Description
Object description
British gunner served with 426 Bty, 107th Regt, <South Notts Hussars> Royal Artillery in GB, Palestine, North Africa, 1939-1942; POW in Italy, 1942-1943; escaped and evaded re-capture in Italy, 1943-1944; served in Germany, 1945-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Basingstoke, 1920-1939: education; work.; recreations; question of approach of war and father's experience in First World War. Recruitment and initial training as gunner with Royal Artillery, ca 8/1939-1/1940. Reception on posting to 107 Regt, <South Notts Hussars> RA, 1/1940. Recollections of journey to Palestine, 1/1940: opinion of French troops at Cherbourg, France; voyage aboard HMT Devonshire. Recollections of period in Palestine, 1/1940-6/1940: posting to C Troop, 426 Bty; stealing oranges; opinion of various NCOs and officers; 18pdr gun drill; ammunition types; dropping into action; digging gunpits; eating oranges as diet supplement; gun crew personnel; opinion of Bombardier Harold Harper.
REEL 2 Continues: relationship with Palestinian civilians; dispersal of tents. Aspects of period at Mersa Matruh, 6/1940-1/1941: question of transfer to D Troop; improvements to gunpits; water control on desert route march; high level Italian air raids; story of dispute with Captain Charles Laborde; dummy anti-tank defences; recreations; letter contact with GB; operations with X Troop, Composite Bty against Fort Maktilla, 12/1940, including dummy tanks, manoeuvring in desert and letting off flares to create impression of larger force, Italian shell fire and Italian POWs. Period in Suez Canal area, 1/1941-4/1041: spotting for German mines; leave in Cairo and Military Police operations to arrest deserters; opinion of Sergeant Edgar Barker; training for invasion of Rhodes, Greece; opinion of 25pdrs and Quad gun towers.
REEL 3 Continues: opinion of Quad gun towers; drive to Tobruk, Libya, 4/1941. Recollections of conditions of service and lifestyle during period at Tobruk, 4/1941-12/1941: initial situation; question of tactics employed by Captain Bob Hingston during German tank attacks, 1941; story of opening fire on Italian infantry pretending to surrender; nature of gunpits and slit trenches; camouflage and question of concealment from air; Stuka dive bombing raids; visiting VIPs; role as gun layer and method of firing over open sights; parcel from GB; naval supply route; food rations; story of Driver Albert Ellis getting extra food supplies.
REEL 4 Continues: water ration; washing clothes in sea; desert faunae; learning duties as observation post assistant including story illustrating relationship with Laborde, nature of pole OP and giving firing orders; learning to drive; reactions to hearing William Joyce on radio; communal gramophone and opinion of Vera Lynn; advice from former coal miners on digging; letter contact with GB including use of code to give location; reaction to casualties; reactions to shell fire; use of captured Italian artillery. Recollections of Battle of Knightsbridge in Cauldron sector, Gazala area, Libya, 5/1942-6/1942: briefing prior to breakout from Tobruk, 11/1943; situation and German shellfire; ammunition shortage; composition of Sergeant Faulkner's gun crew and operating two guns.
REEL 5 Continues: Sergeant Barker's role as acting battery sergeant major; question of composition of Sergeant Faulkner's gun crew; German shellfire; German tank attack including ineffectiveness of fire and role as gun layer in open sights firing; ammunition shortage and firing 'cap on'; surrender. Recollections of initial period and movements as POW in Libya, ca 6/1942-7/1942: personal morale; attack on POW column by allied aircraft; meeting Rommel and his arrangements for wounded; German policy of towing vehicles to save petrol; question of escape; interrogation by German officer; hand over to Italian troops and further interrogation; conditions in temporary camps. Voyage to Italy, ca 7/1942: conditions; reactions to allied air attack; reactions of Italian civilians on landing.
REEL 6 Conditions during period at PG53, Capua, ca 1943. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine during period at PG54 at Maserati, 1942-1943: accommodation; coffee; food and method of distribution; personal morale; walking; roll calls and question of saluting Italian flag; Red Cross parcels; recreations; question of escape; relationship with Italian guards; question of notification of family; minor sabotage on working parties; news of progress of war; effects of malnutrition; Red Cross inspections; news of progress of war from Italian radio; escape on Italian surrender, 9/1943.
REEL 7 Recollections of period evading re-capture in St Angelo area, ca 9/1943-10/1943: relationship with Ralph Maltby and Dick Panel; initial move into mountainous area; Italian POW uniform; concealment from traffic; begging and stealing from Italian civilians; relationship with Italian civilians. Recollections of living with Italian family in Qualdo, St Angelo area, ca 10/1943-6/1944: treatment of Maltby for malaria attack; family reasons for helping; food; provision of accommodation for friends; co-operative nature of Italian farmers; slaughter and use of pigs; Italian perspective of war; question of Italian fascists and evading searches for Italian conscript evaders; relationship with Italians; plan to take revenge on Italian civilians if any of them were betrayed to Germans; arrival of British patrol and their refusal to assist evaders. Journey to Rome area ca 6/1944.
REEL 8 Continues: story of eating sparrows; close escape from German troops; meeting Indian troops; insistence that Mayoh sign declaration for propaganda purposes that they had been rescued by Polish troops. Period in camp in Naples area, ca 6/1944-8/1944: nationalities present; weight loss; food rations. Return with convoy to GB, ca 8/1944. Various aspects of period in GB, 1944-1945: delousing; mental state on leave; various postings. Various aspects of posting on guard duty at Fellingbostel, Germany, 1945-1946: guarding German women personnel accused of war crimes; question of demobilisation following VE Day, 8/5/1945; cold weather; relationship with German civilians and their attitude to Soviet Union; demobilisation; 4/1946. Post-war career: question of effects of war service; Mrs Birkin's attitude to SNH.