: sight of American tanks advancing towards escaping group; how he got back to United Nations lines; physical condition he was in on reaching safety and lack of psychological problems afterwards; sight of Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) troops without weapons looking for food; Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) method of organising their troops with whistles; in defensive positions in Samichon Valley after Battle of Imjin River, 8/1951-9/1951; attitude to having participated in Korean War. Aspects of period as intelligence officer attached to Federation of Malaya Police in Alor Star, Kedah, Malaya, 1957-1959: period studying Mandarin at University of Hong Kong; attachment to Alor Star Police Station, 1957; significance of Thai frontier for insurgents; method of interrogating Surrendered Enemy Personnel (SEP); what he learnt from Surrendered Enemy Personnel (SEP).
REEL 4 Continues: information gained about life in insurgent camps, 1957-1959; willingness of Surrendered Enemy Personnel (SEP) to betray former comrades; Malay attitude towards insurgents; what could be seen from aircraft reconnaisance; experiences of police patrols in jungle.