Description
Object description
British trooper served as gunner/driver with 24th Lancers and Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry in GB and North West Europe, 1944-1945, including Normandy landings, France, 6/1944; POW in Stalag X-B, Sandbostel, Lower Saxony, Germany, 4/1945.
Content description
REELS 1-7: Recollections of family background, childhood, education and employment in Westmoor and Burradon, Tyne and Wear, GB, 1923-1941.
REEL 8 Continues: story of being called up and posted to Royal Armoured Corps, 1941: description of civilian employment as carpenter making aeroplane wings; problem of finding way around London; description of journey to Tidworth Camp, Wiltshire.
REEL 9 Continues: Aspects of training with Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 1941: description of barracks at Tidworth Camp; issued with uniform and kit; method of applying blanco to webbing; sleeping arrangements; opinion of food; innoculations; problem of uniform not fitting; drill; intelligence test; opinion of NAAFI facilities; problem of arm swelling from innoculations; story of punishment by RSM for not polishing cap badge.
REEL 10 Continues: description of Bren gun training; proficiency in Morse code; route marches; posted to Bovington Camp, Dorset; issued with tropical kit; posted to Catterick Camp, Yorkshire, for further basic training; story of illness caused by innoculations; entered for boxing team; description of camp and facilities; educational classes; learned to drive lorry; description of tank training on Yorkshire moors; story of tank getting stuck in bog; gunnery training at Hornsea; opinion of 2-pounder gun on tank; posted to 24th Lancers, 12/1941. Aspects of training with 24th Lancers in GB, 12/1941-6/1944: issued with cap badge; posted to HQ Sqdn; opinion of Crusader tank; description of tank training at Chippenham Park, Suffolk; story about illiterate trooper Tom Castle; organisation of HQ Sqdn; number of tanks and crew; description of training as tank gunner.
REEL 11 Continues: opinion of cavalry officers; story of being put on fatigues by Provost Sgt; problem of gun on Crusader being too small; opinion of Sherman tank and problem with operating gun; amusing story about Maj. Anderson; Regt entrained from Newmarket to Bridlington, 1942; story of tanks being named after Four Horsemen of Apocalypse; description of training at Huntley Hall; story of injuring thumb while loading tank with shells; participation in Divisional boxing competition; physical training; description of improvement to gun on Sherman; posted to Dundreggan, Scotland, for further training, 1943; problem of mud; story of helping with potato picking.
REEL 12 Continues: Regt entrained to Milford-on-Sea, late 1943; description of DD tanks and method of waterproofing; trained with breathing apparatus; role in ferrying new tanks from Slough to Havant; opinion of food at US army camp; secrecy in camp; embarked with tanks aboard LCT; description of crossing from Gosport to France, night of 5-6/Jun/1944. Aspects of operations with 24th Lancers, 8th Armoured Bde in Normandy, France, 6-7/Jun/1944: description of ration packs in tank; problem of LCT not reaching landing beach; description of tanks driving through water onto landing beach; story of tank being hit by shell; description of conditions on landing beach; transferred to Sherman DD tank with Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, 7/Jun/1944. Aspects of operations with Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, 8th Armoured Bde in Normandy, France, 7/Jun-16/Aug/1944: use of flail tanks to clear mines; advanced to Bayeux; problem of breaking out of bridgehead.
REEL 13 Continues: description of being shelled by German nebelwerfers; opinion of air cover from Typhoons; tank concealed in ditch; problem of having to remain in tank for long period; description of Allied artillery barrage; story of Hitler Youth members attacking tanks; attitude to use of flamethrowers on tanks; story of keeping chickens in tank; description of shells landing close to tank; use of shell crater to conceal tank; rations; story about Scottish trooper wounded by shrapnel; story of shell hitting turret of tank; reaction to loss of friends in 24th Lancers.
REEL 14 Continues: story about using Morse code during training exercise in Bridlington, GB; description of advance across France; story of helping wounded trooper after tank hit by shell at Bergeaux; story of being wounded in foot by shrapnel; story about death of friend Arthur Brooks.
REEL 15 Continues: various memories of friends in 24th Lancers and Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry; description of medical treatment at field hospital, 8/1944. Aspects of period in GB, 8-12/1944: description of medical treatment at hospitals in Basingstoke, Leeds and Bradford; story about Polish patient; period of convalescence in Halifax; posted back to Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry in Nijmegen, Netherlands, 12/1944.
REEL 16 Continues: Aspects of operations with Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, 8th Armoured Bde in Netherlands and Germany, 12/1944-4/1945: weather conditions; role as gunner/driver; nature of terrain; role of Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry reinforcing US forces; rest period; use of searchlights to find way at night; description of arrival in Cleves, Germany; problem of damage to tank; story of looting goods including accordion and motorcycle; opinion of billet in house; story of using debris to form crossing point over river; story of using smoke screen to cross bridge over river.
REEL 17 Continues: story of large number of German troops surrendering; description of crossing Rhine on rafts at Wesel; construction of Bailey bridge by Royal Engineers; story of finding safe full of money; description of journey to German border; role in liberation of Hengelo, Netherlands, 3/Apr/1945; story of watching female collaborators having heads shaved; description of crossing Dortmund-Ems Canal; organisation of tanks; position as third tank at front of column; opinion of 17-pounder gun; nature of terrain; story of being ambushed and captured by Germans at Lastrup, Germany, 12/Apr/1945.
REEL 18 Continues: Aspect of period as POW in Germany, 12-29/Apr/1945:amusing story of interrogation by Prussian officer; story of meeting RAF pilot and wireless operator from own tank; description of walk to Bremen; story of receiving medical treatment for blistered feet on German Red Cross train; story about Gestapo officer; description of Typhoon strafing Red Cross train; taken to prison in Cuxhaven; description of conditions in solitary confinement cell and problem of claustrophobia; story about visit to German guard's home.
REEL 19 Continues: story of having drink with German farmers in pub; description of walk to POW camp Stalag X-B, Sandbostel, Lower Saxony; story of obtaining receipt for money at guardhouse; description of camp, accommodation and sanitary facilities; wide range of nationalities in camp; opinion of living conditions; story of talking to Russian officer; attitude to treatment of Russian POWs; received Red Cross parcels; story of Russian POWs shot while trying to escape; problem of typhus and scabies in camp; story of infecting daughter with typhus bacteria on return home; description of camp being liberated by British troops, 29/Apr/1945; medical examination; flew from Hanover back to GB, 5/1945. Aspects of period in GB, 1945-1946: description of disinfection process; problem of experiencing post-traumatic stress; posted to rehabilitation centre at Crawley; reason for staying in Army; posted to Staffordshire Yeomanry as carpenter.
REEL 20 Continues: posted to transit camp at Newmarket after Staffordshire Yeomanry disbanded; posted to Bovington Camp, Dorset; duties in technical stores; demobilized at Aldershot, 1946.