Description
Object description
Canadian private served with Royal Regiment of Canada, 4th Canadian Infantry Bde, 2nd Canadian Infantry Div in GB and during Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe, France, 1/1940-8/1942; prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf in Germany, 9/1942-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Canada, 1920-1939: family; effects of Depression; reaction to threat of war. Aspects of period as private with Royal Regiment of Canada, 4th Canadian Infantry Bde, 2nd Canadian Infantry Div in GB, 1/1940-8/1942: arrival in GB, 1/1940; relations with British civilians; equipment; reaction to British NCO being put in charge of Canadian Army troops; treatment of Canadian forces by British civilians. Recollections of operations as private with Royal Regiment of Canada, 4th Canadian Infantry Bde, 2nd Canadian Infantry Div during Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe, France, 19/8/1942: question of Canadian forces being sacrificed during Operation Jubilee; question of amphibious training on south coast of GB being monitored by Germans; preparations for Operation Jubilee; deserters; question of usefulness of raid; embarkation; briefing; launch of landing craft; capture of commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas Catto; loss of operational surprise; giving direction to support craft; story of loss of mortar during beach landing; firing at German manned pillboxes; personal equipment; throwing German grenades into sea; reaction to being under fire; casualties; German forces targeting of officers and NCOs; capture.
REEL 2 Continues: personal morale. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, Germany, 8/1942-4/1945: prisoners of war march through France; move to Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf; condition of camp; work parties; treatment of prisoners of war by camp commandant; camp guards; rations; German stealing of contents of Red Cross parcels; daily routine; construction of illicit radio; question of psychological effects of imprisonment; duties as camp librarian; treatment of prisoners of war by guards; entertainment; terrain surrounding camp; construction of escape tunnel; escape organisation; letter received from escaped prisoner; digging and shoring up tunnel; removal of soil; German guards asking prisoners of war not to feed guard dogs; decision not to use tunnel; punishment for removing chains; opinion of Germans; loss of water supply; communications with British prisoner of war compound; presence of British Indian Army prisoners of war; story of prisoner becoming psychological unstable; question of possibility of Germans killing prisoners of war at end of Second World War; story of post-war meeting with former camp guard living in Canada; march from Soviet lines to American camp, 5/1945.
REEL 3 Continues: reaction to liberation; hospitalisation in GB. Reflections on military service in Second World War: return to Royal Regiment of Canada, 1945; attitude to prospect of service in Pacific; opinion of Operation Jubilee; opinion of Prime Minister Winston Churchill's attitude towards Canadian Army troops; question of effects of war.