Description
Object description
British trooper and NCO served with 46th Royal Tank Regt, 23rd Armoured Bde in North Africa and Italy, 7/1942-5/1944; served with 1st Demolition Squadron, Popski's Private Army in Italy, 5/1944-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Lincoln and Ipswich, GB, 1922-1940: family; education; how he got out of Reserved Occupation (RO); reasons why his father was keen on him to enlist in British Army; brushes with authority prior to joining army; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of period with Ipswich Local Defence Volunteers and 6th (Ipswich) Bn Suffolk Home Guard in Ipswich, GB, 1940-1941: duties and training; belief that Germans would invade GB; how problems with eyesight prevented enlistment in Royal Air Force. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 1941-1942: enlistment, 14/8/1941; opinion of training with 61st Training Regt. Aspects of operations as trooper with 46th Royal Tank Regt, 23rd Armoured Bde in North Africa, 7/1942-6/1943: voyage aboard HMS Mooltan from GB to Egypt; reception on arrival with unit; how he was left out of Battle at Ruweisat Ridge, Egypt.
REEL 2 Continues: initial experience of Axis artillery barrage at Ruweisat Ridge, Egypt; start of Battle of El Alamein, Egypt, 10/1942; wounding by artillery fire during Battle of El Alamein, 11/1942; attempt to recover tank from minefield, 11/1942; how he became commander of tank containing human remains; hospitalisation of abscess on hand, Egypt, 1942. Aspects of period transporting Italian internees from Saudi Arabia to Turkey, 1943: removal of internees to Canal Zone then Turkey; panic amongst internees aboard ship during Italian Air Force attack; removal of ex-British prisoners of war from Turkey to Egypt. Recollections of operations as NCO with 46th Royal Tank Regt, 23rd Armoured Bde in Italy, 7/1943-5/1944: move to Sicily; wounding of his tank crew; opinion of British forces until 1944; introduction to 1st Demolition Squadron Popski's Private Army during landings at Taranto, 9/1943; refusal of his commanding officer to allow him to join 1st Demolition Squadron Popski's Private Army.
REEL 3 Continues: how he lost command of his tank on River Trigno; posting to Anzio after gunnery training in North Africa, 2/1944; nature of fighting at Flyover, Anzio; damage to his tank at Anzio; how his commanding officer was ordered to release him; orders for abortive attack at Flyover, Anzio; inadequacy of American rations; supporting break out from Anzio beach-head, 5/1944; admiration from German Army officer's observation of rules of war, 5/1944. Recollections of operations as NCO with 1st Demolition Squadron Popski's Private Army in Italy, 1944-1945: joining unit at San Gregorio Magno; parachute training.
REEL 4 Continues: allocation to B Patrol; independence of different unit patrols; question of how national war effort was undermined by dishonesty of dockers and army post office workers; medical problems in North Africa and Sicily, Italy; opinion of Willys Jeep and loads carried; weapons used by unit and personal weapons; use of Willys Jeeps to penetrate inaccessible villages in Umbria, 1944; development of sixth sense; firing on houses on tactical features; use of oxen to pull Willys Jeep up banks of streams; problems operating jeeps; lack of German night-time patrolling; role of Special Forces.
REEL 5 Continues: laying mines to deal with German armoured cars; memories of commanding officer of B Patrol, Captain Bob Yunnie; driving into San Marino; second hand story of Gurkha deferring to wounded British soldier in Casualty Clearing Station; terrain in Ravenna area; reconnaissance patrols in Rimini area, winter 1944-1945; occasion when he was endangered by Vickers Machine Gun fire from British Army troops; attachment to Porterforce; his capture of Germans in village; question of professionalism of 1st Demolition Squadron Popski's Private Army personnel; use of Italian farmer as guide.
REEL 6 Continues: story of attack on farm held by Germans; attitude to German he wounded during attack on farm; menace of S mines; incident when he described attack as stupid; occasion when he was caught in wire which he assumed was German trip wire; Sergeant Don Galloway's soothing of oxen attached to unit Willys Jeep; entry into Ravenna and German counter-attack, 12/1944.
REEL 7 Continues: thanks unit received from officers of 27th Lancers; mountaineering and ski training, 1/1945; crossing River Senio; arrival of new patrol commander; Italian civilian who led unit into German trap and wish of unit members to execute him; landing on spit in River Po and crossing river; opinion of B Patrol leader; surprising Germans on bridge over River Adige; attempt to get Germans to surrender on bridge over River Adige; attitude of troops to attack bridge over River Adige later abandoned by Germans.
REEL 8 Continues: capture of Germans on road to Venice; story of discovery of house full of dead German Army troops; acquisition of loot on route to Venice; encounter with British Army major who refused to support unit reconnaissance at Dolo; casualties during action against German rearguard at Dolo; objections of German Army prisoner of war officer to looting of prisoners of war by unit personnel; Lieutenant-Colonel Vladmir Peniakoff's ambition to land in St Marks' Square, Venice.
REEL 9 Continues: arrival of 1st Demolition Squadron Popkski's Private Army in Venice; how he nearly opened fire on British staff officers; behaviour of Yugoslav Partisans, 5/1945; move to observe Soviet Army in Vienna, Austria; realisation that Soviets would not support Yugoslavians; Lieutenant-Colonel Vladmir Peniakoff's protection of Austrian women; change in attitude towards Soviets; confrontation with Italian Partisans who wanted to set up Communist state; volunteering to fight Japanese, summer 1945; reaction to return of Soviets who had sided with Germans to Soviet Union; work for L Concentration Area Control Unit in Southern Austria; comparison of behaviour between Waffen-SS and British Army troops; reasons why Germans executed partisans; estimation of role of Italian Partisans.
REEL 10 Continues: attitude towards behaviour of Yugoslav Partisans; women serving with Italian Partisans; sacrifice of Italian women on behalf of their families; how German female officer asked him to deliver letter to German in Vienna Soviet Zone of Occupation, Austria; sight of column of Soviets who had sided with Germans being marched back to Soviet Union; lessons he learnt from participation in Second World War.
