Interview with John Murdoch Cooper

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Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.

Description

Object description

British trooper and NCO with L Detachment, Special Air Service in North Africa, 7/1941-9/1942; NCO and officer served with 1st Special Air Service Regt in North Africa, 9/1942-4/1943; officer served with 1st Special Air Service Regt, Special Air Service Bde in GB and North West Europe, 1/1944-5/1945

Content description

REEL 1 Aspects of period as guardsman with Scots Guards and No 8 (Guards) Commando in GB and Middle East, 1939-1941: memories of declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; joining of Scots Guards underage; basic training at Guards Regimental Depot, Caterham; volunteering for commando training; training in Scotland with David Stirling; voyage from to Middle East; formation of No 8 (Guards) Commando; participation in commando raids; disbanding of No 8 (Guards) Commando, 7/1941; brief return to Scots Guards. Recollections of period as trooper and NCO with L Detachment Special Air Service Bde and 1st Special Air Service in North Africa, 8/1941-4/1943: background to joining Special Air Service after visit by David Stirling to camp at Geneifa, Egypt; setting-up of camp at Kabrit, Egypt; pattern of training; creation, description and use of Lewes Bomb; memories of Lieutenant John 'Jock' Lewes; final raid exercise; organisation of L Detachment; role of Special Air Service; description of camp at Kabrit, Egypt; Axis air raids on Suez Canal, Egypt; degree of contact with officers; plan for raids; formation of troops; organisation of training; memories of Robert 'Paddy' Mayne and story of his meeting Chaplain Fraser McCluskey; attending Officer Cadet Training Unit in Egypt, 1943; story of first Special Air Service raid Operation Squatter including plan and problems on landing, Libya, 16/11/1941-17/11/1941. REEL 2 Continues: regrouping of parachuting stick; loss of supplies; problems from rainfall; return journey to camp; changes to parachuting sticks; reaction to participation in Operation Squatter; changes to organisation of raids; locations of bases; Deutsches Afrika Korps belief Special Air Service were launched from sea; reconnaissance patrol on Mareth Line, Tunisia, 1943; changes to tactics; description of an raid on Axis airfield; creation of unit insignia by Sergeant Robert 'Bob' Tait; purpose of airfield raids; raids on airfields at Benina and Benghazi, Libya, including migraine suffered by David Stirling; use of time pencils; story of destruction of Long Range Desert Group vehicle; story of driving through Deutsches Afrika Korps road block and subsequent action; description of Long Range Desert Group trucks; period on border between French Syria and Lebanon and change of unit name to Special Raiding Squadron, 4/1943; attempted raid on Benghazi, Libya. REEL 3 Continues: route taken to Benghazi, Libya; plan for raid; opinions concerning failures of raid; details of intelligence sources; memories of Austrian serving with unit; further details of raids on airfields at Benghazi and Benina, Libya; increase in unit recruitment after initial successes; raids carried out with David Stirling; reaction to death of Lieutenant John 'Jock Lewes, 30/12/1941; organisation of return journeys from raids; details of vehicles and supply dumps; equipment and weapons taken on raids; first use of a Vickers K Machine Gun; plan for breakthrough of Gabès Gap, Tunisia; route taken toward Gabès, Tunisia including drive through Gabès Gap; stop in wadi and discovery by German airborne troops; initial reaction and splitting up of force; cover taken and wait for clear path; march to find Free French Forces including help and problems encountered with civilians; arrival and period at Free French Forces fort; awareness of Lieutenant-Colonel David Stirling's capture in Tunisia, 1/1943; period spent in French Algeria. REEL 4 Continues: story of Chaplain Fraser McCluskey's arrival at officers' mess. Aspects of operations as officer with 1st Special Air Service Regt, Special Air Service Bde in North West Europe, 6/1944-5/1945: situation on arrival at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 4/1945; inoculations received prior to arrival at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, 4/1945; sights witnessed in Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp and photographs taken; retrieval of identity discs from bodies; opinion about German Commandant Josef Kramer's role; removal of unit from camp; further details of sights witnessed in Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, including inside a barrack block; contact with Belgian journalist inmate; continuation of former inmates' deaths after arrival; reason for German surrender of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; role in Germany; nature of action in forest; story of German tanks; composition of Special Air Service force and crossing of River Rhine, 3/1945; arrival and role at Kiel; searches for war criminals in Lüneburg area, Germany; journey to Kiel; posting in Norway; story of bypassing HM Customs and Excise in GB; prior recollection of being chased by 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) armoured cars in North Africa; story relating to General Sir John Harding. REEL 5 Continues: opinions of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery; story of Soviet prisoner of war shot in France; description of an ambush in France; prior recollection of unit composition and raid on Benghazi, Libya; captured comrades. Aspects of period as officer with 1st Special Air Service Regt, Special Air Service Bde in GB, 1943-1944: camps set up in GB. REEL 6 Continues: aircraft crashes involved in; memories of Roy Farran; formation of Special Air Service Brigade, 1/1944; parachute training. Aspects of operations as officer with 1st Special Air Service Regt, Special Air Service Bde in North West Europe, 6/1944-5/1945: story of parachute drop into France, 6/1944; burial of parachute; regrouping of unit; contact made with GB; communications including description of deciphering messages; release of pigeons; contact made with farmer and subsequently Maquis; letters taken to France; opinion of Maquis; role of unit including aiding shot down pilot; discipline of Maquis, including problem with an air supply drop; German forces reprisals; opinion of Free French Forces troops; details of a radio operator in Dijon, France; story of French policemen being caught in ambush; attack on petrol dump; casualties and prisoners of war taken from A Sqdn. REEL 7 Continues: activities of Chaplain Fraser McCluskey; vehicles used; contact with United States Army Air Force; disbandment of Special Air Service, 1945; story of farewell party including phone call made to Prime Minster Clement Attlee; summary of subsequent army career and medals received.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1945-1989 (production), Second World War (content), Second World War (association)
Creator: TVS (Production company)
Stevens, Gordon (Recorder)
Cooper, John Murdoch (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 1987
Dimensions: whole: Duration 190, Number Of Items 7
Catalogue number: 18046

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Interview with John Murdoch Cooper

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