Description
Object description
British officer served with Royal Marines in Calais, France, 5/1940; prisoner of war in Oflag VII-C, Laufen, Stalag XXI-D, Poznań, Poland, Oflag V-B, Biberach, Marlag X-B Compound, Stalag X-B, Sandbostel, Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke and Oflag IV-C, Colditz, Germany, 6/1941-4/1945; served with and commanded Special Boat Service in GB, 1950-1953; served with 45 Commando, Royal Marines in Cyprus, 1955-1956; served with 40 Commando, Royal Marines in Cyprus and during Operation Musketeer at Suez, Egypt, 1956
Content description
REEL 1 Background in India and GB, 1919-1937: family; education; joining Royal Marines, 1937. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Marines aboard HMS Rodney, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters, 1939-1940: reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; German Air Force attacks on HMS Rodney; duties on board ship; leaving ship. Recollections of operations as officer with Royal Marines in Calais, France, 25/5/1940-26/5/1940: background to appointment to Calais; role of Royal Marine force sent to Calais; landing by destroyer; taking up positions in Citadel of Calais; composition of defending garrison; conditions in Citadel of Calais; hit on truck by mortar on route to join 1st Bn Rifle Brigade; effect of German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka attacks; withdrawal to Gare Maritime Railway Station; effects of sleep deprivation; news of surrender, 26/5/1940; abortive plan to escape to GB.
REEL 2 Continues: capture by Germans and march to Germany, 6/1940. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Oflag VII-C, Laufen, Germany, 6/1940-4/1941: crowded conditions in camp; behaviour of Germans towards prisoners of war. Aspects of period as prisoner of war Stalag XXI-D, Poznań, Poland, 4/1941-7/1941: arrival at 'retribution' camp; conditions in camp; state of health of prisoners of war; tunnel escape attempt; reasons why British prisoners of war had been kept in bad conditions. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Oflag V-B, Biberach, Germany, 7/1941: move to camp; hospitalisation for skin disease contracted in Stalag XXI-D, Poznań, Poland. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Marlag X-B Compound, Stalag X-B, Sandbostel and Marlag und Milag Nord, Westimke in Germany, 8/1941-8/1942: move to Marlag X-B Compound, Stalag X-B, 8/1941; description of camp; presence of anti-tunnel trench; escape plan and how he was warned off it by the Senior British Officer (SBO); failure of his first escape attempt.
REEL 3 Continues: plans for second escape attempt by tunnel; tunnelling techniques used; threats to tunnel from searches; approval given to tunnel by Senior British Officer (SBO); tunnelling shift system; disposal of spoil; ventilation of tunnel; escape from tunnel, 6/4/1942; escape and recapture in Flensburg area, Germany, 4/1942; move of camp from Stalag X-B, Sandbostel to Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke, 7/1942; escape attempt during camp move; recapture near Lübeck, Germany. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Oflag IV-C, Colditz, Germany, 8/1942-4/1945: removal to camp, 8/1942; reasons why prisoners of war were sent of camp; categories of prisoners of war in camp.
REEL 4 Continues: how Czech prisoners of war were categorised by Germans; presence of Prominente in camp; removal of Royal Engineer officers to camp to stop escape tunnelling in other camps; degree of accuracy of prisoner of war films; attitude of Polish prisoners of war towards German guards; living conditions in camp; question of why 1941-1942 were good years for escaping; problems getting escape attempts approved; role of prisoners of war in aiding escape attempts; character of the 'Franz Josef Escape Attempt'; effect of the 'Sagan Order' on German policy towards escaping prisoners of war, 1944; fate of escapee Canadian Lieutenant Bill Millar in Mauthausen Concentration Camp, 15/7/1944; order from Senior British Officer (SBO) Lieutenant-Colonel Willie Todd to stop escape attempts, 1944.
REEL 5 Continue: nature of studies especially languages, calculus and naval architecture; bridge playing; effect of anxiety on prisoners of war and possibility that inmates might be made an example of; manifestations of psychologcial instability; danger of feigning madness; lack of homosexuality; opinion of Germans formed from experiences during Second World War; use of illicit radio and dispersal of news; display of war map of Europe on wall and reaction of German captors to it; preparations for liberation of camp, 4/1945; danger to castle from American artillery fire, 4/1945; accommodation of French prisoners of war in camp, 4/1945; surrender of camp to American troops; refusal of Senior British Officer (SBO) Lieutenant-Colonel Willie Todd to obey German order that prisoners of war should be marched away; condition on liberation; transfer of prisoners of war to GB.
REEL 6 Continues: Aspects of period as officer with and commanding Special Boat Service in GB, 1950-1953: volunteering for unit, 1950; background skills on joining unit; taking command of training; duties with unit. Aspects of operations as officer with 45 Commando and 40 Commando, Royal Marines in Cyprus, 1955-1956: duties with 45 Commando in Troodos Mountains; appointment as second in command of 40 Commando, 1956; reasons why mountains ideal for ambushes; development of anti-ambush techniques; level of commando casualties; degree of danger in Cyprus; communal divide in Cyprus; memories of amphibious assault with 40 Commando, Royal Marines during Operation Musketeer at Suez, Egypt, 11/1956.