Forsyth, Macleod (Oral history)

British NCO served with Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in GB, 1933-1941; served with 2nd Bn Parachute Regiment in GB, France and North Africa, 1942-1943 including Bruneval Raid, 2/1942; served with 8th Bn Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1945

REEL 1 Background in GB, 1912-1933: family and education; employment. Period with Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in GB, 1933-1939: basic training at Stirling; character of army biscuits; nature of manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain; degree of fitness in army, pre Second World War; training recruits and qualities looked for; attitude to parade ground drill. Period with Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in GB, 1939-1941: opinion of militiamen trained, Alloa, 1939; fear of firearm accidents with new recruits, summer 1940; guard duties in Orkney; story of one soldier who accidentally shot another and having to arrange army funeral; volunteering for special duties, 1941. REEL 2 Continues: Period of training with 1st Bn Parachute Regt in GB, 1941-1942: reporting to unit at Chesterfield; formation of Scotch C Coy; character of training including jumping from moving lorries; parachute training at Ringway; reaction to first parachute jump; attitude to being returned to unit for refusing to jump; hunger during training because of high energy expenditure. Recollections of Bruneval Raid as NCO with C Coy, 2nd Bn Parachute Regt, France, 2/1942: jumping on target and paratroopers apprehension of tracer from Le Havre; problem with wireless link with Royal Navy; operation objectives; execution of raid; treatment of paratroopers on return; equipment carried by paratroopers and engineers; role during raid. Transfer to A Coy, 2nd Bn Parachute Regt, 1942. Recollections of operations as NCO with A Coy, 2nd Bn Parachute Regt in North Africa, 1942-1943: landing in Algiers, 11/1942; reaction to French policeman's brutality towards Arab civilian, Algiers, 11/1942; failure of raw US troops at Kasserine, 2/1943; para drop at Dieppiene, near Tunis; withdrawal to Medjis-el-Bab; Major John Frost's use of hunting horn. REEL 3 Continues: hallucinations on retreat from Tunis; aspects of battle of Cork Wood, Sedjenine, 1943 including officer's panic, shell hit on mule supply train, reaction to sight of dead paratrooper and refusal to obey 'no blankets for burial order'; tendency to speak his mind to officers; reasons for being returned to unit. Recollection of operations with Y Coy, 8th Bn Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in Sicily and Italy, 8/1943-5/1945: joining unit, Mount Etna, Sicily, 8/1943; landing at Termoli, Italy; contrast between Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and Parachute Regt in action; contact with German soldier, Termoli. REEL 4 Continues: brush with German patrol on River Sangro; failure of unit's grenades; crossing River Po on pontoon bridge; question of deliberate 'bellying in' of tanks by armoured unit; opinion of commanding officer Hamish Taylor. Recollections of period with 8th Bn Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders during occupation of Austria, 1945: question of observing on non-fraternisation order; cancellation of leave; move to Heiligen Blut; story of unreasonable request of RAF warrant officer for carriage to himself on train journey; attitude of commanding officer to giving him permission to marry Austrian civilian, 12/1945. Period in War Office housing department, post Second World War: policy towards allowing war widows to keep their houses; opinion of Shinwell's treatment of war widows. Question of post war army discipline. Question of lessons learnt about patriots. REEL 5 Continues: Attitude to having served in Second World War. Question of those who pretend to have served at Bruneval and Arnhem. Reaction to US paratroopers use of second parachute. Accident he witnessed in parachute jumping. Award of military medal for action at Cork Wood. Story of father's objection to going into coal mining in 1920s.