Scott-Garrett, Brian (Oral history)

British engineer officer served aboard HMS Hood, Battlecruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters and Mediterranean, 4/1940-1/1941; served aboard HMS Euryalus, 15th Cruiser Sqdn, Mediterranean Fleet in GB coastal waters and Mediterranean, 8/1940-7/1942; attached to L Detachment, Special Air Service in North Africa, 8/1942-9/1942

REEL 1 Background in GB, 1918-1935: family; education; reasons for joining Royal Navy as engineer cadet, 1935. Recollections of operations as engineer officer aboard HMS Hood, Battlecruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters and Mediterranean, 4/1940-1/1941: joining battlecruiser, 4/1940; reputation of ship; gunroom routine; engineering role and duties; anti-Italian feeling in Liverpool, summer 1940; boarding parties on Italian ships in Liverpool; esprit de corps on board ship; reaction to participation in bombardment of Mers-el-Kébir, near Oran, French Algeria, 3/7/1940; leaving ship at Scapa Flow, GB, 1/1941. Aspects of operations as engineer officer aboard HMS Euryalus, 15th Cruiser Sqdn, Mediterranean Fleet in Mediterranean, 8/1941-7/1942: joining anti-aircraft cruiser at Chatham, GB, 8/1941; his duties on board; role of ship in Mediterranean based on Alexandria, Egypt; question of ship having a charmed life; secondment to SS Georgious G to be used as blockship at Mersa Matruh, Egypt; cancellation of plan and subsequence plan to use MV Cape Hawke. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as officer with Royal Navy attached to L Detachment, Special Air Service in North Africa, 8/1942-9/1942: background to attachment of naval party to unit, 8/1942; training for raid at Kabrit, Egypt; journey through Nile Valley to Asyut and Kharga Oasis, Egypt; infestation of flies at oases; damage to vehicles crossing desert to Kufra Oasis, Libya; morale of raiding party; bypassing Italian held Jalo Oasis, Libya; mirages in deserts; arrival on vehicle strewn battlefield dating from 1941; casualty caused by thermos mine; arrival in jebel country; discovery that raid had been compromised; briefing for Operation Bigamy, a raid on Benghazi, Libya; execution of raid, 9/1942. REEL 3 Continues: ambush of unit; turning convoy around under fire; under German Air Force attacks during withdrawal; attitude of Major David Stirling despite setbacks; aid from Senussi people; attacks by Axis Air Forces on party sheltering in wadi; salvaging damaged vehicles in wadi; sheltering in wells from Axis aircraft; return journey to Kufra Oasis, Libya; German Air Force attack on Kufra Oasis, Libya; escorting German prisoners of war back to Nile Valley, Egypt.