Description
Object description
British private served with 1st Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 143rd Infantry Bde, 48th (South Midlands) Infantry Div in France and Belgium, 4/1940-11/1941; NCO served with Glider Pilot Regiment in GB, North Africa and Sicily, Italy, 12/1941-12/1943; served with E Sqdn, No 2 Wing, Glider Pilot Regt in GB, Normandy, France and during Operation Market Garden in Netherlands, 1/1944-9/1944; prisoner of war Netherlands, Stalag 357, Fallingbostel and Stalag VIII-C in Germany, 9/1944-2/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Abbey Wood, GB, 1919-1939: family; education; employment; enrollment as War Reserve police constable, 1939. Aspects of period of enlistment and training with British Army in GB, 1939-1940: reaction to call-up for military service; basic training at Blandford Camp; character of other recruits; initial posting to Essex Regiment. Recollections of operations as private with 1st Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 143rd Infantry Bde, 48th (South Midlands) Infantry Div in France and Belgium, 4/1940-6/1940: transfer to battalion; character of billets in Lille area, France; start of German offensive, 10/5/1940; digging in on Waterloo Plain, Belgium; start of retreat from Belgium, 5/1940; shooting of German Army officer with map; arrival in Hazebrouck, France; grenade attack on German Army troops unloading ammunition in marshalling yards; use of Boys Anti-Tank Rifle on German Army motorcycle and sidecar; sight of civilian corpse awaiting burial; encounter with Royal Artillery soldier; crossing into Dunkirk Perimeter, France; sight of crowded beaches at Dunkirk, France; rescue by yacht, 6/1940; reunion with girlfriend in Woolwich, GB.
REEL 2 Continues: physical condition on arrival in Dover, GB. Aspects of period as NCO with with 1st Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 143rd Infantry Bde, 48th (South Midlands) Infantry Div in GB, 6/1940-11/1941: rejoining unit; move from signals section to intelligence section of Headquarters Coy; military exercise which was disrupted by officer's ingenuity, Devonshire; road convoy work, Brigg; marriage in Garrison Church, Woolwich, 1/1941; wife May Dance's injuries during German Air Force bombing raid when bomb hit the air raid shelter at Varley Magnet Co in Woolwich, 28/1/1941; death of wife May Dance from tetanus in Southern Hospital, Darenth, 5/3/1941; role teaching fighting methods to Royal Air Force Regiment at RAF Binbrook; description of Anti-Tank No 74 Mk I 'Sticky Bomb' and how to use it. Recollections of period as NCO with Glider Pilot Regiment in GB, 1941-1943: reasons for joining regiment, 12/1941; induction methods; introduction to regiment's method of operation, 2/1942.
REEL 3 Continues: nature of training on Salisbury Plain, 1942; flying training from RAF Denham and how he disrupted filming of 'In Which We Serve' (1942); hazards of glider training in General Aircraft Hotspur Glider at Leominster; opinion of General Aircraft Hotspur Glider; heavy glider conversion work, RAF Brize Norton; opinion of Airspeed Horsa Glider; commando training in Bournemouth area. Aspects of period as NCO with Glider Pilot Regiment in North Africa, 1943: sight of sunken French warship on arrival at Oran, French Algeria; training in desert and conversion onto Waco CG-4 Hadrian Glider; opinion of Waco CG-4 Hadrian Glider; glider flight with 2nd Bn South Staffordshire Regt to Sousse, Tunisia; improvised airstrips in Tunisia, 1943; practising night flying; accident to American glider tug in Atlas Mountains; explosion in ammunition dump. Recollections of operations as NCO with Glider Pilot Regiment during Operation Ladbroke, the airborne landings on Sicily, Italy, 7/1943: sight of anti-aircraft fire; how casting off by tug aircraft landed glider in sea.
REEL 4 Continues: struggle to get ashore; march inland and capture of Italian prisoners of war; demonstration with phosphorus grenade to intimidate prisoners of war; entry into Syracuse; wounding in leg. Aspects of period as NCO with Glider Pilot Regiment in French Algeria and Tunisia, 7/1943-11/1943: confining unit to barracks to prevent retaliation against American glider tug pilots; medical complications from leg wound; sight of battle between Allied warships and Axis torpedo-bombers, Algiers, French Algeria; early dismissal from hospital in Algiers, French Algeria; difficulties of rejoining unit in Tunisia. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Monarch of Bermuda in Convoy MKF 26 from Oran, French Algeria to GB, 11/1943-12/1943: ramming of ship by HMT Duchess of Bedford; temporary repairs to HMT Monarch of Bermuda in Gibraltar; arrival in GB, 12/1943. Recollections of operations as NCO with E Sqdn, No 2 Wing, Glider Pilot Regt in Normandy, France, 6/1944: sight of Allied invasion glider formations and naval fleet on D-Day, 6/6/1944; flight and flapless landing; handing over ammunition to commandos; dealing with German sniper in church tower; return to GB; later postponement of Special Air Service operation to Paris area, France, 1944.
REEL 5 Continues: Recollections of operations as NCO with E Sqdn, No 2 Wing, Glider Pilot Regt during Operation Market Garden, Netherlands, 9/1944: effect of weeks delay on success of operation; pre-operation planning; flight to Netherlands; landing on target; encounter with mental hospital patients; presenting orange to Dutch civilian; digging in Wolfheze; treatment of captured Waffen-SS troops; defence of Hartenstein Hotel, Oosterbeek; plight of civilians during fighting; attempt to rescue German casualty and ease his last minutes; advice given to civilians about capture by Germans; wounding in back.
REEL 6 Continues: capture and initial treatment by Germans. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Netherlands and Germany, 9/1944-12/1945: initial treatment to counteract gangrene; move to Airborne Hospital, Apeldoorn, Netherlands; kindness of Dutch civilian in Apeldoorn; handling of casualties in Airborne Hospital, Apeldoorn, Netherlands; journey from Netherlands to Stalag 357, Fallingbostel, Germany including treatment for wound; second move to Stalag VIII-C, Sagan including sight of devastation of Berlin, Germany. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-C, Sagan, Germany, 1/1945: humiliation of 1st Airbourne Div prisoners of war before population of Sagan; arrival in camp; German treatment of prisoners of war; aid to get to hospital hut; treatment for wound by French prisoners of war; approach of Soviet Army and removal of healthy prisoners of war. Aspects of period attempting to reach Soviet Army lines in Germany, 2/1945: trek towards Breslau; sight of Soviet artillery firing on Breslau; sight of dead German Army prisoners of war in frozen duck pond; meeting with other prisoner of war stragglers; attempt of Soviet Army troops to rob former prisoners of war; meeting with Soviet Army officer; allocation of Soviet Army soldier to guide former prisoners of war to Kattowitz.
REEL 7 Continues: Aspects of journey from Germany to Soviet Union, 1945: aid given to civilians on journey eastwards; train crash which killed some former prisoners of war in Poland; arrival in Odessa, Soviet Union; Soviet authorities informing prisoners of war that their fate depended on ship arriving with Soviet prisoners of war who had fought with Germans; guards thwarting of attempt to aid old Soviet civilian; problems negotiating Soviet bureaucracy before he could embark at Odessa, Soviet Union; physical condition on leaving Odessa, Soviet Union; processing of returning former prisoners of war on arrival in GB; psychological and physical effects of war; attitude to having served in Second World War; question of reliability of memory.
