Description
Object description
British trooper served with 109th Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 1942-1943; served with Staffordshire Yeomanry (Queen's Own Royal Regiment) in GB and North West Europe, 1943-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Barking and Ilford, GB, 1923-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as civilian in Ilford, GB, 1939-1941: reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; use of air raid shelters; degree of apprehension at German Air Force bombing; public morale; state of Ilford Hippodrome after bombing. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 1941-1942: reasons for enlistment in British Army, 11/1941; training with Junior Leaders Training Regt, Royal Armoured Corps at Bovington Camp, GB, 1941-1942: opinion of training instructor Sergeant Dolan, 1941-1942; influence of Boy Scout Movement in promoting classless esprit de corps. Aspects of period as trooper with 109th Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps, GB, 1942-1943: joining unit at Wellbeck Abbey; training as wireless operator; driving Churchill Tank; opinion of Churchill Tank; nature of training in Penistone area; Minden Day parade at Wellbeck Abbey.
REEL 2 Continues: disbandment of regiment, 1943. Aspects of period of training as private with Parachute Regiment in GB, 1943: transfer to Parachute Regiment despite low weight; effect of parachute training on confidence; reaction to being Returned to Unit; opinion that he could never engage in one-to-one combat. Aspects of period as trooper with Staffordshire Yeomanry (Queen's Own Royal Regiment), 27th Armoured Bde in GB, 1943-1944: joining Staffordshire Yeomanry; character of unit; atmosphere in Territorial Army unit as opposed to Regular Army units; question of class consciousness in British Army; equipping with and opinion of M4 Sherman Tank; crew of M4 Sherman Tank; amphibious training in Scotland, 1/1944-5/1944; waterproofing of M4 Sherman Tank; problems using No 19 Wireless Set; move to Bolney, 5/1944; D-Day briefings at Bolney, 5/1944.
REEL 3 Continues: state of mind pre-D-Day; atmosphere in unit on move from Bolney to Newhaven, 4/6/1944; embarkation and period at sea, 4/6/1944-5/6/1944. Recollections of operations with Staffordshire Yeomanry (Queen's Own Royal Regiment), 27th Armoured Bde in Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944: unit objectives; arrival on Sword Beach, 10:30 am; noises inside M4 Sherman Tank; experience of going into action inside M4 Sherman Tank; plight of comrade on radio net asking for advice because his commanding officer had been killed, 6/6/1944; push inland from Sword Beach; attitude of German prisoners of war; German prisoner of war who was put in his M4 Sherman Tank turret; ease of beach landing; problems of mercy killing of wounded cow; infantrymen's fear of being on tanks; farthest point he reached on D-Day.
REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of operations with Staffordshire Yeomanry (Queen's Own Royal Regiment), 27th Armoured Bde in Normandy, France, 6/1944-7/1944: largering for night, Lebisey Wood, 6/6/1944-7/6/1944; foraging for rations, 6/1944; sight of Allied bombing raid on Caen; role of unit in Operation Goodwood when his tank was hit by armour-piercing shell, 18/7/1944-20/7/1944; German grenade attacks during Operation Goodwood, 18/7/1944-20/7/1944; reaction to sight of Mulberry Harbour; rest period in beach area; return to GB, 7/1944. Aspects of period training with Staffordshire Yeomanry (Queen's Own Royal Regiment) in GB, 7/1944-9/1944: nature of training training with Duplex Drive M4 Sherman Tank in GB, 7/1944-9/1944; use of Davis Escape Equipment; move to Brussels, Belgium; billeting in chateau at Vilvoorde, Belgium; training with Duplex Drive M4 Sherman Tank on River Maas, Netherlands; question of negative attitude of unit to membership of 79th Armoured Div and General Percy Hobart; troop who had fought in desert liking for General Bernard Montgomery.
REEL 5 Continues: Recollections of operations with Staffordshire Yeomanry (Queen's Own Royal Regiment), 79th Armoured Div during crossing of River Rhine, Germany, 3/1945: plans to cross with 51st (Highland) Infantry Div; preference for service in tanks rather than infantry; preparations for crossing and vulnerability of Duplex Drive M4 Sherman Tank to shell splinters; crossing River Rhine; high explosive shell hit on tank; casualties to his tank crew and psychological effects of experience; advance from River Rhine to Celle; prior recollection of forced labour camp at coal mine in Belgium. Recollections of period with Staffordshire Yeomanry (Queen's Own Royal Regiment) in Germany, 1945-1946: liberation of French Cognac from shop, Celle, VE Day, 8/5/1945; VE Day celebrations, Celle, 8/5/1945; story relating to consequences of looting in Normandy, France, 1944; attempt of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp survivors to put on concert party for liberators, 4/1945; ignoring of non-fraternisation order; supervision of Displaced Persons at Buxtehude, 6/1945-8/1945; attitude towards Germans.
REEL 6 Continues: contact with Displaced Persons; reaction to bombed state of Hanover and it's inhabitants living in holes in rubble; entertainment in Hanover; mess catering role with unit and in military prison in Münster; troops' attitude towards Corps of Military Police; nature of regime in Münster Prison, 1946; lack of interest in black market; attitude to speed of demobilisation, 1946; attitude towards having served in Second World War.
