Chard, Kenneth Thomas (Oral history)

British sapper served as Royal Engineers clerk with Headquarters, 1st Corps in France, 1939-1940; NCO served with Royal Engineers in GB and India, 1940-1945

REEL 1 Background in Paignton, Devon, 1919-1939: family and education. Reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Volunteering for army, 9/1939. Period of basic training with Royal Engineers Depot, Chatham, autumn 1939: opinion of training; opinion of NCOs; presents recruits gave to NCO on their passing out. Recollections of period as RE clerk with Headquarters, 1st Corps in Douai, France, 1939-1940: administrative role; contact with French civilians; snubbing of soldiers in Rennes restaurant, 5/1940; suspicions of fifth column in France; first news of German attack, 10/5/1940; orders to move from Douai to Arras ca 13/5/1940; reaction to RE officer who told him Military Police were being issued with rifles to stem German advance, Arras, 5/1940; making his way to Le Harve then Rennes. REEL 2 Continues: orders from French officer on hearing of fall of Calais to head south from Rennes, 5/1940; admission of French officer that he was going to change into civilian clothes; drive south to Pornichet after burning army papers and filling pockets with chocolate bars; arrival in St Nazaire, 6/1940. Period aboard City of Mobile, 6/1940: embarkation aboard ship in St Nazaire; shortage of provisions aboard; emergency bread supply sent to ship in Plymouth before ship left for Southampton. Period as Royal Engineers clerk in GB, 1940-1942: posting to 3rd Corps Headquarters in Whitchurch, Shropshire ca 7/1940; move of headquarters to Lurgan, Northern Ireland, early 1941; question of lack of awareness of Republicanism in Northern Ireland, 1941-1942; posting to Headquarters, Commander Royal Engineers, Canterbury; reaction to losing comfortable billet in Canterbury to get overseas posting, early 1942. REEL 3 Continues: meeting with NCO who had been with 1st Corps in Douai, Halifax, early 1942. Voyage from GB to India, 1942: initial voyage aboard Batory to Freetown; tented camp, Clarewood Camp, Durban; reception given to British troops by South African civilians; arrival in Bombay, 11/1942. Recollections of period with CRE Headquarters in India, 1942-1945: complaining to officer about lack of rations in transit from Poona to Calcutta; work with CRE in Fort William, Calcutta, 1942-1943; panic caused by Japanese Air Force attack on Chowringhee, 12/1942; move of CRE Headquarters to Chittagong; nature of relations with Indian civilians in Bengal, 1942-1943; signs of famine in Calcutta; posting to garrison engineers headquarters in Northern Assam, late 1943; US 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; US presence in area; construction of cinema in tropics; contrast in attention paid by US and British government to troops 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 US lorry driver and British officer over speeding on laterite road; illness contracted in Assam and his downgrading from A1 to G3; reaction to conditions in British military hospital he was in; flooded conditions in camp in Deolali, 1945