Description
Object description
British officer served with 20th Armoured Car Coy (Fife & Forfar Yeomanry) Royal Tank Regt in GB, 1931-1939; served with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry in GB and North West Europe, 1939-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background, 1912-1939: family circumstances; family homes; preparatory school education; education at Eton, 1924-1931, including daily routine, sporting activities, nature of OTC training, period as student at Trinity Hall College, Cambridge, 1931-1934; participation in University Boat Race, 1933; recruitment and training as officer with No 2 Troop, 20th Armoured Car Coy (Fife and Forfar Yeomanry) Royal Tank Regt at Kirkaldy: 1931-1939, including interview prior to commission, organisation of unit, opinion of officers, origins of ORs, drill nights, weekend camps at Annsmuir, Ladybank and Rolls Royce armoured cars; award of degree despite illness; training and work in brewery industry, 1934-1939; background to enlargement of Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 1938-1939; annual summer camps.
REEL 2 Continues: annual summer camps. Period commanding B Sqdn 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry at Drill Hall, Dunfermline, 4/1939-9/1939: success of recruitment drive; composition of unit; opinion of Colonel Sandy McIintosh; story illustrating character of Major Fergus McIntyre; training new recruits; mobilisation, 1/9/1939; equipment. Period at Markinch, 10/1939-1/1940: coastal night patrols; German air raid on Forth area, 16/10/1939. Periods at Beaumont Barracks, Aldershot and Farnham, 1/1940-6/1940: range firing; attending course in deployment in role as divisional reconnaissance unit with division; patrols on Hogs back; role of Trooper Harold Brown as officer's servant; news of posting to Northern Ireland. Recollections of periods at Dungannon and Bessbrook, Northern Ireland, 6/1940-: journey out and problem with overloaded train; relationship with Irish civilians and question of internal security.
REEL 3 Continues: story of purchasing maps for possible defensive role in event Germany invaded Eire; opinion of replacement Colonel Eric Sword; question of Christmas celebrations at Dungannon, 25/12/1940; requesting permission from Sword to get married , 2/1941. Recollections of periods at Whitby, 7/1941-4/1942: change of status to armoured regiment in 29th Armoured Bde; opinion of new Valentine tank; use of wireless; lighting fires on Yorkshire Moors to distract German bombers, 8/1941; opinion of Colonel Cooper and question of removal of unsuitable officers. Period in Hove and Brighton area, 4/1942-8/1942. Period at Fornham Camp, Bury St Edmunds, Chippenham Camp, Bridlington and Aldershot, 8/1942-6/1944: re-equipment with Crusader and Covenanter tanks; reaction to influx of English drafts; false alarm of posting to North Africa and question of state of morale; opinion of new Sherman tanks and question of extra armour fitted.
REEL 4 roles of Sherman crew; regimental radio net; exercises; firing range at Kircudbrigshire; move to Aldershot, 3/1944; waterproofing; move to Gosport, 6/1944. Initial period at Cully, 16/6/1944-26/6/1944: Channel crossing; squadron leaders reconnaissance missions; problem posed by hedge banks; slit trenches; compo rations. Aspects of operation Epsom, 26/6/1944-1/7/1944: question of lack of initial opposition; perspective as tank commander; regimental net; situation at Cheux; question of communication with infantry; tank environment; organisation of squadron night laager; move onto Point 112; nebelwerfer fire and risk posed to Sherman engine compartment; question of extra armour fitted to Sherman. Account of Operation Goodwood, 18/7/1944-19/7/1944: lack of prior briefing of Allied bombing raid; question of preliminary barrage.
REEL 5 Continues: preliminary bombardment; position of B Sqdn advancing on left of line of attack; passing through minefield; lack of German fire in advance to Caen-Troarn railway embankment; problems in crossing embankment; loss of first tank; out-running British barrage; situation on crossing Caen-Vimont railway embankment; situation and origins of German fire; role of German 88 mm guns; crossing Caen-Vimont railway embankment; squadron dispositions; lack of hits on Gilmour's Sherman; taking over as temporary second in command of unit from wounded Major Trotter; move forward of 23rd Hussars and formation into one squadron of remnants of unit; reaction to casualties and question of fate of crews; relationship with crew including wireless operator Sergeant Berkeley and Driver Trooper Clark; state of German opposition; taking up reserve role and re-organisation behind 23rd Hussars; question of rescue of crews and subsequent casualties in German air attack; action with German tanks having crossed Caen-Vimont railway embankment; opinion of various officers including Majors Nicholls, Trotter and John Powell and Colonel Alec Scott.
REEL 6 Continues: problem caused by battlefield smoke; question of German opposition from various locations on left flank; calling in Typhoons to attack Solieres and subsequent reluctance to enter village due to threat from German infantry; opinion of overall plan on operations and recognition of power of anti-tank guns in such open country as opposed to bocage terrain; death and burial of Powell, 19/7/1944; role in commanding composite squadron in successful attack on Herbert Folie, 18.00, 19/7/1944. Aspects of operations, 7/1944-4/1945: reorganisation of unit, question of disbandment of unit and successful incorporation within unit of large reinforcement drafts from disbanded 24th Lancers; opinion of Major Hutchison; nature of threat posed by minefields; advantages of increased level of close co-operation with infantry; threat posed by German bazookas; clash with German tanks following capture of ridge including importance of hull down positions and direction of gunner as tank commander.
REEL 7 Continues: move out of bocage into open country; story of changing tank after wireless failure; success in cutting Vire road; crossing Seine and overnight advance on Amiens, entry into Antwerp, 9/1944; role on promotion as second in command; co-operation with infantry; rescuing Allied pilot in No Mans Land in Voylen sector; handing in Shermans ready for re-equipment with Comet tanks whilst at Ypres; question of Sherman flammability; mine damage to tank tracks; hotel billets in Ypres; visits to First World War battlefields; operations in Ardennes area, 12/1944-1/1945, including re-equipment with Shermans, taking advance detachment to Namur, French refugees, co-operation with parachute units, operations in Chapel Hill and winter conditions; return to Ypres, 1/1945; opinion of Comet; firing practise at Gravelines; award of DSO; crossing of Rhine and move into Germany, 3/1945; German air attack; question of German use of bazookas.
REEL 8 Continues: story of being wounded in groin by accidental firing of gun whilst directing tanks into overnight laager, 10/4/1945. Evacuation and operation in hospital in Belgium, 4/1945. Period of sick leave in GB, 4/1945-11/1945: VE Day, 8/5/1945; state of wounds. Recollections of standing as Conservative candidate in Clackmannon, East Stirling in General Election, 6/1945: problems with petrol rationing; nature of public meetings; reactions to Conservative defeat. Continuation of sick leave until demobilisation, 11/1945. Return to work in brewing industry, 1/1946. Period as commanding officer of Fife and Forfar Yeomanry with headquarters at Cupar, 1946-1952: recruitment; visits to drill nights at squadron HQs; equipment with armoured cars and preference for reconnaissance role; annual camps and value of soldiers with war experience; standing down as colonel. Membership of Fife and Forfar Yeomanry Regimental Association.
