Interview with Albert Reginald Seekings

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Description

Object description

British trooper and NCO with L Detachment Special Air Service Bde and 1st Special Air Service in North Africa, 7/1941-4/1943; served with Special Raiding Squadron in Palestine and Italy, 4/1943-12/1943; served with 1st Special Air Service Regt, Special Air Service Bde in GB, North West Europe and Norway, 1/1944-5/1945

Content description

REEL 1 Recollections of operations as trooper and NCO with L Detachment, Special Air Service and 1st Special Air Service Regt in North Africa, 7/1941-4/1943: background of joining Special Air Service; pattern of military service, 1939-1941; first day of service with L Detachment at Geneifa, Egypt; charge and punishment received; request to leave L Detachment and talk from Lieutenant John 'Jock' Lewes; guard duties; accidents jumping from trucks during initial parachute training; records kept of progress; navigational, fitness and memory training; training for operating in night-time conditions; opinion training; drop out rate from training; setting-up of camp at Kabrit, Egypt; rations; desire to succeed; exercises. REEL 2 Continues: parachute training, including concerns about jumping; memories of Robert 'Paddy' Mayne; lectures and organisation of unit; Lieutenant John 'Jock' Lewes' creation of Lewes Bomb and demolition training; details of time pencils; fuse on Lewes Bomb; details of raid on airfield to provide assistance to Malta convoy; further details of parachute training, including clothing worn and equipment carried; training casualties; first parachute jump; railway built for training; introduction of headgear; creation and selection of Special Air Service insignia and motto; problems with white berets; wearing of badge and changes to attitude. REEL 3 Continues: award of wings; reaction to attacks from aircraft; composition of L Detachment; importance of comradeship; opinion of need for squadrons to be small; meal prior to first raid; description of first operational flight and parachute jump, 11/1941; problems on landing, including injuries suffered; re-grouping and casualties left behind; attempt to reach target and march to rendezvous point; wait with Long Range Desert Group for stragglers; impressions of Long Range Desert Group; decision to change method of transporting unit to raids; reaction to participation in parachute drop, 11/1941 to raid; memories of Long Range Desert Group personnel; return to camp; reason for name of Special Air Service. REEL 4 Continues: rapid departure from Egypt; details of participation in raids; problems with petrol supplies; receiving news of and reaction to death of Lieutenant John 'Jock' Lewes during raid in Libya, 31/12/1941; recruitment; further details of participation in raids; nature of unit vehicles; description of changes made to Willy Jeeps in Cairo, Egypt; trucks obtained prior to Battle of Alamein, Egypt, 10/1942-11/1942; memories of John Cooper; need for secrecy; briefings prior to raids; later embellishments of truth by some Special Air Service members and others. REEL 5 Continues: attitude of senior officers to Special Air Service; prior recollection of commando mutiny; discussion of success of raid on Benghazi, Libya; story of meting out discipline during raid on Benghazi, Libya; arrival in Benghazi, Libya and Axis opposition faced; nature of withdrawal from Benghazi, Libya, including makeshift fuel used for vehicles. REEL 6 Continues: story of adopted Senussi father; opinion of most difficult elements of raids; nature of journeys taken to participate in raids; hiding of Willy Jeeps and vehicle tracks, including help obtained from civilians; description of raids; troopers and NCOs chosen to drive him in and out; rations; story of getting stuck in Deutsches Afrika Korps lines during a raid; story of retrieving water from an underground river and subsequent withdrawal down a plateau; question of desperation of situation; reunion with British Army personnel. REEL 7 Continues: attempts of 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) armoured cars to catch him; story of attack from German Air Force Messerschmitt Bf 109 aircraft; meeting with General John Harding; story of military cadets; attitude of soldiers to specialist forces. Recollections of operations as NCO with A Sqdn, 1st Special Air Service Regt, Special Air Service Bde in Germany, 1945: incident of attracting German 88mm Gun fire and subsequent action; evacuation of casualties after action; premonition and memories of MacKenzie; stories of search for Nazis in Lüneburg area; memories of aircraft designer Wilhelm 'Willy' Messerschmitt. REEL 8 Continues: arrest of a Nazi including his use of faked photograph; further details of searches in Lüneburg area; final operation and contact made with 5th Infantry Div personnel; arrival at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, 4/1945; reaction to sights witnessed at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; relations with German civilians; story of capturing safe and it's contents; Schutzstaffel (SS) use of micro-cameras; arrival at Kiel, 5/1945; problems in capturing Kiel and withdrawal. REEL 9 Continues: stories of surrendering German prisoners of war and capturing Schutzstaffel (SS) officers in brothels; return to Belgium via Hamburg, 5/1945; VE Day celebrations in Poperinghe, Belgium, 8/5/1945; story of brother's lying about age being discovered; memories of father; reception on return home to GB, 5/1945; story of dodging HM Customs and Excise officials return to GB; story of German paratrooper photographs taken at Stalingrad, Soviet Union. Aspects of operations as NCO with Special Raiding Squadron in Palestine and Italy, 4/1943-10/1943: experience of fighting German airborne troops at Termoli, Italy, 10/1943; attitude of captured German airborne troops; details of action at Termoli, Italy. REEL 10 Continues: memories of Major-General Miles Dempsey at Nahariya, Palestine. Aspects of operations as NCO with L Detachment, Special Air Service and 1st Special Air Service in North Africa, 7/1941-4/1943: nature supply dumps; items carried on raids; rations; problems faced travelling across desert, including clothing worn, sleeping arrangements