Beer, Frederick John (Oral history)

British private served with 5th Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 214th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB and North West Europe, 1943-1944; prisoner of war in Stalag 357, Fallingbostel, Germany, 1945

REEL 1 Background in Bishopsteignton, GB, 1925-1939: family; education. Recollections of period as civilian in GB, 1939-1943: reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; German Air Force attack on Newton Abbott, 1942; joining Air Training Corps in Chudleigh; employment in timber industry, Bodmin, 1942-1943. Aspects of enlistment and training with British Army in GB, 3/1943-10/1943: reaction to call-up for military service, 3/1943; basic training Chichester; treatment received during basic treatment; light infantry training in Colchester Garrison; light infantry marches; nature of training in Colchester Garrrison. Aspects of period as private with 5th Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 214th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB, 1943-1944: joining battalion at Bamburgh Castle, 10/1943; opinion of commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Carew Pole; theft of razor; move to Folkestone; medical treatment for illness contracted in Folkestone; question of how people were encouraged to smoke in Second World War. REEL 2 Continues: in tented accommodation at Crowhurst, 5/1944; troop movements to deceive Germans; lack of communication before D-Day; leaving Newhaven, 12/6/1944. Recollections of operations as private with B Coy, 5th Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 214th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: landing on Gold Beach; orders to attack Germans in Cheux; Canloan officer attached to unit; advance to Hill 112; attack through cornfield towards top of Hill 112; action on Hill 112; aim of German snipers to pick off leaders of unit; disposal of corpses in Normandy; firing rifles for morale purposes; German multi-barrelled mortar and machine gun fire; opinion of German forces and attitude towards them; question of Waffen-SS troops shooting men attempting to surrender; capture of German prisoners. REEL 3 Continues: sight of French refugees; witnessing shaving of French female collaborator's head; living conditions. Recollections of operations as private with D Coy, 5th Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 214th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in Netherlands, 9/1944-11/1944: push through to Driel on River Nederrijn during Operation Market Garden, 9/1944; transfer from B Coy to D Coy as stretcher-bearer; role as stretcher-bearer; Allied attempt to take Geilenkirchen, Germany; digging in woods; casualties caused by German 88mm Gun; capture by Waffen-SS troops near Hoven, 11/1944; Waffen-SS commander shouting at prisoners of war; use of prisoners of war to pick up wounded. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag 357, Fallingbostel, Germany, 12/1944-4/1945: train transport to Germany; arrival in camp; wood collecting parties; scarcity of Red Cross parcels; prisoner of war diet and toothpaste. REEL 4 Continues: use of cloth for footwear; nature of camp ablutions; suffering from dysentery; influence on camp of Regimental Sergeant-Major John Lord; low morale due to food supply problems; work party clearing damaged railway lines; march away from camp, 4/1945; reaction to liberation. Aspects of repatriation to GB, 4/1945-6/1945: handling of ex-prisoners of war in Germany and Brussels, Belgium, 4/1945; repatriation leave in GB, 6/1945; role in hospital treating German prisoners of war in Newton Abbott; attitude towards Germans; question of effects of captivity; attitude towards having served in Second World War.