Description
Object description
British civilian clerk with London, Midland and Scottish Railways at Borrowash Railway Station in GB, 1940-1942; member of 14th (Derby Works) Bn Derbyshire Home Guard in Derby, GB, 1942-1943; rifleman served with 10th Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps in GB, 1943-1944; rifleman and NCO served with 12th Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps, 8th Armoured Bde in North West Europe and GB, 1944-1945; NCO served with 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps in Libya and Palestine, 1945-1947
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Derby, GB, 1925-1940: family; education; recreational activities; hearing declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; presence of decoy site near home; move of school, winter 1939-1940. Aspects of period as railway clerk with Midland and Scottish Railways at Borrowash Railway Station in GB, 1940-1943: duities as clerk including meeting with future wife; increase in work as war progressed.
REEL 2 Continues: nature of German Air Force attacks on Derby area; joining 14th (Derby Works) Bn Derbyshire Home Guard, 7/1942; pattern of training; arms training; role of traffic control platoon; character of platoon. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with King's Royal Rifle Corps at Richmond Barracks, Richmond, GB, 8/1943-10/1943: background to enlistment, 6/1943; description of barracks; presence of recruits from London; daily routine; impressions of drill NCO; attitude towards drill; weapons training.
REEL 3 Continues: degree of physical fitness; rations; off duty activities; cleaning kit; friends he made in squad; nature of NCO training; ranking of squads at end of training period; hospitalisation at end of course. Recollections of period as rifleman with 10th Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps at Strensall Barracks, York, GB, 10/1943-7/1944: posting to training battalion; light infantry pace; instruction on tradition of corps; description of barracks and drill square; degree of ability with Bren Gun and Lee-Enfield Rifle; firing rifle; grenade training.
REEL 4 Continues: bayonet training; Ordnance SBML 2 Inch Mortar and Projector Infantry Anti-Tank (PIAT) training; effect of firing Projector Infantry Anti-Tank (PIAT) on hearing; assault course and method of crossing barbed wire; opinion of training; improvement in fitness; attending War Office Selection Board (WASB); route marches; standard required for inspections; kit inspections; behaviour of instructing corporal; driver training; signal training including Morse Code.
REEL 5 Continues: use of No 18 Wireless Set; description of No 38 Wireless Set; opinion of 19 Wireless Set; degree of knowledge of wireless sets; wireless procedure; story of getting lost during exercise; hearing of D-Day landings during exercise; social activities; nature of specialist training; period in transit in GB, 7/1940; attitude to active service posting. Recollections of operations as rifleman with 12th Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps, 8th Armoured Bde in Normandy, France, 7/1944-8/1944: disembarkation on Mulberry Harbour, 7/1944; initial experience of shell fire; allocation to 10 Platoon, C Company; reception by platoon sergeant; character of platoon signals officer.
REEL 6 Continues: composition of platoon signals section; signal platoon vehicles; initial attachment to Bren Gun Carrier platoon; composition of 8th Armoured Bde; sight of devastation in Falaise Gap. Recollections of operations as rifleman with 12th Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps, 8th Armoured Bde in North West Europe, 1944-1945: start of rapid advance into Belgium, 8/1944; sight of accidental death of tank commander; death of comrade from artillery fire; behaviour of liberated civilians; taking up positions; in action on Albert Canal, Belgium, 9/1944; start of Operation Market Garden, 9/1944; conditions on corridor heading towards Arnhem, Netherlands, 9/1944; cooking of rations; reaction towards cancellation of operation to clear bridge on River Nederrijn, Netherlands
REEL 7 Continues: role of unit covering southern bank of River Nederrijn to allow remnants of 1st Airborne Div to escape; night patrolling; German shelling; return to Nijmegen, Nethelands; occupation of first German village, 1944; accidental death of officer; billeting on civilians in Netherlands, 12/1944; occupying positions at time of German Ardennes Offensive, 12/1944; conditions in Reichswald Forest, Germany; coping with cold, winter 1944-1945; unit morale; degree to which senior officer encountered; under machine gun fire in half-track at Kleve, Germany; question of Germans using dum dum bullets; sight of airborne glider force prior to crossing River Rhine, Germany; crossing River Rhine, Germany; memories of Major William Deedes.
REEL 8 Continues: character of advance towards Bremen; effect of Allied bombing of Bremen, 4/1945; youthfulness of German prisoners of war; attitude of British Army troops towards German property; German use of sea mines to blow roads and vehicles on road to Hamburg; nature of VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945; move of unit to Hannover; acquisitions of watches by comrade; return to GB, 7/1944. Aspects of period as rifleman with 12nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps at Crowborough, GB, 7/1945-10/1945: posting to Crowborough; attitude towards prospect of fighting Japanese; re-organisation of battalion. Recollections of period as NCO with 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps in Tripoli, Libya, 10/1945-11/1946: embarkation for voyage to Libya.
REEL 9 Continues: voyage from GB to Libya, 10/1945; arrival in Tripoli Harbour; barrack accommodation; duties with headquarters company during Arab/Jewish riots; off duty activities in Tripoli; promotion to corporal and training duties; attending course at Signals School in Cairo, Egypt, 5/1946; nature of listening to Morse Code; flag signal work; climbing Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt; return to Tripoli; attitude towards military service; story of meeting and engagement to future wife.
REEL 10 Continues: move to Palestine, 11/1946. Recollections of period as NCO with 2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps in Palestine, 11/1946-7/1947: proposed role of unit; provision of screens during village searches; swimming in Dead Sea; being placed on charge for being improperly dressed; return to GB; demobilisation and return to civilian life and employment, 7/1947. Attitude towards military service in Second World War