Interview with Samuel Henry Alfred Lapidus

British NCO served with 69th Medium Regt, Royal Artillery III Corps in France and Belgium, 1/1940-6/1940; 69th Medium Regt, Royal Artillery, Eastern Command in GB, 1940-1942; officer served with 178th Assault Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 36th Infantry Div in India and Burma, 1943-1945

REEL 1 Background in Birmingham and North Wales, GB, 1915-1939: family; education; joining 69th Caernarvon and Denbigh (Yeomanry) Medium Regt, Royal Artillery, Territorial Army in North Wales. Recollections of operations as NCO with 361th Bty, 69th Medium Regt, Royal Artillery, III Corps in France and Belgium, 1/1940-6/1940: arrival in Arras area, France, 1/1940; reception by Belgium civilians, 10/5/1940; initial action at Louvain, Belgium, 5/1940; reaction of Belgians to surrender; contact with Middlesex Regt at Commines, France; stranding in Commines, France; loss of guns and equipment; sight of British Army rearguard; German Air Force attacks on men on beaches at Dunkirk, France; ; problems soldiers had in sea; evacuation from East Mole at Dunkirk; reception at Dover, GB, 2/6/1940. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of period as NCO with 69th Medium Regt, Royal Artillery, Eastern Command in GB, 1940-1941: re-assembling of unit at Larkhill Camp; state of unit morale, 6/1940; contact with German Air Force prisoner of war during Battle of Britain; airfield defence role at RAF Shoreham, summer 1940; German Air Force aircraft regiment shot down at Lancing College; German Air Force attack on HMS Peregrine, Royal Naval Air Station Ford, 18/8/1940; coastal defence role at Climping; effects of Prime Minister Winston Churchill's and William Joyce 'Lord Haw Haw' radio broadcasts; officer selection procedure; posting to 178th Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 1942. Aspects of period as officer with 178th Assault Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 36th Infantry Div in India, 1943: arrival in Bombay, 6/1943; training in Poona area; change in unit equipment. Recollections of operations with 178th Assault Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 36th Infantry Div in Burma, 1944-1945: impression of Joseph Stilwell; injury in mine accident, 1944; problems of getting guns across River Irrawaddy, 12/1944; medical condition of troops; state of unit at Maymyo, 1945. REEL 3 Continues: withdrawal of division from Burma. Recollections of period as officer with 178th Assault Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 36th Infantry Div in Malaya and Java, Dutch East Indies, 1945: preparations for Operation Zipper, the invasion of Malaya in India, 8/1945; hearing news of atomic bombs being dropped on Japan, 8/1945; liberation of Singapore; Japanese commandant who tried to commit suicide; reception by Japanese at Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies; disarming Indonesian guards; reception of Dutch authorities; attitude of British paratroopers; sight of Japanese forces surrender of weapons. Aspects of demobilisation in GB, 1946: arrival in GB, 2/1946; demobilisation procedure at Lancaster; effect of demobilisation on later social situation. Aspects of period as officer with 78th Assault Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 36th Infantry Div in Burma and Dutch East Indies and Burma, 1943-1945: liberation of internees in Java, Dutch East Indies, 9/1945; attitude towards Japanese in Burma. REEL 4 Continues: use of artillery pieces in Arakan, Burma, 1943-1944; story of soldier who had no idea of geography; story of Imperial Japanese Army commandant who confiscated internees teeth in Java, Dutch East Indies.