Interview with Thomas Anthony Richardson

British officer served with 147th (Essex Yeomanry) Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 8th Armoured Div in GB and North West Europe, 1943-1945

REEL 1 Background in Abbassia, Cairo, Egypt and GB, 1922-1939: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; visit to Latvia, 1938. Aspects of period as schoolchild in GB, 1939-1941: German Air Force bombing of Wellington College, 1940; fire watching in King's Cross, London; public morale during German Air Force bombing campaign; handling evacuee children; belief that Germans would not win Second World War; membership of Wellington College Home Guard and Air Raid Precautions Sections. Aspects of enlistment and training as officer with British Army in GB, 1942: commissioning, 3/1942 and period at University of Edinburgh; accident with artillery shell at No 121 Officer Cadet Training Unit, Alton Towers. Aspects of period as officer with 147th (Essex Yeomanry) Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 8th Armoured Div in GB, 1943-1944: posting as assistant troop leader C Troop, 413th Field Bty, 147th (Essex Yeomanry) Field Regt, Royal Artillery at Thirsk; character of Exercise Spartan, 3/1943; amphibious landings exercises; re-equipping with Sexton Self-Propelled Gun at Brandon; preparations for invasion of Normandy on coast of Southern England. Recollections of operations as with 431st Bty, 147th (Essex Yeomanry), Royal Artillery, 8th Armoured Bde in Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944: briefing at Yarmouth on route; crossing English Channel; problems with radar facilities on run-in-shoot. REEL 2 Continues: landing on at Le Hamel on Gold Beach; advance inland; negotiating a minefield. Recollections of operations with 431st Field Bty, 147th (Essex Yeomanry) Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 8th Armoued Bde in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: advance towards Port-en-Bessin; liberation of former British Expeditionary Force water cart; composition of 8th Armoured Bde; advance towards Tilly-sur-Seulles; confidence in holding bridgehead; nature of advance from Point 103; use of smoke screen; loss of regiment's second in command Major Charles Broke prior to attack on Mont Pinçon, 7/8/1944; contact with French civilians. Recollections of operations with 431st Field Bty, 147th Regt (Essex Yeomanry) Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 8th Armoured Bde in North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1945: crossing River Seine at Vernon, France; supporting 4/7th Dragoon Guards in advance across France; attack on Bourg-Leopold, Belgium, 9/1944; fire support on advance towards Arnhem and withdrawal from Oosterbeek pocket; sight of Royal Air Force Hawker Typhoons attack bridge; operations south of Maastricht, Netherlands, 1944; amusing story relating to United States Army operations. REEL 3 Continues: execution of two German chickens, Germany, 1/1945; preparations for crossing River Rhine, Germany, 3/1945; amusing story of finding alcohol supplies, 3/1945. Aspects of period with Royal Artillery in Germany and Italy, 1945-1946: imposition of curfew; conditions with Displaced Persons in Hanover, Germany; posting to Italy, 1946; Major-General John Harding's bluff against Yugoslavs over Trieste; membership of 654 Air Observation Post Sqdn, RAF; sketch of career, post-1946; attitude towards German forces in Second World War; prior recollection of effect of initial experiences in Normandy, France, 6/1944