Interview with Michael Hugh Nott

British student in Germany, 1937; officer served with 1st Bn Northamptonshire Regt, 32nd Indian Infantry Bde, 20th Indian Infantry Div in India and Burma, 1941-1945; served with 3rd Bn Malay Regt, Malaya Command in Federation of Malaya, 1950-1952; served with 1st Bn Sierra Leone Regt, Royal West African Frontier Force in Sierra Leone, 1955-1958

REEL 1 Background in Ealing, GB, 1920-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as student in Germany, 1937: public reaction to Adolf Hitler's appearance at Düsseldorf; accommodation with family in Krefeld; relations with Germans; political comments he was subjected to; lack of contact with opposition to regime; German housewife's response to remarks about 'guns and butter'. Aspects of period as officer with British Army in GB, 1939-1940: reasons for choosing military career, 8/1939; reaction to declaration of Second World War; background to joining 5th (Huntingdonshire) Bn Northamptonshire Regt, 143rd Infantry Div, 48th (South Midland) Infantry Div at Lyme Regis, 6/1940. Aspects of period as officer with 1st Bn Northamptonshire Regt, 32nd Indian Infantry Bde, 20th Indian Infantry Div in India and Ceylon, 1941-1943: ferry accident in Ceylon; relations with local populations; hospitality of civilians in Ceylon; re-equipping of battalion at Ranchi, India. Recollections of operations as officer with 1st Bn Northamptonshire Regt, 32nd Indian Infantry Bde, 20th Indian Infantry Div in Indian and Burma, 1943-1945: health problems in Kabaw Valley, Burma, 1943-1944; move to Imphal, India, 4/1944; Japanese prisoner of war taken in Kabaw Valley, Burma; attitude towards Japanese; duties; problems of getting rations and water to troops on Point 5846 on Silchar Track, near Bishenpur. REEL 2 Continues: narrow escape during counter-attack on Water Picket, Point 5846, 21/6/1944; attack with 3/8th Gurkha Rifles on The Dome on Silchar Track, near Bishenpur, 3/6/1944-14/6/1944; medication used against dysentery; effect of finding British Indian Army soldier used for bayonet practice by Imperial Japanese Army troops; camouflaging helmets; recuperating after campaign at Darjeeling, India; reliance on evaporated milk in front line; return to Burma and advance southwards; flight in Douglas Dakota aircraft; ambush on Imperial Japanese Army troops; attitude to leaving Burma, 1945; celebrating VE Day in Bombay, India, 8/5/1945; attitude to having served with 1st Bn Northamptonshire Regt in Burma; attitude towards Japanese. Aspects of period as officer with 2nd Bn Northamptonshire Regt in Germany, GB and Free Territory of Trieste, 1945-1950: posting to Göttingen, Germany. REEL 3 Continues: opinion of posting to Free Territory of Trieste, 1949; loss of baby in Free Territory of Trieste, 1950. Recollections of operations as officer with 3rd Bn Malay Regt, Malaya Command in Federation of Malaya, 1950-1952: background to posting to battalion at Kota Bharu; role as technical adjutant; performance of troops in jungle; contact with Malay aristocracy; move to Mersing; loss of battalion officer in fight with Malayan National Liberation Army insurgent; medical officer who broke his back in diving accident; Chinese New Year party at Gua Musang. Recollections of period as officer with 1st Bn Sierra Leone Regt, Royal West African Frontier Force in Sierra Leone, 1955-1958: question of his reluctance to return to Far East for third tour of operations; problems of theft; prevalence of married quarters in barracks; memories of African officers; corruption of bureaucracy in Sierra Leone. REEL 4 Continues: internal security duties at Daru mines; methods of diamond mining; qualities of African troops and popularity of service in British Army; Lebanese community; role of unit during riots in Freetown.