Description
Object description
British private served with 2/5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in GB and North Africa, 1/1942-3/1943; prisoner of war in Campo PG 98, Sam Giuseppe Jato, Sicily and Campo PG 53 Sfrozacosta Italy, 3/1943-9/1943; evaded capture in Italy, 9/1943-7/1944
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Beeston, GB, 1919-1942: family; childhood; education; employment; awareness of political events in Europe; reason for not joining Territorial Army; reaction to outbreak of Second World War; changes to employment; fire watching duties. Recollections of period as private with 2/5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in GB, 1/1942-12/1942: call-up for military service, 1/1942; joining battalion at Folkestone; accommodation and presence of old friends in unit; issue of uniform; learning and role of drill; weapons training; physical training; fitness; route marches; field craft training; opinion of NCO instructors; posting in Recruit Coy; accommodation and sleeping arrangements; opinion of rations; recreational activities; boxing; length of basic training; NCOs and officers in D Coy; posting in Dungeness; army presence at Dungeness; accommodation; night patrols; air activity; learning to fire rifle at Lydd; proficiency with rifle; reason shotgun experience did not help; rounds fired at Lydd.
REEL 2 Continues: formation and composition of anti-tank platoon; anti-tank gun drill; loading of anti-tank gun; roles of crew; firing of anti-tank gun at Camber Sands; platoon officer and members of crew; role in crew; siting of gun; sound of gun; practice with gun; deployment of battalion around Goudhurst; accommodation; friends in unit; embarkation leave; marriage; reaction to overseas posting; inoculations; details of troopship and conditions onboard. Recollections of operations as private with Anti-Tank Platoon, 2/5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in Tunisia 1/1943-3/1943: initial impressions of Algiers, French Algeria, 3/1/1942; period in brickyard; positions taken at Green Hill, Tunisia; sighting of Ordnance QF 6 Pounder Anti-Tank Guns; activities of and proximity to Germans; cleaning of Ordnance QF 6 Pounder Anti-Tank Gun; sentry duties; artillery fire faced; reaction to artillery fire; casualties; details of compo rations; cookers used by platoon; water and ration supply; washing facilities; latrines; movement in and out of line; start of German advance; location of anti-tank platoon; digging of positions; advance of German troops; effective range of anti-tank guns; orders to withdraw and reason for not doing so; proximity to German troops; anti-tank transport; decision to stay as rearguard; details of withdrawal.
REEL 3 Continues: capture by German troops, 4/3/1943. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Tunisia, 3/1943: initial treatment; reaction to being taken prisoner; possessions; start of march away from battle area and reason for not attempting to escape; first night as prisoner of war; details of troops captured with; arrival in transit camp; interrogation; rations; length of period in camp; transfer to transit camp on coast; conditions on voyage from Tunisia to Sicily, Italy. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Campo PG 98, Sam Giuseppe Jato, Sicily and Campo PG 53, Sfrozacosta, Italy, 3/1943-9/1943: arrival in Palermo and Campo PG 98 Sam Giuseppe Jato, Sicily; description of camp; rations; organisation of camp; weather conditions; details of work in camp; length of time in camp; separation from friends; journey to mainland; train journey to transit camp; transfer to Campo PG 53, Sfrozacosta; description of camp; rations; contents of Red Cross parcels; puncturing of tins by authorities; sharing of contents; physical state; washing facilities; roll call; duties; leisure activities; working day; meal time; bedtime; prisoner of war relations; camp money; issue of rations; morale; reasons for not escaping; work parties; church parades; guards; learning Italian; news of Italian capitulation and reaction of prisoners of war, 3/9/1943. Recollections of period evading capture in Italy, 9/1943-7/1944: departure from Campo PG 53 Sfrozacosta, 9/1943; possessions taken; first sight of German troops; direction headed in with Captain 'Johnny' Walker.
REEL 4 Continues: cover taken in spinney; water and information gained from Italian farmer; daily routine during journey; relations with civilians; rations obtained; work undertaken; clothes worn; area located in; story of meeting Harry Day and Ray Ellis and problems with Germans in area ; routine of life in Masofobane; capture of Geoff Pennock; visits of Germans to area; contact with and opinion of partisans; relations with civilian women; work undertaken; departure of Harry Day and Ray Ellis; reason for leaving area; farmhouse settled in; sleeping arrangements; signs of Allied advance; wait for line to pass; arrival of infantry troops of Polish II Corps and 'capture'; interview with British Royal Artillery officer; imprisonment with German prisoners of war. Aspects of period as private with British Army in Italy and return to GB, 7/1944-10/1944: journey to Bari, Italy; problem with nerves; journey to transit camp in Naples; reunion with old physical training instructor; learning of 2/5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt)'s location and return to battalion; reason for not rejoining battalion; voyage to GB; medical board; hospitalisation in Sheffield, GB; demobilisation. Aspects of period as civilian in GB from 1946: return to civilian employment; treatment for and symptoms of nervous problems; best element of army life; details of civilian employment; story of learning about links between Harry Day and himself; ongoing friendship.