and distances travelled in a day; problems with dust; nature of taking cover during day, including Axis air attacks and methods of camouflaging vehicles and troops; example of subterfuge; use of flares; problems with armoured cars. Recollections of operations as NCO with Special Raiding Squadron in Palestine and Italy, 4/1943-12/1943: training in Nahariya, Palestine for invasion of Sicily, Italy; voyage to Sicily, Italy, including briefings received on route; plan for involvement in Sicilian Campaign; sights witnessed during final stages of voyage. REEL 11 Continues: embarkation on board landing craft and approach to beach on Sicily, Italy; plan for disembarkation; figure sighted at base of cliffs; nature of raid on gun emplacement; contact with Italian civilians; reason for order to stop throwing grenades; removal of personnel from tunnel; Axis prisoners taken; story of boots; advance to farmhouse and action against German Army troops; refusal of troops to fire on Italian women used as human shield by German Army troops; casualties from attack on pillboxes; formation of unit in action; first night spent on Sicily, Italy; health of troops; patrol; visit to café; looting and attitude of Robert 'Paddy' Mayne towards it; embarkation aboard landing ship. REEL 12 Continues: summary of operations in Sicily, Italy; clothing worn for invasion; tactics for attack; activities of 2nd Special Air Service Regt; arguments over plans for attack on train; relations with General Miles Dempsey; warnings about female civilians at Bagnara Calabra, Italy; problems with landing at Bagnara Calabra, Italy, 9/1943; German opposition faced on arrival at Bagnara Calabra, Italy, 9/1943; role during landings at Bagnara Calabra, Italy, 9/1943; results of reconnaissance; problems from German Army mortar team; opinion of Vickers Machine Gun, ammunition carried and supporting arms; nature of action against German forces including Gestapo personnel; description of tracer fire; naval support; use of sniper and continuation of action against German forces; water shortage and withdrawal; story of deafened soldier; sight of severed arm on ground; advance towards Reggio di Calabria, Italy; role during landings at Termoli, Italy and advance inland, 10/1943; attack on German forces in farmhouse; activities of Roy Farran; journey to target; contact with 2nd Bn Lancashire Fusiliers; accommodation; visit to café at Termoli, Italy, 10/1943. REEL 13 Continues: problems faced from German artillery and grenades; unit and Italian civilian casualties from explosion of truck at Termoli, Italy, 10/1943; opinion of leadership from unit and effect of events on surviving troops; ammunition situation; contact with mortar team; description of fire faced; visit received from General Miles Dempsey; support received from Canadian Army tanks; help given to Corporal William 'Kit' Kennedy's section; nature of Special Air Service contact with Italian Partisans; return to own troop; story of meal taken across railway line; story of German sniper; story of cleaning area of bodies; memories of Sergeant John Jock Finlay and other casualties at Termoli, Italy, 10/1943; discussion of situation at Termoli, Italy, 10/1943. REEL 14 Continues: opinion of problems faced at Termoli, 10/1943; memories of Robert 'Paddy' Mayne and Major-General Miles Dempsey at Termoli; nature of changes to unit experienced, 1943-1944. Aspects of period as NCO with A Sqdn, 1st Special Air Service Regt, Special Air Service Bde in GB, 1/1944-6/1944: pay; influx of officers; promotion to sergeant-major in A Sqdn; start of training and discipline; memories of Captain William 'Bill' Fraser, Captain Hunter and tea breaks; recruitment; pattern of training in Scotland; nature of camp at Fairford; exercises; proposed role of volunteers on D-Day, 6/6/1944; knowledge of problems with Lieutenant-Colonel William Stirling. Recollections of operations as NCO with A Sqdn, 1st Special Air Service Regt, Special Air Service Bde in France, 6/1944-7/1944: role in Normandy, France; story of French Communist leader and Czech soldier. REEL 15 Continues: nature of French Resistance treatment of Nazi collaborators and assistance given to accused French woman; relations with French civilians; arrest of French Maquis personnel whilst wearing Special Air Service jumpsuits; importance of civilian support for operations; story of German forces' shooting of B Sqdn, 1st Special Air Service Regt personnel in France, 7/7/1944; details of flight for initial reconnaissance drop in France; problems with parachute drop and landing; story of soap issued; burial of parachutes; shelter taken for night; realisation of landing being in wrong area; contact made with French civilians. REEL 16 Continues: journey to operational area; problems dropping more Special Air Service personnel; story of lost aircraft; arrival of more Special Air Service personnel and casualties; interruption of church service; story of subsequent ambush by German forces and wounding; reaction to being wounded; initial medical treatment and nature of evacuation from area; nature of work of Chaplain Fraser McLuskey; relations with French civilians; evacuation to GB, including help received from American forces at Orléans. Aspects of period as NCO with A Sqdn, 1st Special Air Service Regt, Special Air Service Bde in Norway, 5/1945: role; journey to Stavanger; importance of Stavanger; details of German Navy snorkel submarines; posting to northern Norway; nature of activities. REEL 17 Continues: relations with Norwegian civilians; rumours of posting in Far East; post-war contact with David Stirling; disbandment of Special Air Service, 9/1945; pay; refusal of commission; senior officers' attitude towards Special Air Service; story of final parade in GB, 9/1945.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1945-1989 (production), Second World War (content), Second World War (association)
Creator: TVS (Production company)
Stevens, Gordon (Recorder)
Seekings, Albert Reginald (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 1987
Dimensions: whole: Duration 500, Number Of Items 17
Catalogue number: 18177

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Interview with Albert Reginald Seekings

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