Green, Arnold William (Oral history)

British trooper served with 44th Royal Tank Regt, Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 5/1939-10/1940; served with 1st Independent Troop, Royal Tank Regt on Malta, 11/1940-7/1943; served with Warwickshire Yeomanry in Middle East and Italy, 7/1943-8/1944; served with 145th Regt, Royal Armoured Corps, 21st Armoured Bde in Italy, 10/1944-2/1945; served with Warwickshire Yeomanry in GB, 1945

REEL 1 Background in Rainford and Bristol, GB, 1921-1939: family; education; enlistment in 44th Royal Tank Regt, Territorial Army, 1/5/1939; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Recollections of period as trooper with 44th Royal Tank Regt in GB, 1939-1940: attempts of military authorities to cope with mobilisation, 1/3/1939-2/3/1939; disposition of unit in Bristol area, 1939-1940; question of length of time needed to train tank soldiers; move to Salisbury Plain, 5/1940; equipping with Matilda II Tank; disposition of unit in Redhill area, summer 1940; question of possibility of German invasion, summer 1940; attitude towards Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 1940; role chasing parachutists coming down in Battle of Britain, 1940; reaction to call for volunteers for service in Middle East, 10/1940. Aspect of voyage aboard SS Louis Pasteur and HMS Greyhound from GB to Malta, 10/1940-11/1940. Recollections of period as trooper with 1st Independent Troop, Royal Tank Regt on Malta, 11/1940-7/1943: arrival on Malta, 10/11/1940; composition of troop. REEL 2 Continues: arrival of troop's tanks, 11/1940; airfield protection role of unit; disposition of unit on island; problem of fuel supply for tanks; odd jobs given to unit including stevedoring; need for protection pens for aircraft at RAF Ta Kali; using Maltese stone; arrival of reinforcements from 6th Royal Tank Regt from Middle East; restricted rations in unit, 1942; attitude of Maltese under siege conditions; generosity of Maltese towards troops; daily bread ration; near misses from German Air Force bombing and strafing; friends he made with Maltese civilians; Maltese civilians attitude towards Italians; British Army's attitude towards soldiers marrying Maltese women; period on Malta when Germans attacked Soviet Union, 6/1941; strength of anti-aircraft defences at Valletta; description of shooting down of German Air Force Junkers Ju 87 Stuka attacking Valletta; leaving Malta, 7/1943. Aspects of period as trooper with Warwickshire Yeomanry, 9th Armoured Bde in Middle East, 7/1943- 5/1944: reception to Malta siege veterans in Abbassia Barracks, Cairo, Egypt, 7/1943; volunteering for Warwickshire Yeomanry, 9th Armoured Bde in Palestine. REEL 3 Continues: relationship of soldiers with kibbutzim in Palestine, 1943; move to Lebanon; hill training with unit, 11/1943-1/1944; hospitalisation, 1/1944; mutiny of Greek forces in Egypt, 1944; show of strength by 9th Armoured Bde to mutinous Greek forces; move to Italy, 5/1944. Recollections of operations with Warwickshire Yeomanry, 9th Armoured Bde in Italy, 5/1944-12/1944: move to Italy, 5/1944; arrival in Taranto, 5/1944; plans for unit to be pursuing force after break through on Gustav Line; consequences of German ambush set in cemetery, Viculi, near Orvieto; opinion of skills of withdrawing Germans; superfluity of reconnaissance troops; German use of artillery fire on corniche roads; sight of wounded infantrymen after attack by 4th Indian Infantry Div, 7/1944-8/1944; leaving unit, 8/1944; move to staging post on Lake Trasimeno, 9/1944-10/1944. Aspects of operations with 145th Regt, Royal Armoured Corps, 21st Armoured Bde in Italy, 10/1944-2/1945: role as M3 Stuart 'Honey' Tank driver; how winter conditions stopped reconnaissance troop work; hearing Germans singing 'Silent Night' to British Army troops 25/12/1944; leaving Italy, 2/1945; voyage aboard HMT Georgic from Italy to GB, 2/1945. REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period with Warwickshire Yeomanry in GB, 1945: application to rejoin unit, 2/1945; joining unit at Chippedham Camp, Newmarket, 4/1945; man-management by commanding officer of unit; laming of Colonel Jackson in minefield in Italy; attitude to having served in Second World War. Aspects of call-up as Z Reservist in GB, during Korean War. 1952: attitude of being called up for reservist; training in Thetford Battle Area, summer 1952; accident in quarry pitted area near Thetford; question of issue of well fitting uniforms in contrast to Second World War issue.