Interview with Herbert Beddows

British private and NCO served with 7th Bn Royal Norfolk Regt, 205th Independent Infantry Bde (Home), 220th Independent Infantry Bde (Home) and 176th Infantry Bde, 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Div in GB, 1941-1944; private served with No 3 Commando, 3rd Special Service Bde in GB and Normandy, France, 4/1944-6/1944; prisoner of war in Stalag IV-G, Oschatz, Germany, 7/1944-4/1945

REEL 1 Background in Southport, GB, 1922-1941: family; education; father's military experiences in First World War; membership of Army Cadet Corps and Birkdale Local Defence Volunteers; employment repairing bomb damaged houses in Birkenhead, 1940. Recollections of period as private and NCO with 7th Bn Royal Norfolk Regt, 205th Independent Infantry Bde (Home), 220th Independent Infantry Bde (Home) and 176th Infantry Bde, 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Div in GB, 1941-1944: call-up for military service, 15/1/1941; reception at Bacton, 1/1941; basic training at Bacton; promotion to lance corporal; move to Northern Ireland and necessity to chain rifles at night; character of training in Northern Ireland; warning not to associate with private soldiers; reprimand he received for incident of leaving Larne; move to Hawkhurst; financial reward for prowess at shooting at Hawkhurst; escorting prisoners at Dover Castle. Aspects of commando training in GB, 1/1944-4/1944: background to volunteering for and posting to commandos, 1/1944; training at Commando Basic Training Centre, Achnacarry. REEL 2 Continues: problems of training in damp; earning green beret. Aspects of period as private with No 3 Commando, 3rd Special Service Bde in GB, 4/1944-6/1944: joining commando; accommodation in Worthing; quality of commando officers. Recollections of operations as private with No 3 Commando, 3rd Special Service Bde in Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944: absence of knives; sailing in Landing Craft Infantry (LCI) from Warsash; opening of sealed orders in English Channel; issue of rum; landing on Sword Beach; crossing of English Channel; fate of 2nd Bn East Yorkshire Regt on Sword Beach; nature of advance through Hermanville-sur-Mer, Colleville-sur-Mer and Bénouville; guarding Headquarters, 6th Airborne Div at Ranville; sight of gilder landings and container drops, evening, 6/6/1944; question of adrenalin being substitute for rations. Recollections of operations as private with No 3 Commando at Merville Battery in Normandy, France, 7/6/1944: question of decision to send 4 and 5 Troops to attack battery; background to 9th Bn Parachute Regt attack on battery, 6/6/1944; slight wounding from mortaring; start of attack on battery; commando who was wounded and captured; character of fighting. REEL 3 Continues: orders to deal with German artillery piece; shooting of NCO by sniper; attempt to escape and treatment on capture by Germans; nature of fighting at Merville Battery. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in France, 6/1944: initial treatment by German captors; physical condition of prisoners of war on route to Châlons-sur-Marne; nature of interrogation at Châlons-sur-Marne. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Stalag IV-G, Oschatz, Germany, 7/1944-4/1945: writing letter to his parents at Limburg an der Lahn; work in stone quarry in Mühlberg; other work he was involved in; failed escape attempt; march away from Saxony to avoid Soviet forces. Aspects of liberation and return to GB, 1945: physical condition, 4/1945; importance of cigarettes to prisoners of war; United States Army troops invitation to take property from Germans; encounter with released Gurkha prisoner of war; journey via Paris, France to Wakefield, GB; return to British Army and demobilisation, 11/1947; problems of re-adjusting to civilian life; opinion of Germans. REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period as prisoner of war in France, Germany, 6/1944-4/1945: nature of train journey without rations; children spitting on prisoners of war at Metz, Germany; treatment under interrogation at Châlons-sur-Marne, France; attitude to having served in Second World War.