Interview with Cyril William Larkin

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Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

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Description

Object description

British sapper served with 249th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Div in GB, 6/1940-5/1943; served with 249th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 6th Airlanding Bde, 6th Airborne Div in GB and North West Europe, 5/1943-5/1945

Content description

REEL 1 Background in Auckland, New Zealand and Banham, GB, 1917-1939: family; education; employment; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of period as sapper with 249th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Div in GB, 6/1940-5/1943: call-up for military service, 2/1940; basic training at Thetford; posting to 249th Field Coy; building pill-boxes at Alnwick, 1940; response of civilians to Dunkirk Evacuation at Newcastle upon Tyne, 6/1940; question of potential of German invasion, 1940; threat to vehicles from in-coming tide; move to west of England; attitude to period as NCO in training company. Aspects of training as sapper with 249th Field Coy (Airborne), Royal Engineers, 6th Airlanding Bde, 6th Airborne Div in GB, 5/1943-6/1944: conversion to airborne role at Bungay, 21/5/1943; training with gliders on Salisbury Plain; presence of twin brother Sapper Claude Larkin in company. Recollections of operations as sapper with 249th Field Coy (Airborne), Royal Engineers, 6th Airlanding Bde, 6th Airborne Div in Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944: intended role of unit; character of glider landing. REEL 2 Continues: his investigation of bridge over River Orne; deployment for defence of two bridges; arrival of German river boat and firing on it; state of mind of French civilians; wounding during German Air Force attack on Bénouville Bridge; subsequent evacuation and medical treatment in GB; character of the two bridges; orders he was given by Major John Howard; reaction to lack of German opposition. Aspects of operations as sapper with 249th Field Coy (Airborne), Royal Engineers, 6th Airlanding Bde, 6th Airborne Div in North West Europe, 12/1944-5/1945: role of unit in Ardennes, Belgium, 12/1944. REEL 3 Continues: crossing River Rhine, German, 3/1945; advance into Germany, 4/1945; arrival at Wismar, Germany; clearing minefields in Kristiansand, Norway, 5/1945; attitude to having served with Royal Engineers in Second World War; attempts by fellow soldiers to get him to smoke.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1990 to the present day (production), Second World War (content), Second World War (association)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Wood, Conrad (Recorder)
Larkin, Cyril William (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 2000-06-05
Dimensions: whole: Duration 75, Number Of Items 3
Catalogue number: 20341

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Interview with Cyril William Larkin

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