Interview with Herbert John Morris

British signalman served with No 1 Troop, No 2 Commando, 2nd Special Service Bde in Italy, Yugoslavia and Albania, 8/1943-12/1944; served with No 1 Troop, No 2 Commando, 2nd Commando Bde in Italy, 12/1944-4/1945

REEL 1 Background in Llandaff, Cardiff, GB, 1922-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as signalman with Royal Corps of Signals in GB, 1939-1942: mobilisation with Territorial Army, 8/1939; work repairing telephone lines, 1939-1940; reasons for volunteering for Commandos, 1942. Aspects of enlistment and training as signalman with Commandos in GB, 8/1942-7/1943: nature of selection interview at Bury St Edmunds; billeting arrangements in Ayr, 8/1942; commando training in Inveraray; training with United States Rangers; training with naval vessels at Inveraray, 1942. Recollections of operations as signalman with No 1 Troop, No 2 Commando, 2nd Special Service Bde in Sicily, Italy, 8/1943: voyage aboard HMT Dunottar Castle from GB to Mediterranean; nature of first operation at Scaletta Zanclea, near Messina, 15/8/1943; evacuation to North Africa with dysentery, 9/1943; attempts to regain unit; narrow escape from German Air Force attack at Scaletta Zanclea, 8/1943. Recollections of operations as signalman with No 1 Troop, No 2 Commando, 2nd Special Service Bde in Yugoslavia, 1/1944-6/1944: arrival on Vis Island, 16/1/1944; strategic position on Vis Island. REEL 2 Continues: operation carried out at Jelsa, Hvar Island, 2/1944; personal armament; attacking Grohote, Solta Island, 19/3/1944; role of German Jewish commandos in unit; reaction to street fighting; death of commando responding to white flag; use of helmets in action; role of Captain Bernard Barton during raids on Brac Island; Yugoslav Partisans' execution of pregnant female partisans; attack on house containing Germans on Brac Island; Yugoslav Partisan treatment of German prisoners of war; attack on Miljet Island; boarding party duties; Yugoslav Partisan liking for hard tack; effect of German Army tactics on unit; opinion of Projector Infantry Anti-Tank. Recollections of operations as signalman with No 1 Troop, No 2 Commando, 2nd Special Service Bde in Albania, 7/1944-11/1944: attempts to cut off German forces' retreat from Greece; wounding of Captain Michael Stillwell. REEL 3 Continues: nature of operation at Himare, 28/7/1944-29/7/1944; plans to capture Sarande, 10/1944; effect of torrential rain during operation at Sarande, 9/10/1944; discovery of dead German Army soldier; casualties from German artillery air bursts; German Army's use of captured Ordnance QF 25 Pounder Field Guns; success of operation; physical condition at end of operation. Aspects of operations with No 1 Troop, 2nd Commando, 2nd Commando Bde in Italy, 1/1945-4/1945: positions in front line, north of Ravenna; Gurkha method of distinguishing between British and Axis troops; reporting sick with dysentery; German surrender in Italy, 29/4/1944; wounding of friend at Lake Comacchio, 2/4/1945. Aspects of period as signalman with No 4 Commando at Recklinghausen, Germany, 1945-1946: work guarding former Waffen-SS troops; reaction to orders to shoot Displaced Persons. Reflections on service with Commandos in Second World War: attitude to having served with Commandos in Second World War. REEL 4 Continues: question of effects of military service in Second World War.