Description
Object description
British NCO served with B Squadron, Northamptonshire Yeomanry in GB, 1939-1940; officer cadet with Royal Military College Sandhurst, Camberley in GB, 1940; officer served with 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry in GB and North West Europe, 1940-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1919-1939: family; visit to Bavaria, Germany, 1938; membership of Officer Training Corps at Bromsgrove School including training and instructors. Aspects of period as NCO with Northamptonshire Yeomanry in GB, 1939-1940: reasons for joining Northamptonshire Yeomanry; joining B Squadron at Daventry; organisation; issue of limited equipment; training syllabus; strength of squadron; origins of regulars attached to yeomanry; assigned role of unit; promotion. Aspects of period as officer cadet with Royal Military College Sandhurst, Camberley in GB, 1940: selection for officer training; drill sergeants; attending armoured course at Bovington Camp; capture of German pilot from shot down Messerschmitt Me 109; return to regiment; range work at Lulworth; Tactical Exercises Without Troops.
REEL 2 Continues: sand table exercises; further details of Tactical Exercises Without Troops; news of German offensive in France. Recollections of period as officer with Northamptonshire Yeomanry in GB, 1940-1944: rejoining regiment at Chiddingfold; plans for evacuation of Royal Family; role as troop leader with B Squadron; characteristics of Valentine Tank; pattern of training; limitations of manoeuvres; move to Ogbourne St George; combined and amphibious training in Scotland, 1943; source of reinforcements and mixed quality of attached NCOs; problems with boredom; proposed role for invasion of Normandy, France; large scale exercises; types of tanks operated; introduction of Sherman Firefly; estimation of M4 Sherman Tank.
REEL 3 Continues: joining advance party heading to Normandy, France; reasons for inability to read contents of sealed map box. Recollections of operations as officer with 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry, 33rd Armoured Bde in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: initial impressions of beaches and inland; first casualties from artillery fire; problems operating tanks in bocage; meeting regiment on arrival on beach; role as squadron captain; taking over as second in command of A Squadron; composition of 33rd Armoured Bde; supporting infantry assault in which they broke and ran; opinion of German defence; means of communication with infantry; tactics employed in hedgerows; threats from German tanks and anti-tank guns; problems with artillery firing short and United States Army Air Force bombing; air support; orders for Operation Totalize and hearing of results of Operation Goodwood.
REEL 4 Continues: briefing to lead night advance; reconnaissance of route to taken; rehearsal exercise; forming up south of Cormelles-le-Royale; limitations of navigational aids and use of Very Lights to indicate direction; use of compass and mileage; assembling with 1st Black Watch (Royal Highland Regt) in woods north of Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil; defence plan south of village; German use of sunken lane; duel with German Panzer Mk IV Tank; use of machine gun fire to break up German attack through trees; treatment of wounded troop leader; taking over B Sqdn and withdrawal from Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil; source of unit casualties and number of German tanks and self-propelled guns destroyed; ambush of SS-Hampsturmführer Michael Wittmann's three Tiger Tanks by Sherman Firefly of 3 Troop, A Squadron, 8/8/1944.
REEL 5 Continues: post-war return to site of battle at Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil; Corporal Routledge's memories of the action; German ambush of Polish 1st Polish Armoured Div armoured vehicles; German infiltration of ravines; further details of treatment of wounded troop leader; problems of controlling ravines; withdrawal of remaining tanks to Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil, evening 8/8/1944; recovery of baled out tank crews; effect on crew of tank commander shot through chest; burial of dead at Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil; resuming advance; German artillery shelling of tanks on exposed high ground; wounding outside tank; medical evacuation to GB; amalgamation of 1st and 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry; keeping in touch with regiment whilst convalescing in GB.
REEL 6 Continues: Recollections of operations as officer with 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry in North West Europe, 1944-1945: rejoining regiment at s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, 9/1944; organised fire support for assault river crossing; description of regimental shoot; lack of cover and restricted movement in Netherlands; hearing news of Ardennes Offensive during leave in Paris, France; orders to move towards Ardennes, Belgium; rapid move to Namur, Belgium; advance to Marche-en-Famenne, Belgium; effects of cold weather conditions; ambush of leading tanks; training on LVT-4 Buffalo Amphibian for crossing River Rhine, Germany; coping with current; LVT-4 Buffalo Amphibian controls; carrying 51st (Highland) Infantry Div across River Rhine, Germany; running ferry service until bridges constructed; problems with river bank; move to Zuider Zee in Netherlands.
REEL 7 Continues: aim of move to northern Netherlands; occupation duties in Germany; impressions of German population; question of potential of being sent to Far East; reaction to use of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; impressions of Soviet Army in Berlin, Germany; demobilisation in GB. Aspects of period as officer with Northamptonshire Yeomanry in GB, 1946-1956: return to civilian life; reformation of regiment; reduction of regiment to a squadron; use of scout cars and light armoured cars; National Servicemen in regiment; peacetime routine and annual camps; leaving regiment; benefits of yeomanry service.