Description
Object description
British guardsman served on public duties with Coldstream Guards in GB, 1939-1942; served with 3rd Bn Coldstream Guards, 201st Guards Motor Bde in Tunisia, 4/1943-5/1943; served with 3rd Bn Coldstream Guards, 201st Guards Motor Bde, 56th (London) Infantry Div in Italy, 9/1943-10/1943; prisoner of war in Lazaret V-B, Rottenmunster, Germany and Oflag V-A, Weinsberg, Germany, 10/1943-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Stallingborough, 1917-1939: family; education. Aspects of enlistment and training as guardsman with Coldstream Guards in GB, 1939-1940: reasons for volunteering for Brigade of Guards at Doncaster, 9/1939; initial impressions of Guards Depot, Caterham; recruit's punishment for complaining about rations; memories of Regimental Sergeant-Major Ronald Brittain, 1940. Recollections of period of public duties with Coldstream Guards in GB, 1940-1942: nature of public duties; role guarding Prime Minister Winston Churchill at Chequers; story of meeting future wife at Chequers; memories of Mary Churchill, 1940-1941; obtaining Prime Minister Winston Churchill's cigar butts; membership of armoured car platoon, 1941.
REEL 2 Continues: catering for armoured car platoon at Hatch End; plight of civilians in London during German Air Force bombing campaign, 1941. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Queen Mary from GB to Egypt, 1942-1943: embarkation on board and accommodation; effects of weather in North Atlantic; impressions of Table Bay, South Africa; arrival at Ismailia, Egypt. Aspects of period as guardsman with 3rd Bn Coldstream Guards, 201st Guards Motor Bde in French Syria and Libya, 1943: joining unit in French Syria, 1/1943; weather conditions in French Syria, 1/1943; move of battalion into Libya; problems with brakes on his lorry at Derna, Libya area and subsequent collision.
REEL 3 Continues: help received by Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers after collision; suffering from scorpion bite. Recollections of 3rd Bn Coldstream Guards, 201st Guards Motor Bde in Tunisia, 4/1943-5/1943: rejoining unit at Mareth Line; dangers of German mines; incident of mercy killing of soldier blown up by mine; disbanding of 1 Coy; feeding of troops; infestation of fleas at Enfidaville; reconnaissance of Axis lines at Enfidaville; reaction to waiting to go into attack at Enfidaville; use of range card; link up between First and Eighth Armies; German use of booby-traps; wounding by booby-trap, 5/1943; conflict between Scots Guards and United States Army Military Police Corps at Souk Ahras, French Algeria, 5/1943; rejoining unit and trials of fifteen mile route march.
REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of period as guardsman with Coldstream Guards guarding Chequers in GB, 1940-1941: memories of visit by Anthony Eden; memories of Prime Minister Winston Churchill; lack of security around Prime Minister Winston Churchill; story of chaplain's public objection to constant use of F-word by troops. Recollections of operations as guardsman with 3rd Bn Coldstream Guards, 201st Guards Bde, 56th (London) Infantry Div in Italy, 9/1943-10/1943: voyage to Salerno, 9/1943; role of battalion in reserve; reaction to orders to fix bayonets at Battipaglia, 9/1943; question of panic amongst battalion at Battipaglia; incident of badly wounded guardsman and his inability to effect mercy killing; evacuation of another wounded comrade.
REEL 5 Continues: problems of withdrawing from positions at Battipaglia, 9/1943; use of password; reasons for swearing at officer; condition after being in action; refusal to give up his section to reinforcement NCO; battalion casualties at Salerno; reaction of troops released from street fighting duties; narrow escape from German artillery fire at Salerno; rest period in Salerno; move to Mount Vesuvius area; move to River Volturno; accommodation in nunnery; dangers from Allied artillery fire in salient on River Volturno; rescue of platoon commander.
REEL 6 Continues: missed opportunity to fraternise with Italian female civilians; wounding in thigh, 18/10/1943; effect of firing on German Army troops with machine gun; capture and treatment from German medical orderly, 18/10/1943. Recollections of journey from Italy to Germany, 1943: character of journey to German rear area; amusing incident in mortuary; development of pleurisy; loading onto hospital train; treatment he received from medical orderly; disruption of rail transport in Italy, 10/1943; query from German about fate of German people if defeated, 10/1943; distribution of beer and biscuits in Austria, 10/1943.
REEL 7 Continues: prior recollections of contact with German wounded at Souk Ahras, French Algeria, 5/1943. Recollections of period of hospitalisation as prisoner of war in Lazaret V-B, Rottenmunster, Germany, 1943-1944: arrival at Lazaret V-B; treatment for pleurisy and draining of fluid from left lung; problems of using bed-pan; discovery of bullet which had passed through his body onto his left side; removal of bullet; character of diet in Germany, winter, 1943-1944; incident of prisoner of war who lost his glass eye in snow. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Oflag V-A, Weinsberg, Germany, 1944-1945: reasons for being sent to officers camp; duties aiding camp maintenance man; bartering for contents of Red Cross parcels; plight of officers in camp; hearing news of D-Day landings, 6/6/1944.
REEL 8 Continues: discovery that Mauritian officer was a stool pigeon; question of what would happen as end of war approached. Recollections of liberation of Oflag V-A, Weinsberg, Germany and return to GB, 1945: liberation of camp by American forces including General George S Patton; attempts to make up for hunger; discovery of his prisoner of war record; arrangements for flight to GB; problems Douglas Dakota aircraft had taking off from Landshut, 5/1945; danger of prisoners of war smoking in Douglas Dakota aircraft filled with petrol fumes, 7/5/1945; reasons for suspension of flights to GB, 8/5/1945-9/5/1945; reception from Women's Voluntary Service at Didcot, 10/5/1945; reaction to return to GB, 10/5/1945; reaction to returning home to Stallingborough; appetite on return to GB.
REEL 9 Continues: attachment to Royal Army Ordnance Corps at Corsham, 1945; demobilisation, 24/1/1946; story of attempt to get medical treatment for mole, 7/1945; attitude to serving with Coldstream Guards in Second World War; question of guards officers being superior to those of other line regiments; return to civilian life after 1/1946.
