Description
Object description
British trooper served with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry in GB and North West Europe, 1943-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Airdrie, 1924-1942: family circumstances; education; work as grocer's errand boy; reactions to outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; duties as fire watcher, ca 1940; activities and training with Home Guard based at Airdrie Railway Station, 1941; view of German air attack on Clydeside, 12/3/1941; question of volunteering and brothers' war service; call up, 12/3/1942. Recollections of conditions of service and lifestyle at Bridge of Don Barracks, Aberdeen, ca 3/1941-6/1941: first impressions; kitting out; compulsory shaving; barrack room accommodation; varying origins and relationship with recruits; visits into Aberdeen and church canteen facilities; morning routine; food rations supplemented in canteens; drill; PT; route marches and problems with pack; rifle training and problem of being left handed; bayonet and Bren gun training.
REEL 2 hand grenade training; relationship with NCOs and officers; room and kit inspections. Period training with Royal Armoured Corps at Catterick Camp, ca 1942-1943: initial posting for training as wireless operator; signals training; reclassification as gunner/wireless operator; opinion of Beza and Browning machine guns; training on 75mm gun; driving instruction on lorry and tanks; meaningless tasks to occupy time; question of recreations; influenza attack and homesickness. Recollections of various posting with 4 Troop, A Sqdn, 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry in GB, 1943-1945: reception on joining unit at Chippenham Camp; posting as gunner to crew containing Driver Mckinnon and Wireless Operator Norman Ingram; characteristics and role of crew members in Sherman tank including special training in fast baling out, special techniques developed using delay setting on high explosive shell and firing controls of turret 75mm gun and co-axial Browning.
REEL 3 Continues: characteristics and role of crew members in Sherman tank including method of loading 75mm gun, storage of shells, tank intercom and wireless, minimal role of co-driver and hull Browning, engine reliability and question of adequacy of armour; relationship with crew including Lieutenant Scott-Brownlie, Driver McKinnon, Wireless Operator Ingram, and Co-driver Gordon Fidler; relationship with English drafts to unit; porridge; gradual assimilation into unit; move to Rudston, 6/1943; avoidance of PT sessions; move to Bridlington; exercises including importance of taking up hull down positions, camouflage and nomination as POWs; period at Kircudbrigshire firing range including Guards training NCOs and question of results; difficulty of firing on move; breakthrough role of 11th Armoured Div.
REEL 4 Continues: Christmas and New Years Eve celebrations, 12/1943; visit by George VI; move to Aldershot, 3/1944; method of waterproofing Sherman; question of active service and attitude of NCO veterans from North African campaign posted to unit; move into Gosport area, 6/1944; view of air armada, 6/6/1944. Recollections of crossing English Channel in Tank Landing Craft, ca 16/6/1944: embarkation; problem with tangled barrage balloons; dry landing and move inland. Recollections of initial period in Cully sector, 17/6/1944-16/6/1944: situation; story of Steel-Brownlie's reaction to getting stuck on restricted track during retirement during possible German counter-attack; story of carelessly going to latrine in view of German troops and close escape from nebelwerfer shells; camouflage nets; bivouacs and sleeping arrangements; compo rations and crew arrangements; biting nails and smoking cigarettes as expression of nerves; latrine arrangements in tank; lack of contact with French civilians; reaction to visits to knocked out tanks.
REEL 5 Recollections of Operation Epsom, 26/6/11944-1/7/1944: environment and uniform worn inside Sherman; gunner and tank commander's periscope/telescope vision and control of turret movement; story of firing 75mm HE shell on German tanks during attack on Cheux, 26/6/1944, including question of range and effects of HE and AP shells; aiming points on German tanks; story of Sherman crew baling on the move in face of German anti-tank gun; question of claustrophobia in Sherman; personal morale; noise of German AP shells; overnight laager including layout, unloading and cleaning gun, aligning gun and aiming telescope before action, replenishing ammunition, refuelling, role as tank cook, story of officer mishandling HE shell, washing, guard duties and question of use of revolver.
REEL 6 Continues: overnight laager including sleep, fatigue and question of use of amphetamine pills; slit trenches; story of receiving superficial wounds from nebelwerfer fire, subsequent treatment in casualty clearing station, official notification of wound to parents and return to unit; German air attacks and prior jettisoning of .5 Browning machine gun. Recollections of being left out of Operation Goodwood at glider field, Ransart, 18/7/1944-19/7/1944: immobilisation of tank after pollution of petrol with water or sugar; return of baled out crews; position under glider wing; German night bombing attack and efforts of Duncan ??? to rescue wounded; casualties; problems in de-greasing new tank; opinion of Major Joe Powell. Recollections of advance through France, Belgium and Netherlands, 7/1944-9/1944: opinion of Steel-Brownlie and question of his luck in action; opinion of various NCOs including Sergeant Roy Vallance.
