Interview with Kenneth Thomas Chard

British sapper served as clerk with Royal Engineers at Headquarters, I Corps, British Expeditionary Force in France, 1939-1940; NCO served as clerk with Royal Engineers with Headquarters, III Corps in GB and Northern Ireland, 1940-1942; served with Headquarters, Commander Royal Engineers, India in India, 11/1942-8/1945

REEL 1 Background in Trowbridge and Paignton, GB 1919-1939: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; volunteering for British Army, 9/1939. Aspects of period of training as sapper with Royal Engineers Regimental Depot, Chatham, GB, 10/1939-11/1939: opinion of basic training; opinion of NCOs; presents recruits gave to NCO on their passing out. Recollections of period as clerk with Royal Engineers at Headquarters, I Corps, British Expeditionary Force in France, 11/1939-5/1940: administrative role; contact with French civilians; incident of snubbing of soldiers in restaurant, Rennes, 5/1940; suspicions of Fifth Column in France; first news of German attack, 10/5/1940; orders to move from Douai to Arras, 13/5/1940; reaction to Royal Engineers officer who told him Corps of Military Police were being issued with rifles to stem German advance, Arras, 5/1940; making his way to Le Havre then Rennes. REEL 2 Continues: orders from French Army officer on hearing of fall of Calais to head south from Rennes, 5/1940; admission of French Army officer that he was going to change into civilian clothes; drive south to Pornichet after burning papers and filling pockets with chocolate bars; arrival in Saint-Nazaire, 6/1940. Aspects of voyage aboard SS City of Mobile from Saint-Nazaire, France to Southampton, GB,6/1940: embarkation at Saint-Nazaire, France; shortage of provisions aboard; emergency bread supply sent to ship at Plymouth before ship left for Southampton. GB. Aspects of period as clerk with Royal Engineers at Headquarters, III Corps in GB and Northern Ireland, 1940-1942: posting to Headquarters, III Corps in Whitchurch, 7/1940; move of Headquarters, III Corps to Lurgan, Northern Ireland, 1941; question of lack of awareness of Republicanism in Northern Ireland, 1941-1942; posting to Headquarters, Commander Royal Engineers, Canterbury; reaction to losing comfortable accommodation in Canterbury om receiving overseas posting, early 1942. REEL 3 Continues: story of meeting with NCO who had been with Headquarters, I Corps in France at Halifax, early 1942. Aspects of voyage from GB to India via South Africa, 1942: initial voyage aboard MS Batory to Freetown, Sierra Leone; in tented accommodation at Clarewood Camp, Durban, South Africa; reception given to British Army troops by South African civilians; arrival in Bombay, India, 11/1942. Recollections of period with Headquarters, Commander Royal Engineers, India in India, 11/1942-8/1945: complaining to officer about lack of rations in transit from Poona to Calcutta; work at Fort William, Calcutta, 1942-1943; panic caused by Imperial Japanese Army Air Service attack on Chowringhee, 12/1942; move of Headquarters, Commander Royal Engineers to Chittagong; nature of relations with Indian civilians in Bengal, 1942-1943; signs of famine in Calcutta; attachment to headquarters, garrison engineers in Assam, late 1943; American troops comforts and entertainment in working camp between Dibrugarh and Ledo, Assam, 1943-1944; employment of local labour force for construction work in Assam; question of wages being paid for labourers who did not exist. REEL 4 Continues: living conditions near Dibrugarh, 1944; lack of news about progress of Second World War; American forces presence in area; construction of cinema in tropics; contrast in attention paid by United State Goverment and British Government to troops serving in the field including issue of cigarettes and clothing; attitude towards British Government's lack of welfare of servicemen; Indian civilians employed in Assam; confrontation between American lorry driver and British officer over speeding on laterite road; illness contracted in Assam and downgrading from A1 to G3; reaction to conditions in British military hospital; flooded conditions in camp in Deolali, 1945