description
Object description
British marine served as wireless operator with 2nd Royal Marine Armoured Support Regt in Normandy, France, 6/1944-7/1944; served as signaller with No 1 (French) Troop, No 10 (Inter Allied) Commando attached to No 4 Commando, 4th Special Service Bde during landings at Walcheren Island, Netherlands, 11/1944
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Oxford, GB, 1925-1939: father’s military service in First World War; employment with Oxford University Press. Aspects of period as civilian in Oxford, GB, 1939-1942: membership Air Defence Cadet Corps; employment with Pressed Steel Coy in Cowley, 1940 including hours worked and pay; presence of female workers at Pressed Steel Coy; wartime radio and cinema public advice; opinion of Prime Minister Winston Churchill; further details of membership of 150 Sqdn, Air Defence Cadet Corps; sight of Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys at RAF Abingdon. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Marines in GB, 1942: reasons for choosing Royal Marines; accommodation in barracks at Portsmouth; route marches; move to Royal Marine Depot, Deal, then former holiday camp at Kingsdown; question of volunteering for ‘hazardous service’ and how awards are made.
REEL 2 Continues: attitude towards training; nature of signals training with Royal Marines. Aspects of period as marine with 2nd Royal Marine Armoured Support Regt in GB, 1943-1944: joining unit; use of Centaur Tank Mk IV armed with 95mm Howitzer; composition on crew. Aspects of commando training in GB, 1944: background to joining commandos; origins of recruits; reasons for brief training in Achnacary; opinion of training; prior recollection of period as searchlight operator with Mobile Base Defence Organisation in 1943; background to posting to No 1 (French) Troop, 10 (Inter Allied) Commando attached to No 4 Commando, 4th Special Service Bde, 9/1944. Aspects of period as marine with 2nd Royal Marine Armoured Support Regt in GB, 1943-1944: period in Corsham; waterproofing vehicles in Southampton area, 5/1944; embarkation on landing craft, 5/6/1944. Recollections of operations as marine 2nd Royal Marine Armoured Support Regt in, Normandy, France, 6/1944-7/1944: crossing English Channel, 5/6/1944-6/6/1944; approach to Juno Beach under fire, D-Day, 6/6/1944.
REEL 3 Continues: landing on Juno Beach including sight of dead airborne troops in water, D-Day, 6/6/1944; move inland; under German multi-barrelled Nebelwerfer Mortar fire; question of supporting 1st Special Service Bde and whether tank mistakenly landing on Sword Beach on D-Day, 6/6/1944; locations unit operated in Normandy; devastation witnessed in Normandy; reputation of German Tiger Tank; unit casualties; sight of effects of Great Storm, 19/6/1944-20/6/1944; behaviour of American crew during return to GB, 7/1944. Recollections of operations as signaller with No 1 (French) Troop, No 10 (Inter Allied) Commando attached to No 4 Commando, 4th Special Service Bde during landings at Walcheren Island, Netherlands, 11/1944: training in Belgium, 9/1944-10/1944; landing at Flushing, 1/11/1944; signalling for air support to attack pillbox; casualties caused by German ploy pretending to be POWs; commando ethos.
REEL 4 Continues: opinion of number of battle honours won by commandos; crossing dyke at Westkapelle; presence of civilians at Flushing; eating horse flesh with French commandos of No 1 (French) Troop, No 10 (Inter Allied) Commando; attitude towards participation in second landings; contact with former commando comrades; lack of air support for Scheldt operation. Aspects of period as signaller with No 4 Commando, 4th Special Service Bde in Netherlands and Germany, 11/1944-6/1945: role of commando searching for V2 Rocket sites in Zuid Holland, Netherlands; guarding German POWs at Recklinghausen, Germany, 5/1945; return to GB, 6/1945.
REEL 5 Continues: Recollections of operations as signaller with No 1 (French) Troop, No 10 (Inter Allied) Commando attached to No 4 Commando, 4th Special Service Bde during landings at Walcheren Island, Netherlands, 11/1944: background to award of Croix de Guerre at Flushing, Netherlands, 1/11/1944; question of awards to foreign commandos; equipment carried as signaller; communications; opinion of German opposition. Reflections on service with Commandos: adjusting to civilian life; question of post-traumatic stress; reaction to visit to war cemeteries in Normandy; background to marrying German wife Karin Busch.