REEL 7 Continues: question of Firefly tank lagging behind in action; opinion of Co-driver Mackenzie and his success in scavenging for food and role brewing up tea inside Sherman; lulls in action; importance of tea and cigarette smoking; question of firing at will on targets on move and spraying woods with machine gun fire; operations on Vire-Vassy road, 2/8/1944-3/8/1944, including advance down sunken lane, capture of German ambulance and subsequent escape of German officer during US air attack, story of firing 75mm gun in error at German scout car and withdrawal on advance of German tanks; story of getting drunk on calvados and wine carried in Sherman; story of evacuating wounded tank crew; opinion of German Mark IV, Panther and Tiger tanks; calling up support from RAF; co-operation and relationship with infantry; question of German anti-tank and personnel mines.
REEL 8 Continues: nature of bocage country; story of ambushing and hitting German Mark IV; question of tanks brewing up; bridges; problem with dead German horses and vehicle wreckage on roads in Falaise Gap; overnight drive to Amiens, 30/8/1944-31/8/1944, including illustrations of confusion, slit headlights and necessity of refuelling; reception from French civilians in Lens; release of captured F&FY trooper who rejoined unit; question of treatment of French female civilian collaborators; French resistance; question of Guards Armoured Div entering into Brussels; entry into Antwerp and story of accidental blocking tramway travelling between front lines with 75mm gun; opinion of various officers including Major Hutchison and Captain David Voller; question of involvement in Arnham operations and nature of terrain; action with German paratroopers concealed in one man slit trenches in Helchteren sector, 10/9/1944, including wounding of Voller by German prisoner and background to decision not to shoot him in retaliation.
REEL 9 Continues: follow up role during advance to Asten, 9/1944; personal morale and nature of operations. Account of crossing Bailey bridge over Willems Canal at Asten, 21/9/1944-22/9/1944: situation and plan; crossing bridge after first three Sherman were hit or ditched; collision with ditched Sherman; move into Asten; taking up position and immobilisation after track came off; isolated position; success in firing air burst HE shell on advancing German infantry; story of shooting at hen house in error; loss of sprocket wheel and subsequent discovery as orchard ornament, ca 1989; repair of Sherman; retirement to laager; subsequent occupation of Asten by 15th Div. Aspects of period in Netherlands and Belgium, 9/1944-12/1944: question of promotion and becoming tank commander; Steel-Brownlie's promotion to captain; issue of tank overall suits; question of use of Bren gun; question of selling Lugers to US troops; story of looting from German egg factory; patrolling canal lines including rumours of British and German troops using same estaminet and story of possible contact with German sentry during guard duty on foggy night.
REEL 10 Period at Ypres, 12/1944: brothel billets; GB leave; retention of Sherman; story of party and evading morning inspection by volunteering for kitchen duties. Aspects of operations in Ardennes, 12/1944-1/1945: first news of German offensive from Belgian civilians; re-equipment; reception driving through Brussels; billets; taking up reserve positions; white paint snow camouflage for Shermans; situation; story of hitting two Mark IVs in action on Chapel Hill; view of baled out British crew; cold conditions and rum ration; road conditions; story of being attacked in convoy by US aircraft. Period at Ypres, 1/1945-3/1945: billets; relationship with Belgian civilians; characteristics of Comet tank; effects of 77mm gun AP shell on firing test on Panther at Gravelines firing range; comparison of armament of Comet and Sherman; issue of Bren gun for anti-aircraft use; stories of accidentally firing AP shell and turret machine gun. Aspects of operations during advance into Germany, 3/1945-5/1945; taking over in quiet sector from US troops and subsequent increase in fighting; effects of concentrated HE shell fire on German town.
REEL 11 Continues: story of firing Bren gun at dive bomber and close escape from bomb during German air attack on Rhine bridge; policy of firing into wooded areas and hedgerows; increased threat posed by panzerfaust; story of Steel-Brownlie being accidentally wounded in chest whilst destroying captured German anti-tank gun; opinion of various officers; casualties caused by 77mm gun being accidentally fired whilst going into laager; personal morale as end of war approached; passing through Belsen Concentration Camp; liberating British POWs; reactions to German concentration camps; attitude of new drafts and officers; rapid advance and entry into Lubeck, 4/1945, including role as lead tank, shooting down German aircraft attempting to take off, attitude of German civilians, and story of firing at and forcing aground German ship refusing to stop on river; displaced persons and Russian POWs; non-fraternisation with German civilians; move into billets in Bredstedt.
REEL 12 Period at Bredstedt, 1945: role as sergeants' mess cook; shooting game; question of volunteering for Far East service; relationship with German civilians; question of black market activities, use of cigarettes as currency rather than pay and close escape from being charged for not drawing pay on going on GB leave. Promotion to sergeant and course as instructor in GB, 1945. Period at Celle Camp, Germany, 1945-1946: lice problem; sergeants' mess; minimal duties; question of becoming regular; demobilisation party. Demobilisation, 1946. Post-war career: return to work in grocery trade; decision not to join F&FY Regimental Association; membership of South of Border Group.
