Willmott, Tommy (Oral history)

British trooper served with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry in GB and North West Europe, 1939-1945

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Dundee, 1918-1939: family circumstances; mixed religion marriage of parents an consequent problems over choice of school; part-time work as message boy at Lawsons Departmental Stores, 1930-1932; education; work as senior message boy and salesmen at Lawsons, 1932-1939; attending display school in London, 1938; Boys Brigade activities; Recruitment and training with Headquarters Sqdn, 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry at Bowbridge Works Drill Hall, Dundee, 4/1939-9/1939: background to decision to join territorials to avoid conscription into Black Watch; procedure; recruits' inability to drive; kitting out; learning to drive in lorry; drill and value of Boys Brigade training; weekend camps at Annsmuir Ladybank. REEL 2 Continues: weekend camps at Annsmuir Ladybank including problems with employer, learning to drive Rolls Royce armoured car, learning to operate No 9 wireless set and conditions of service; rifle training. attending summer camp at Waitworth Camp, Catterick, 7/1939-8/1939, including problem with employer, uniform, kit inspections, training and presence of 1st Fife and Forfar Yeomanry; story of using call up to avoid work sandbagging Lawsons, 1/9/1939. Initial period at Grimond's Jute Mill, 9/1939: sandbagging drill hall; story of extraction of teeth; billeting at home; move to Kirkcaldy. Period at Kirkcaldy, 9/1939-10/1939: guard duty; opinion of various officers and NCOs including Lieutenant Alistair Grant, Lieutenant Robert Bruce, Lieutenant Gordon-Simpson and Major Turkin and Sergeant Maxwell; awareness of German air raid in Forth area, 16/10/1939; opinion of Regimental Sergeant Major Jones and story of his reaction to two troopers who shaved their heads; lilo sleeping bed. REEL 3 Continues: march to Leslie. Period at Leslie, 10/1939-1/1940: church hall billets; opinion of various officers and NCOs including Major Joe Powell, Colonel Sandy McIntosh and Sergeant Majors Grainger and Nelson Taylor; continued territorial character of unit; ex-bank manager troopers; learning to ride motorcycle; role as despatch rider on commandeered motorcycles; pay and deductions; question of smoking and drinking habits; coastal defence and movement exercises under winter conditions; Period in Beaumont Barracks, Aldershot and Farnham, 1/1940-6/1940: barrack accommodation; drill; PT; mounting guard with pipe band; move to Farnham, 2/1940; billets; role as despatch rider and story of Major Powell's orders for temporary period on fatigues to avoid becoming over confident; relationship with civilians; detachment of motorcyclists on anti parachutist duty on Hog's Back. REEL 4 Continues: role in devising system for despatch riders during journey with road convoy during journey to Northern Ireland. Recollections of period at Dungannon and Bessbrook, Northern Ireland, 6/1940-7/1941: promotion to corporal; billets; role training despatch riders in active service role with squadrons; Mark VI B tanks; earlier question of relieving 1st F&FY in France, ca 5/1940; preparations for defensive operations in event of Germany invaded Eire; organising training in map reading; hand grenade course with infantry; story of hastily learning Morse code whilst attending wireless course at Bovington Camp, 6/1941-7/1941; duties as despatch rider; participation in army motorcycle reliability trials; relationship with Irish civilians and question of religious divide; question of drafts to and from unit; difficulty over Christmas celebrations on move to Bessbrook, 12/1940; billets. Period at Whitby, 7/1941-4/1942: billets; promotion to signals sergeant; attitude to sergeants' mess; role acting as wireless operator in Colonel Cooper's Covenantor tank; opinion of Cooper; role training signallers in operation of No 19 wireless set including opinion of set, difficulty in explaining division into A,B and intercom sets and signallers initial problems during exercise to test ability to tune sets into wireless net. REEL 5 Continues: role acting as wireless operator in Cooper's Covenantor tank; exercises; inspection by George VI; composition of newly formed 11th Armoured Div; arrival of more experienced replacement officers. Period at Hove, 4/1942-8/1942: hard rations regime of Operation Tiger; recreations. Period at Bury St Edmunds Camp, 8/1942-10/1942: promotion to quarter master sergeant to HQ Sqdn; role as SQMS including requisitions, relationship with Quartermaster, detailing ration strength, problems with shortfalls in war office controlled stores and problems in issue of pay; SQMS staff; reactions to arrival of English drafts and attached personnel with their successful integration in unit; porridge. Period at Chippenham camp, 10/1942-: question of state of unit morale in absence of active service; organisation of squadron concert parties; attending tan compass course in preparation for possible North African posting. REEL 6 Continues: question of impact on morale of repeated cancellations