Description
Object description
British sapper with 3rd (Cheshire) Field Sqdn, Royal Engineers in GB, 1938-1940; sapper served as topographical draughtsman with Headquarters, 2nd Armoured Div in GB and North Africa, 1940-1941; prisoner of war in Libya and Campo PG 78 Sulmona, Italy, 1941-1943; escape from Italy to GB, 1943; imprisoned for desertion in Colchester Military Prison in GB, 1944; served with Work Services Department, Royal Engineers in Egypt and Palestine, 1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in New Brighton, GB, 1920-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as sapper with 3rd (Cheshire) Field Sqdn, Royal Engineers in GB, 1938-1940: enlistment with Territorial Army; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; allocation to bricklaying duties; amusing story about army examination for rupture, 1940. Recollections of period as topographical draughtsman with Headquarters, 2nd Armoured Div in GB, 1940: background to becoming topographical draughtsman with headquarters; insult to divisional commander over his social origins; preparations for dealing with German invasion in eastern England, summer 1940; how commanding officer got rid of Randolph Churchill who was attempting to make movie; safeguarding Dutch crown jewels at headquarter; move to Guilsborough Hall, Guilsborough; planning for move to Egypt.
REEL 2 Continues: move to Madingley Hall, Madingley; supernumerary nature of staff officers with colonial service; visit by retired Major-General Percy Hobart; German Air Force bombing of Madingley Hall, Madingly, 10/1940; embarkation aboard HMT Strathallan, autumn 1940. Aspects of operations as topographical draughtsman with Headquarters, 2nd Armoured Div in North Africa, 1941: setting up tented camp at Moascar, Camp, Suez Canal, Egypt, 1/1941; move into Tripolitania, Libya, 2/1941; story of how chaplain ran into Deutsches Africa Korps and mistook them for Free French. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Libya, 1941: capture of headquarters by Deutsches Africa Korps, 8/4/1941; attempt of General Richard O'Connor to disguise his rank.
REEL 3 Continues: in prisoner of war holding camp at Sabratah, Libya; bombing of Axis ships by Royal Air Force at Tripoli, Libya, 4/1941; unloading bombs from ships for Germans at Tripoli, Libya. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Campo PG 78 Camp, Sulmona, Italy, 1941-1943: fellow prisoners of war; forging of escape documents; story of occasions when war correspondent Edward Ward was placed in solitary confinement; attempts to learn Italian; stealing road map of Italy; pro-British Italian officer who provided two bottles of Champagne for senior British officers to toast King George VI; tunnelling attempts; sculpting activities; handcuffing of prisoners of war after Dieppe Raid, 8/1942; baiting Italian guards; the Garner escape from camp.
REEL 4 Continues: other escape attempts from camp. Recollections of escape from Campo PG 78 Camp, Sulmona, Italy, 1943: escape from camp; aid from priest and Carabineri NCO; living in Italian villages; encounter with German officers on shooting expedition; subsequent German hunt for prisoners of war; refuge in Salle; aid from Italian child at Salle; narrow escape from Germans and taking refuge in sewers in Salle; condition he was in after emerging from sewers in Salle; hiding in countryside and in earthquake ruined old village of Salle; discovery of dead German Army troops in forest hut; crossing mountain range.
REEL 5 Continues: avoiding German Army ski troops; conditions for prisoners of war hiding in Italian hills; attempt to reach Allied lines on River Sangro; problems when German 88mm Gun was positioned near his hide out at Guardiagrele; how he reached Allied lines; his reunion with General Richard O'Connor and Major-General Philip Neame; arrival at Bari after German Air Force raid; return to GB. Aspects of period with British Army in GB, 1943-1944: arrival in GB and hospitalisation; reunion with Major-General Philip de Guingand; attitude of mind on return to GB and refusal of decoration.
REEL 6 Continues: background to his being sent to Colchester Military Prison for desertion and receiving subsequent apology; plans for him to be parachuted into China and how he got out of it. Aspects of period as sapper with Royal Engineers Works Service in Suez Canal, Egypt and Palestine, 1945: move to Egypt; his arrest as deserter at Moascar Camp; amusing IQ test to qualify him for War Office Selection Board; meeting with Egyptian friend in Cairo; background to posting to Nathanya, Palestine; period in command of ammunition dump; encounter with Glubb Pasha; how he was placed in charge of Arab youth, too young to be placed in adult prison; how he took youth on visit to family in Nablus and how he was eventually released; prior recollection of attempt of General Richard O'Connor to pass himself as private soldier on capture by Germans, 4/1941; question of psychological stress of in war.