Jary, Sydney (Oral history)

British officer commanded 18 Platoon, D Coy, 4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry, 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 7/1944-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Iflord, GB, 1924-1939: family; education. Recollections of period as schoolchild in Chigwell, GB, 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 in Germany, 1945. Aspects of period of training with British Army 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 as officer with 18 Platoon, D Coy, 4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry, 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 7/1944-8/1944: arrival in reinforcement camp, Bayeux, 6/1944; reception in unit; composition of 18 Platoon; start of Battle of Mout Pincon, 7/1944; reaction to initial experience of combat and lessons he learnt; question of superiority of German firepower 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 Mont Pincon, 7/1944-8/1944; 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 Mont Pincon; contrast between fighting in Normandy and Netherlands; German use of hand held anti-tank weapons; attitude towards treatement of female collaborators; crossing of River Seine, near Vernon, 8/1944. Recollections of operations with 18 Platoon, D Coy, 4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry, 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in the Netherlands, 1944-1945: question of lack of ambition during campaign in North West Europe, 1944-1945; aspects of Operation Market Garden, 9/1944 including opinion of operation being 'A Road Too Few' rather than 'A Bridge Too Far'. REEL 4 Continues: role of platoon in defensive position, Elst, 10/1944; relations between British troops and Dutch civilians; holding positions, Grossbeek, winter 1944-1945. Recollections of operations with 18 Platoon, D Coy, 4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry, 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in Germany, 1945: operations at Geilenkirchen; booby-trapping of bodies of 5th Bn Duke of Cornwall's dead by Germans; opinion of booby-trapping of bodies and sniping; crossing River Rhine near Rees, 3/1945; 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-fraterinisation policy. Reflections of service in Second World War: question of how serving in Second World War changed his attitudes to life including how he married a 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.