of announced overseas active service postings. Period at Rudston and Bridlington, 4/1943-3/1944: role supervising operation of sergeants' mess and problem with regimental sergeant major; opinion of Sherman tank; absence of A and B Echelon role in exercises; waterproofing; role supervising laundry service. Period at Aldershot, 3/1944-6/1944: checks on personal kit; closure of messes; role of adjutant; storage of kitbags; unpaid NCOs due to official unit establishment; role of A and B Echelons. Crossing English Channel aboard Landing Ship Tank; 16/6/1944. Period in Cully sector, 16/6/1944-26/6/1944: B Echelon positions in field; compo ration system; role of armourer and cobbler; system of sending ammunition and fuel lorries up from B to A Echelon; knocked out Shermans. Recollections of Operation Epsom, 26/6/1944-2/7/1944: situation; speech by Colonel Scott to tank crews; opinion of Scott; previous attendance of courses at Officers Cadet Training Units and rejection through refusal to serve in infantry. REEL 7 Continues: view of B Sqdn moving off and saluting Scott; moving up behind squadrons; account of A and B Echelon role in re-supplying HQ Sqdn in overnight laager, 26/6/1944, including notification of requirements, role of Captain Harry Melville and Major Alastair Grant, replenishing ammunition, fuels, food and water supplies and difficulty in locating laager, personal role; story of accidental firing of 75mm Sherman gun; crossing River Odon and advance to Point 112, ca 28/6/1944; use of slit trenches; nebelwerfer fire; responsibility for supply of all HQ Sqdn tanks and vehicles; importance of maintaining supply of cigarette ration to tank crews; mail; situation on Point 112 and retreat to Cully sector, ca 2/7/1944. Recollections of Operation Goodwood, 17/7/1944-19/7/1944: prior briefing; night move and traffic congestion; concentration at Ranville glider field; view of preliminary Allied air raid; move forward with cooks' truck as far as Regimental Aid Post; story of Medical Officer Captain Beamish treating apparently mortally wounded Lieutenant Robert Clark. REEL 8 Continues: return to B Echelon and German air raid on A Echelon. Period at Ardenne Abbey, 22/7/1944-28/7/1944: Captain Beamish's replacement after loss of nerve; question of break up of unit due to casualties. Aspects of advance through France into Belgium and Netherlands, 8/1944-12/1944: move behind line to switch direction; nature of operations; absence of digging in; routine duties; rum ration; absence of pilfering from stores; problems with shortfalls in war office controlled stores; situation on occupation of Bucy Hill, ca 3/8/1944-4/8/1944; story of personal reconnoitring crossing of River Seine and reprimand from Scott; case of loss of entire tank crew; ; fuel problems; entry into Antwerp, Belgium; billets; opinion of Padre Captain Oswald Welch; question of dispute with major Hutchison over loss of bridge at Asten and subsequent crossing over replacement bridge; entry into Asten with A Echelon; story of firing 75mm shell into Germany; billets at Eiselstein; problems supplying tanks in Little America sector; story of burying surplus 75mm ammunition prior to handing in of Shermans and MT at Brussels ready for re-equipment with Comet tanks; role arranging billets and re-opening messes in Ypres, 12/1944. REEL 9 Continues: billets at Ypres, 12/1944; Montgomery investiture ceremony. Aspects of operations in Ardennes, 12/1944-1/1945: collecting Shermans and MT from Brussels; move to Namur; problems locating supplies; move to Dinant and orders to search for fifth columnists; move to Falmagne; attempt to camouflage Shermans white; supplying squadrons on Chapel Hill; return to Ypres. Period at Ypres, 1/1945-3/1945: re-equipment with Comets; Menin Gate parade. Aspects of operations during advance into Germany, 3/1945-5/1945: crossing Rhine; nature of operations and duties; story of fatal accidental firing of Comet 76 mm gun and reaction of Scott; smell of death from Hamburg; German POWs and looting of brewery on entry into Lubeck; opinion of Major Grant and Lieutenant Quartermaster; role with advance party in arranging billets at Bredtedt; reactions to VE Day, 8/5/1945; opinion of Grant. Period at Bredstedt, 5/1945-1/1946: organising coal and lumber supply; question of non-fraternisation with German civilians; question of black market and cigarette supplies; formation of riding school; Russian party collecting displaced persons at nearby village; promotion to Regimental Quatermaster and role supervising SQMS; role supplying Russian displaced person camp. REEL 10 Continues: role supplying Russian displaced person camp; GB leave; increasing fraternisation with German civilians; exchange of personnel with 1st Fife and Forfar Yeomanry in preparation for possible Far East posting; demobilisation, 2/1944. Aspects of operations, 1944-1945: role of Squadron Sergeant Major Macloughlin in replacing tank crew casualties; access to maps and wireless to monitor situation. Demobilisation, 2/1946. Post-war career: rejection of various offers of jobs; career at Lawsons; role with Fife and Forfar Yeomanry Regimental Association.