Furniss, Willis (Oral history)

British private served with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 70th Infantry Div, Tobruk Garrison in Tobruk, Libya, 9/1941-12/1941, NCO served with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 70th Infantry Div in India, 3/1942-10/1943; served with No 65 Column, 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 3rd Indian Infantry Div during Second Chindit Expedition Operation Thursday in Burma, 2/1944-8/1944

REEL 1 Background in Sheffield, GB, 1915-1940: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training with York and Lancaster Regt in GB, 1940-1941: call-up for military service; role as Universal Carrier driver; voyage on draft aboard HMT Louis Pasteur from GB to Egypt, 1941. Recollections of operations as private with 2nd Bn Yorks and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 70th Infantry Div, Tobruk Garrsion during Siege of Tobruk, Libya, 9/1941-12/1941: joining battalion in Egypt; arrival in Tobruk aboard HMS Kandahar; living conditions during siege; driving over land mine with Universal Carrier; story of Universal Carrier accident in Syria, 1/1942; Axis mortar and shellfire; Axis prisoners of war in perimeter; reaction of troops to British soldier who stole prisoner of war's Iron Cross. Aspects of period as NCO with 2nd Bn Yorks and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 70th Infantry Div in India, 3/1942-10/1943: arrival in Bombay, 3/1942; internal security duties; arresting 'troublemakers' in villages; riot duty in urban area using Universal Carrier, 8/1942; inactive service in Arakan, Burma, 5/1943-6/1943. Aspects of period as NCO with 2nd Bn Yorks and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 3rd Indian Infantry Div in India, 10/1943-2/1944: nature of long range penetration training; use of impregnated socks; role as cypher operator for intelligence officer. Recollections of operations as NCO with No 65 Column, 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 3rd Indian Infantry Div during Second Chindit Expedition, Operation Thursday in Burma, 2/1944-8/1944: flying into Aberdeen Landing Zone. REEL 2 Continues: ambush soon after landing and disappearance of press reporter; long trek through jungle; effect of hornet attack on mules; opinion of mules; water and equipment carried; Imperial Japanese Army attacks on Chindit bivouacs at night; hand-to-hand fighting with Japanese troops; box and identity discs taken from Japanese dead; landing of Short Sunderland Flying Boats, nicknamed 'Gert' and 'Daisy' to evacuate wounded from Lake Indawgyi; contracting malaria despite use of mepacrine; return to India after seven months, 8/1944; disruption of Japanese supply lines; shooting of Japanese prisoner of war; incident of flogging for thief of rations; lack of contact with Burmese civilians; physical condition on arrival back in India, 8/1944.