White, Stanley (Oral history)

British private served with 7th Bn Cheshire Regt, 5th Div in GB, France and Belgium, India, Persia, Sicily, Italy and North West Europe, 1939-1944

REEL 1 Background in Liverpool, 1920-1939: family and education; employment; volunteering for army, 10/1939; reasons for volunteering. Period with 7th Bn Cheshire Regt, GB and France, 1940 : basic training, Chester 11/1939; opinion of Vickers machine gun; roles of machine gun crew. joining B Coy, Templeuve, France, 11/3/1940; relationship with French civilians; duties. Recollections of operations in France and Belgium, 5/1940: reaction of unit to German attack, 10/5/1940; convoy into Belgium; German air attack on convoy, Ninouve, Belgium, 10/5/1940; story of how White got separated from unit and found them again; incident of German paratroopers disguised as priests; orders to retreat; arrival Dunkirk perimeter. REEL 2 Continues: destruction of vehicles and equipment; view of Dunkirk beaches on arrival; escape from beach to fishing boat, Esjen; German air attack on Esjen crossing Channel; reception in Ramsgate. Aspects of period in GB, 1940-1942: reassembling unit in Devon, 6/1940; move to Muthill, Scotland; invasion panic summer 1940; civilian support for army; move of 5th Division from Scotland to Lancashire, autumn 1940; move to Moy, Ulster; friendship with Irish family; inspection of troops by Duke of Kent just before he was killed in aircrash; transfer to 5th Div Headquarters as driver. Voyage to India via South Africa aboard Almanzora, early 1942. REEL 3 Continues: embarkation on Clyde; beggars Freetown; how Cape Town civilians encouraged him to desert and join South African Forces; how B coy 7 Bn Cheshire Regt was held in reserve for invasion of Madagascar. Period in India, 1942: arrival in Bombay, 17/3/1942; accommodation; Duke of Gloucester's inspection of troops thwarted by monsoon, Ranchi, c 6/1942; move towards Burma frontier until column turned back on receiving news that Japanese were not invading India; story of contact with Gandhi supporters on move to Hagaribagh, summer 1942. Period in Persia, 1942-1943: arrival in Basra, 8/1942; move by road to Kermanshah and Qum; work on supply route to Russia, 1942-1943. Move to Sicily via Palestine. Sicilian campaign, 7/1943-8/1943: arrival of B Coy on D+2; German rearguard action, Mistabianco, Etna Area, 8/1943. Recollections of operations with 7th Bn Cheshire Regt in Italy, 9/1943-1944: sight of HMS Warspite bombarding 'toe' of Italy; role during landings. REEL 4 Continues: story of sailors act of kindness to family back in Liverpool; hold up on River Garigliano; landing of B Coy, 7 Bn Cheshire Regt behind German lines, Rock of Argenta, Gulf of Gaeta, 1/1944 including nervousness of US landing craft crews who landed troops, unit pinned down by German machine gunners on beach, US air force strike on Rock of Argenta, advance of unit around rock, wounding of Major Mathers by mine, medical treatment given to Mathers by White, his avoiding of mines and saving a comrade from setting off German booby trap. Recollection of Anzio landings, 2/1944: B Coy's role in second wave of landings; story of sergeant major wanting revenge for death of brother in action. REEL 5 Continues: story of punishment of German officer POW for spitting in face of infantryman who captured him; medical treatment of Captain Harris commander of B Coy Cheshire Regt for shrapnel wounds; incident of comrade blown up by German booby trap and unwillingness to report this to his comrade's bereaved wife; reaction to hearing news of D-Day, 6/6/1944; story of not being allowed to visit Rome on leave due to recently being placed on charge. Period in Palestine after withdrawal from Italy. Question of being deafened and left with tinnitis from shelling during Anzio landings. Recollection of period with 7th Bn Cheshire Regt in North West Europe, 1944: move to Marsailles; pursuit of Germans from south of France; incident of being shown French family 'wiped out by retreating Germans', 8/1944. move to Belgium. REEL 6 Continues: entry into Beereveld, near Ghent, c 8/1944; story told to him by Flemish family of arrest of their son by Gestapo; wounding in leg by German sniper, near Beerveld c 8/1944; evacuation to GB for medical treatment. Reception by family in Liverpool, 1944: problems recovering from leg wound, 1944-1945. Return to civilian life, 1946-1947: career in Police, despite war injuries; war disablity pension; ill health as result of war experiences; reaction ot war injuries tribunal White appeared before, c 1947; treatment for continuous tinnitis; increase of disability pension to sixty per cent.