JARY, SYDNEY (Oral history)

British civilian in London, GB, 1940-1941; officer commanded 18 Platoon, D Coy, 4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry in North West Europe, 1944-1945

REEL 1 Background in Iflord, Essex, GB, 1924-1939: family and education. Recollections of period as schoolboy in London Blitz, 1940-1941: devastation of Chigwell area; use of church hall shelter; public morale; attitude towards Germans and how that changed when he witnessed Belsen Concentration Camp, 1945. Period of army training in GB, 1942-1944: character of recruits on joining army, 1942; commissioning into Hampshire Regt, 1943; question of reasons for wanting to be in infantry; joining 12th Bn Hampshire Regt near Bognor Regis, 11/1943; training in South East England, 1943-1944. Recollections of operations with 18 Platoon, D Coy, 4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry in Normandy, 1944: arrival in reinforcement camp, Bayeux, 6/1944; reception in unit; composition of 18 Platoon; start of Mount Pincon battle; reaction to initial experience of combat and lessons he learnt; question of superiority of German fire-power and armour. REEL 2 Continues: personality types which fail and succeed in action; leadership qualities required in action; question of importance of having experienced failure in life; contrast in situation of infantry officer and other branches of services; story illustrating ethical problem of balancing soldiers lives against possible civilian casualties; opinion of role of Forward Observation Officers and Royal Artillery; nature of role demanded of infantry; uselessness of 'John Wayne' type leader in battle; importance of sensitivity to other people's attitudes and feelings; usefulness of drill in producing attitudes necessary in action; attack on Mount Pincon, 7/1944; question of falsity of German soldier's superiority to British in Normandy; question of importance of bluff in action. REEL 3 Continues: story of D Coy 'atrocity' when German SS POW was spanked in Normandy contrasting with German SS atrocity where Dutch civilians were shot and house ransacked, Elst, Netherlands, 9/1944; phosphorus burning of platoon member who had to be shot on Hill 112; contrasting in fighting on Hill 112 and Mount Pincon; contrast between fighting in Normandy and Netherlands; German use of hand held anti-tank weapons. Attitude towards treatement of female collaborators in France, 1944. Memories of crossing of River Seine, near Vernon, 8/1944. Question of lack of ambition during campaign in North West Europe, 1944-1945. Recollections of operations with 18 Platoon, D Coy, 4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry in the Netherlands, 1944: aspects of Operation Market Garden, 9/1944 including opinion of operation being 'A Road Too Few' rather than 'A Bridge Too Far'; role of platoon in defensive position, Elst, 10/1944; relationship between British troops and Dutch civilains; holding positions, Grossbeek, winter 1944-1945. Recollections of operations with 18 Platoon, D Coy, 4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry, 1945: operations at Geilenkirchen; booby-trapping of bodies of Duke of Cornwall's dead by Germans; opinion of booby-trapping of bodies and sniping; crossing River Rhine near Ries; nature of fighting in Germany; level fof German resisitance, spring 1945; maintenance fo morale in platoon; attitude of German civilians towards Allied forces, spring 1945; failure of non-fratinisation policy. Question of how serving in Second World War changed his attitudes to life including how he married war widow. Attitude to having served in Second World War. Opinion that three NCOs in 18 Platoon should have been awarded Military Medals. REEL 5 Continues: Reasons for publishing memoirs in '18 Platoon' (1987).