Description
Object description
British trooper served with 9th Royal Tank Regt, 34th Armoured Bde in GB and North West Europe, 1942-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Norwich, GB, 1924-1939: family circumstances; education; employment; reactions to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939 and Munich Crisis, 9/1938. Aspects of period as civilian in Norwich, GB, 1939-1942: character of German Air Force raids on city, 1942; question of 'conditioning' to hate Germans; reaction to military defeats, 6/1940; job as fire-watcher; refugees from Norwich to countryside during German bombing; effect of German Air Force bombing on public morale; sight of shot-down aircraft; effect of Prime Minister Winston Churchill's broadcasts; attitude towards wireless. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 1942: remarks made by women towards him for not being in armed forces; reasons for volunteering for British Army, 3/1942; father's reaction to his volunteering for military service; arrival at Royal Armoured Corps Depot at Bovington Camp; nature of training. Aspects of period as trooper with 9th Royal Tank Regt, 34th Armoured Bde in GB, 1942-1944: reasons for choosing unit; joining unit at Charing; contrast between recruits and older soldiers; fatigue duties; role as gunner-mechanic on Churchill Tank; training in GB.
REEL 2 Continues: preparations for invasion of Normandy, France; use of Bostick to waterproof Churchill Tank; adaptations to tanks. Recollections of operations as trooper with 9th Royal Tank Regt, 34th Armoured Bde in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: suffering from seasickness on landing craft; beach landing, 19/6/1944; lagering at Saint-Gabriel-Brécy; explanation of term 'hatch finger'; going into action in support of 15th (Scottish) Infantry Div during Operation Epsom, 7/1944; sight of crews returning; reaction to loss of comrades; detection of German counter-attack; reaction to sight of German with abdominal wound; posting to 9 Troop, B Sqdn. Recollections of operations as trooper with 9 Troop, B Sqdn, 9th Royal Tank Regt, 34th Armoured Bde in North West Europe, 1944-1945: stress of waiting to go into action; damage to tank's tracks at Le Havre, France; destruction of tank gun in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; reaction to period with forward delivery squadron; question of desire to return to regiment; role of Volkssturm in Germany; opinion of German Army; breakdown of unit demarcation by 9/1944; billeting with collaborators in Rozendaal, Netherlands; behaviour of British Army towards civilians. Recollections of period as trooper with 9th and 4th Royal Tank Regts in Germany, 1945: ignoring of non-fraternisation orders; occupation duties in Mettingen, near Osnabrück.
REEL 3 Continues: confiscation of Schutzstaffel (SS) uniforms; devastated state of Osnabrück; use as cigarettes as currency; disbanding of 9th Royal Tank Regt and move to 4th Royal Tank Regt; plans to send regiment to Japan, summer 1945; items Dutch forced labourers were allowed to take from Germany to Netherlands after VE Day, 8/5/1945; reasons for marriage not working. Aspects of period as trooper with 4th Royal Tank Regt in Italy, 1945-1947: train journey from Germany to Italy; duties in Padua; amusing story of encounter with continental bathroom installations; raids on brothels in Padua; orders to set up canteen; amusing story of bleaching swimming-pool at Palmanova. Aspects of service with 9th Royal Tank Regt, 34th Armoured Bde in North West Europe, 1944-1945: problems of describing actual fighting; use of Kangaroo Armoured Personnel Carrier; role of the three different types of tanks; question of superiority of German armour; psychological effect of his fear of being burnt in tanks; German belief that tanks could not penetrate the Reichswald Forest.
REEL 4 Continues: silence of front line; capture of Rozendaal, Netherlands, 9/1944; rarity of tank versus tank battles. Attitude of having served with 9th Royal Tank Regt in Second World War.