Interview with Ronald Hare

British private served with 70th Bn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and 57th Anti-Tank Regt, Royal Artillery in GB and Egypt, 1941-1943; gunner served with 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 1st Airborne Div in Italy, 1943-1944 and during Operation Market Garden in Netherlands, 9/1944; prisoner of war in Germany, 10/1944-4/1945; NCO served with 300th Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 6th Airborne Div in Palestine, 1946

REEL 1 Background in Kingston upon Hull, GB, 1922-1941: family; education; employment; volunteering for military service, 9/1/1941. German Air Force attacks on Kingston upon Hull, 1940-1941. Aspects of training as private with 70th Bn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in GB, 1941-1942: basic training at Loughborough; fiddling of bread ration; failing recruitment tests for Glider Pilot Regiment, 1942. Aspects of period as gunner with 57th Anti-Tank Regt, Royal Artillery in GB and Egypt, 1942-1943: transfer to unit; hospital treatment for mouth abscess in Egypt. Aspects of period of training as gunner with 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 1st Airborne Div in Italy and GB, 9/1943-9/1944: transfer to unit, 9/1943; training for abortive posting to Anzio Beachhead at Barletta, Italy; treatment for spinal problem, Lincoln, GB, 1944; role as gun layer on Ordnance QF 17 Pounder Anti-Tank Gun; defect of Ordnance QF 17 Pounder Anti-Tank Gun in action and mishap that occurred during training on Salisbury Plain; preference for Ordnance QF 25 Pounder Field Gun as anti-tank weapon. Recollections of operations as gunner with 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 1st Airborne Div during Operation Market Garden in Netherlands, 9/1944: take off from RAF Tarrant Rushton in General Aircraft Hamilcar Glider; opinion of Sten Gun. REEL 2 Continues: crash of General Aircraft Hamilcar Glider on landing; gun position near Oosterbeek; casualties to gun crew from mortar splinters; wounding of Sergeant Thomas; nature of house-to-house fighting; opinion of Sten Gun in action; work of Dutch civilian attending to wounded; rations; withdrawal to River Nederrijn; capture by Germans whilst waiting to cross River Nederrijn. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Germany, 10/1944-5/1945: interrogation and transport to Germany, 10/1944; incarceration in camp near Dresden; work parties during winter 1944-1945. REEL 3 Continues: German discovery of Dutchman's illicit radio; Allied air raids on Dresden, 2/1945; ill treatment of Soviet prisoner of war by German guard; effect of Allied air raids on Dresden and his reaction to them; march to Sudetenland border; Soviet Air Force attacks on roads, 4/1945. Aspects of period in Czechoslovakia, 4/1945-5/1945: reaching Prague; Czechs fear of Soviet Army troops; United States Army processing of ex-prisoners of war; return to GB; memories of comrades wounded during Operation Market Garden; attitude to having served in Operation Market Garden; question of German treatment of prisoners of war. Aspects of operations as NCO with 300th Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 6th Airborne Div in Palestine, 1946: testing M2 4.2 Inch Mortar; attempt to get him to sign on for further military service and reasons for refusal; patrolling and searches for arms; handling of civilians; story of later role as M2 4.2 Inch Mortar instructor in 1950.