Description
Object description
British private served with 7th Bn Buffs (Royal East Kent Regt), 209th Independent Infantry Bde in GB, 9/1940-11/1941; NCO served with 141st Regt, Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 11/1941-6/1944; served with 141st Regt, Royal Armoured Corps attacted to 2nd Canadian Armoured Bde on Juno Beach, Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944; served with 141st Regt, Royal Armoured Corps, 31st Tank Bde and 31st Armoured Bde, 79th Armoured Div in North West Europe, 6/1944-6/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Sidcup, GB, 1920-1939; family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training with 7th Bn Buffs (Royal East Kent Regt) in GB, 7/1940-8/1940: call-up for military service, 7/1940; treatment of recruits and one who committed suicide. Aspects of period as private with 7th Bn Buffs (Royal East Kent Regt), 209th Independent Bde (Home) in GB, 8/1940-11/1941: beach defence work in Devonshire and Cornwall; use of Indian muleteers with Royal Indian Army Service Corps to supply beach troops; weakness of beach defences; belief that Germans would invade; decoy fires on point in attempt to deflect German Air Force from Plymouth. Aspects of period as NCO with 141st Regt, Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 11/1941-6/1944: background of unit converting from infantry to armoured role, 11/1941; training as wireless operator; courses attended, 1941-1943; inadequacy of Ordnance 2 Pounder Tank Gun fitted to Churchill Tank; gradual improvement in equipment on Churchill Tank Mk VII; conversion to Churchill Crocodile Flame Throwing Tank.
REEL 2 Continues: testing waterproofing on tanks, 1944. Aspects of operations as NCO with 141st Regt, Royal Armoured Corps attached to 2nd Canadian Armoured Bde on Juno Beach, Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944: crossing English Channel; landing at La Rivière on Juno Beach; destruction of Sherman Flail Tank in front of his tank by shellfire; how his own tank sank in pit on beach and was abandoned; air activity night 6/6/1944; proportion of regiment's tanks which survived D-Day. Aspects of operations as NCO with 141st Regt, Royal Armoured Corps, 31st Tank Bde, 79th Armoured Div in North West Europe, 6/1944-2/1945 unit casualties in Normandy, France, 6/1944 including suspected self-inflicted wound; superiority of German tanks in Normandy, France; failure to use Churchill Crocodiles Flame Throwing Tanks on mass and how their use was psychologically effective; suspected murder of Churchill Crocodile Flame Throwing Tank crew; danger from Panzerfausts; use of Churchill Crocodile Flame Throwing Tanks as artillery at Boulogne, France; his attitude towards Allied aerial bombardment of Le Havre, France, 9/1944; in action against cross-Channel guns at Cap Gris Nez, France, 9/1944.
REEL 3 Continues: his opinion of German opposition in France; nature of tank crew discipline; responsibility for keeping tank in good order; advance through Belgium and Netherlands. Recollections of operations as NCO with 141st Regt, Royal Armoured Corps, 31st Armoured Bde, 79th Armoured Div in Germany, 2/1945-6/1945: crossing River Rhine at Rees, 3/1945; leave in GB, 1945; period in Reichswald Forest, 2/1944; problems with tank's gripping icy surfaces in winter weather; issue of Tank Suit; occupation duties in Schleswig-Holstein, 5/1945; story of German mother who dragged her children away from British troops giving them chocolate; involvement in experimental tank work on return to GB, 1945-1946; anxiety for demobilisation; question of psychological effects of experiences.