Interview with Owen Butcher

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British private served with 1st Bn East Lancashire Regt, 71st Infantry Bde, 42nd Armoured Div and 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in GB, 6/1942- 6/1944; served with 1st Bn East Lancashire Regt, 71st Infantry Bde, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in Normandy, 6/1944-8/1944; served with 1st Bn East Lancashire Regt, 158th Infantry Bde, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1945

Content description

REEL 1 Background in Witham, GB, 1925-1940: family circumstances; education; employment; sight of mobilisation of Territorial Army, 9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with Royal Norfolk Regiment Regimental Depot, Britannia Barracks, Norwich, 1941: enlistment at Colchester, 4/1941; issue of uniform; nature of basic training; relief work in Norwich; move to 70th Bn Royal Norfolk Regt; duties guarding airfields; background to transfer to 1st Bn East Lancashire Regt, 1942. Recollections of period as private with B Coy, 1st Bn East Lancashire Regt, 71st Infantry Bde, 42nd Armoured Div and 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in GB, 6/1942-6/1944: reception on arrival in unit at Malton; move to Mere; parachute training course at No 1 Parachute Training School, RAF at RAF Ringway. REEL 2 Continues: character of parachute jumps; injury to foot on seventh jump; Returned to Unit in B Coy; opinion of company commander Major Joe Cetre; character of training, 1943; firing Lee-Enfield No 4 Rifle Mk I and Bren Gun; move to Burford and becoming sniper; move to Sittingbourne area; issue of twenty four hour rations, 6/1944; discovery of his being under age; issue of sniper rifle and telescope. REEL 3 Continues: fieldcraft training; reaction to impending invasion of France, 6/1944; nature of briefing by Major Joe Cetre, 6/1944; role as stick orderly and need to dispose of his second rifle; entraining at Sittingbourne; sight of German V1 Flying Bombs in concentration area near Newhaven. Aspects of voyage from GB to Normandy, France, 25/6/1944: character of accommodation on board ship; crossing English Channel. Recollections of operations as sniper with B Coy, 1st Bn East Lancashire Regt, 71st Infantry Bde, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: disembarkation on Juno Beach; move inland; reaction to sight of dead troops; behaviour of German prisoners of war; question of mistakes in regimental history; relieving 15th (Scottish) Infantry Div; orders not to fire on German Army troops; observing German Army soldier bringing rations. REEL 4 Continues: question of he could carry out his sniping duty; stand-to procedures; positions early 7/1944; finding body of dead German Army sniper; characteristics of German sniper rifle; contrast between German and British weapons; sight of knocked-out tanks at Hill 112; nature of patrols; counter-measures employed against snipers; question of friendly fire incidents; attack on Bois Halbout, 7/1944; post-war visit to Bois Halbout. REEL 5 Continues: casualties caused by accidental explosion of mines; conditions in Falaise Gap, 8/1944; treatment of German prisoners of war. Recollections of operations as private with 1st Bn East Lancashire Regt, 158th Infantry Bde, 53rd (Welsh) Div in North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1945: return of sniper comrade on River Seine, France; transfer to Headquarters Coy; character of advance beyond River Seine, France; positions at Antwerp, Belgium, 9/1944; narrow escape from German artillery fire; question of accuracy of sniping; move to Lommel, Belgium; crossing of Escaut Canal, Belgium, 9/1943; story of death of friend Private Ken Butler, near Valkenswaard, Netherlands, 23/9/1944. REEL 6 Continues: visit to friend's grave post-war; question of role as sniper; role of unit on Arnhem Corridor; sight of United States Army paratroopers at Eindhoven, Netherlands, 9/1944; character of attack on s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, 10/1944; move to River Maas, Netherlands; death of sniper Private Ron Toft on River Maas, Netherlands, 18/11/1944; sniping at German Army troops and sight of German V2 Rocket launchings on River Maas, Netherlands; question of British infantry tactics in advancing; problems of digging in frozen ground. REEL 7 Continues: move to Ardennes, Belgium, 12/1944; weather conditions and terrain in Ardennes, Belgium, 12/1944; nature of Grimbiémont, Belgium; narrow escape from artillery shell landing on M3 White Half-Track at battalion headquarters; attack on Grimbiémont, Belgium; move to Helmond, Netherlands; use of mobile bath units; Allied artillery barrage of Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; conditions during initial attack on Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; character of fighting in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945. REEL 8 Continues: role of snipers defending Headquarters Coy; role removing unit bodies from Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; devastation of Goch, Germany, 2/1945; attitude towards German civilians; leave in Brussels, Belgium; contact with Belgian civilians; crossing River Rhine near Wesel, Germany, 3/1945; effects of wounding of Major Joe Cetre at Bocholt, Germany, 3/1945; sight of treatment of Dutch female collaborators in Netherlands; use of Artificial Moonlight during attack on village; searching cellar in dark; casualties during crossing of River Aller, Germany. REEL 9 Continues: story of ambush at Rotenburg, Germany; advance into Hamburg, Germany; reflections on death of friend Private Joe Goddard, 24/4/1945 and sniper casualties; celebrations in Hamburg, Germany, 5/1945; post-war career; attitude to having served in Second World War.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1990 to the present day (production), Second World War (content)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Watkins, Robert (Recorder)
Butcher, Owen (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 1999-03-08
Dimensions: whole: Duration 260, Number Of Items 9
Catalogue number: 18727

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Interview with Owen Butcher

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