Knight, Lionel Huntley (Oral history)

British NCO served with 43rd Wessex Royal Army Service Corps in France, 1940; officer served with 8th Bn East Lancashire Regt in GB, 1941-1942; served with Staffordshire Yeomanry in Tunisia and North West Europe, 1943-1945

REEL 1 Background in Plymouth, GB, 1920-1938: family, education. Recollections of period with 43rd Wessex Royal Army Service Corps in GB and France, 1938-1940: joining Territorial Army, 1938; arrival in Cherbourg, France, 1/1940; basing of unit at Quennt, near Arras. Recollections of operations as NCO with 43rd Wessex Royal Army Service Corps in France and Belgium 5/1940: method of disabling vehicles; attitude of French civilians towards British troops in Dunkirk; embarkation aboard HMS Malcolm and voyage to Dover; re-capitulation of story; degree to which troops kept informed; reception in Dover. Period with 43rd Wessex Royal Army Service Corps in GB, 1940: re-equipping of unit in Chesterfield; move to Northern Ireland; officer selection boards. Various aspects of commissioning at Royal Military College at Sandhurst, 10/1941. Period with 8th Bn East Lancashire Regt, 1941: renaming of unit to 144th Regt Royal Armoured Corps; posting to unit, 10/10/1941. REEL 2 Continues: unit equipment; attitude to being with unit. Voyage from GB to Egypt aboard Mataroa, 1942. Recollections of operations with Staffordshire Yeomanry in Tunisia, 1943:posting to unit, 12/1942; character of fighting during advance into Tunisia, 1942-1943; role as troop leader; scouting role of Crusader tanks; action at Enfidaville; attack on Mareth Line; opinion of German troops; attitude to serving in unit; demeanour of German POWs. Period with Staffordshire Yeomanry in GB, 1943-1944: arrival in GB, ca 12/1943; training in Lossiemouth area, early 1944; preparations for D-Day at Newmarket; benefits of tanks carrying their own ration supply. Recollections of operations with C Sqdn, Staffordshire Yeomanry in Normandy, 6/1944-7/1944: boarding LCT at Newhaven; character of landing on Sword Beach, D-Day, 6/6/1944. REEL 3 Continues: towing of ammunition pontoon, 6/6/1944; attack on Lebisey Wood, 6/6/1944; capture of Russian POW, 6/6/1944; sight of burning Fife and Forfar tanks knocking out of his own tank during Operation Goodwood, 7/1944. Period of with DD tank training with Staffordshire Yeomanry in GB and Netherlands, late 1944: withdrawal to Great Yarmouth, GB; pollution from DD tanks; exercises on River Maas, Netherlands. Recollections of crossing of River Rhine and advance into Germany with Staffordshire Yeomanry, Germany, 3/1945-5/1945: character of River Rhine crossing; loss of his tank's tracks on mine; role of unit during crossing; degree of resistance during advance into Germany; attitude of German POWs; relations with German civilians; taking supplies to Belsen Concentration Camp. REEL 4 Continues: reaction to news of VE Day. Various aspects of occupation duties with 3rd Bn Royal Tank Regt at Flensburg, Germany, 1945. Attitude to having served in Second World War. Award of Military Cross for action at Lebisey Wood, Normandy, 6/6/1944.