Elsey, Leslie (Oral history)

322888172
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1024735678
Use this audio under Non-Commercial licence

Embed this sound recording for online use under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence
By embedding this audio file you agree to the terms and conditions of the IWM Non-Commercial Licence, including your use of the attribution statement specified by IWM. For this item, that is:

© IWM

Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.

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Description

Object description

British trooper served with 1st East Riding Yeomanry, 1st Armoured Reconnaissance Bde, 1st Armoured Div in France, 2/1940-5/1940; served with 1st East Riding Yeomanry, 46th (South) Infantry Div in France and Belgium, 5/1940; prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, Arbeitskommandos E344 and E383, Ratibor and Stalag VII-A, Moosburg, Germany, 6/1940-4/1945

Content description

REEL 1 Background in Kingston upon Hull, GB, 1919-1938: family; education; employment. Aspects of period with 26th (East Riding Yeomanry) Armoured Car Coy, Royal Tank Corps, 26th (East Riding Yeomanry) Armoured Car Coy, Royal Tank Regt and 1st East Riding Yeomanry, Royal Tank Regt, Royal Armoured Corps, GB, 1938-1940: reasons for joining Territorial Army, 1938; role in unit; opinion of unit equipment; change of name from 26th (East Riding of York Yeomanry) Armoured Car Coy, Royal Tank Corps to 26th (East Riding of York Yeomanry) Armoured Car Coy, Royal Tank Regt, 4/1939 then 1st East Riding Yeomanry, Royal Tank Regt, Royal Armoured Corps, 8/1939; re-equipping with Light Tank Mk VIB and Bren Carriers; leadership of unit; mobilisation, 8/1939; move to Vale of Pickering, winter 1939; relations with civilians in Vale of Pickering; move to Tidworth for manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain, 1/1940. Aspects of period as trooper with 1st East Riding Yeomanry, 1st Armoured Reconnaissance Bde, 1st Armoured Div in France, 2/1940-5/1940: move to France, 2/1940; apprehension of Moroccan troops in Le Havre, 2/1940; accommodation at Outrebois, near Doullens, 2/1940-4/1940; relations between British Army troops and local French civilians, 4/1940. Recollections of operations with 1st East Riding Yeomanry, 48th (South Midland) Infantry Div in France and Belgium, 5/1940: move after German invasion to Ivry-la-Bataille, France, 10/5/1940; role and duties of unit as reconnaissance rearguard at Cassel, France; capture at Watou, Belgium, 29/5/1940. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Belgium and Germany 5/1940-6/1940: belief that prisoners of war would be shot on capture; march of prisoners of war across Belgium; incident of German guards kicking over buckets of water put out by Belgian civilians for prisoners of war, 6/1940; train journey to Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, Germany. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, Germany, 1940-1945: early conditions in Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, 1940; volunteering for working party with Arbeitskommando E344 at Ratibor; conditions on working party laying railway tracks; dealing with German guard; volunteering for sugar factory work at Arbeitskommando E383, Ratibor; work in synthetic oil refinery in Arbeitskommando E3 Blechhammer; steel erecting and sabotage in Arbeitskommando E3 Blechhammer; bombing by United States Army Air Force, 1943-1944; march towards Austria, 1/1945; living off the land; change of attitude of guards, 1945; arrival at Stalag VII-A, Moosburg, 1945; liberation of camp, 4/1945. Aspects of period as trooper with Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 1945: return to GB via Brussels, Belgium; hospitalisation for impetigo; selection and training regiment, Crawley, 1945; posting to Churchill Tank unit in Barnard Castle; attitude to having served in Second World War; question of poor equipment provided by British Government; effects of captivity.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1990 to the present day (production), Second World War (content), Second World War (association)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Wood, Conrad (Recorder)
Elsey, Leslie (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 1998-07-07
Dimensions: whole: Duration 55, Number Of Items 2
Catalogue number: 18360

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Elsey, Leslie (Oral history)

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