Interview with Alan Arthur Thomas Hiscock

British civilian visited Germany, 8/1939-9/1939; officer served with 70th Field Coy, King George V's Bengal Sappers and Miners, Indian Engineers, 17th Indian Infantry Div in India and Burma, 1942-1944; served as staff officer with IV Corps at Imphal, India, 3/1944-7/1944; served as staff officer with Fourteenth Army in Burma, 1944-1945; commanded Burma Sappers and Miners in Burma, 1945-1947

REEL 1 Background in Atherstone, GB, 1921-1939: family; education. Recollections of visit to Germany, 8/1939-9/1939: sight of German refugees fleeing from Polish border in Berlin, 1/9/1939; sight of Jewish refugees fleeing from Germany to Belgium, 2/9/1939; contrast between behaviour of Sturmabteilung (SA) and Schutzstaffel (SS); attitude of Germans to English visitors; sight of German civilians waving of call-up papers; openness of Nazi propaganda; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of period as student at University of Birmingham, GB, 9/1939-6/1941: engineering studies; commissioning into British Indian Army, at end of course, 6/1941. Aspects of voyage board HMT Otranto from GB to India, 1941: learning Urdu language on board; living conditions. Aspects of period as officer with King George V's Bengal Sappers and Miners Group, Indian Engineers in India, 1941: initial impressions of India; joining regiment at Roorkee; communal composition of regiment; ban on speaking English language before 2pm; relations with Indian civilians; joining 70th Field Coy; opinion of Major Ian Lyall Grant. Recollections of operations as officer with 70th Field Company, King George V's Bengal Sappers and Miners, Indian Engineers, 17th Indian Infantry Div in Burma, 3/1942-5/1942: arrival in Rangoon, 3/3/1942; attitude of troops to service in Burma. REEL 2 Continues: conditions during sea crossing from Madras, India to Rangoon, 3/1942; state of Rangoon, 3/3/1942; billets occupied in Rangoon; start of operations against Imperial Japanese Army; sight of Indian refugees; attitude of Burmese civilians towards Indians; attitude of Burmese civilians towards British presence, 3/1942; demolition work during retreat; character of retreat; problems of crossing River Chindwin; reception at Imphal, India, 5/1942. Aspects of period as officer with 70th Field Coy, King George V's Bengal Sappers and Miners, Indian Engineers, 17th Indian Infantry Div in India and Burma, 1942-1943: role and duties of unit. REEL 3 Continues: improving communications near Tiddim and Fort White, Burma. Recollections of operations as staff officer with IV Corp at Imphal, India, 3/1944-7/1944: duties; water purity problem; question of confidence during siege of Imphal; condition of Imperial Japanese Army troops by 4/1944. Aspects of period as staff officer with Fourteenth Army in Burma, 1944-1945: changes in jobs; change in attitude of Burmese civilians by 1945. Aspects of period commanding Burma Sappers and Miners in Burma, 1945-1947: role in reforming unit at Maymyo. REEL 4 Continues: methods employed to recreate unit; impressions of Aung San, 1947; social conditions in Burma, 1945-1947; equipping of unit; leaving Burma, 1947. Aspects of period as officer with British Commonwealth Forces Korea in Kure, Japan, 1953-1955: role in closing down base; attitude to service in Japan; contact with Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission.