Description
Object description
British private served with 1st Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 71st Infantry Bde, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 2/1945-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Rochester, United States of America and Harrogate, GB, 1926-1939: family's return from United States of America to GB, 1929; education. Aspects of enlistment and basic training with British Army at Maryhill Barracks, Glasgow, 6/1944-7/1944: reasons for volunteering for British Army; reception at Maryhill Barracks, Glasgow, 6/1944; mother's reaction to his enlistment; accommodation; nature of rations; character of kit inspections; behaviour of NCOs; adjusting to military life; guard duty; contact with civilians in Glasgow; visits to cinema; drilling; physical training; weapons training; gas training. Aspects of training period as private with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry at Gujarat Barracks, Colchester and North Walsham, GB, 7/1944-1/1945: reception on arrival, 7/1944.
REEL 2 Continues: training with other light infantry units; accommodation; origins of recruits; route marches; assault course; field training; description of slit trench; narrow escape from German V1 Flying Bomb attack; move to North Walsham; story of being on exercise, Christmas period, 12/1944; walk run exercise; Christmas celebrations, 25/12/1944; background to embarkation to North West Europe from Mundesley Camp; equipment carried during flight from RAF Northolt to Belgium.
REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as private with 1st Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 71st Infantry Bde, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 2/1945-5/1945: impressions of Bruges, Belgium, 1/1945; billeting in Bruges, Belgium, 1/1945; contact with Belgian civilians; contrast in ordinary infantry drill and light infantry drill; move to Bourg-Leopold, Belgium; joining battalion in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 14/2/1945; conditions in the Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; initial reaction to being under fire; character of German multi-barrelled mortars; character of the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div; attack on Goch, Germany, 3/1945; advance towards River Rhine, Germany, 3/1945; arrival in Geldern, Germany; contact with Belgian civilians during period in reserve at Brussels, Brussels, 3/1945; sight of German Air Force Me 262 jet aircraft during crossing of River Rhine, Germany, 3/1945.
REEL 4 Continues in action at Bocholt, Germany, 4/1945; ambush on Kangaroo Armoured Personnel Carriers transporting battalion near Vreden, Germany, 4/1945; incident when he opened fire on British Army soldier; story of taking German prisoners of war in Rheine, Germany, 4/1945; in action at Ibbenbüren, Germany, 4/1945; behaviour of Scottish troops towards wounded prisoner of war; incident when armed German civilians where shot; attitude towards Germans; surrendering of Royal Hungarian Army prisoners of war near River Aller, Germany, 4/1945; opinion of German 2nd Marine Infantry Division.
REEL 5 Continues: in action after crossing River Aller, Germany, 4/1945; contact with German civilian; narrow escape from being crushed by British Army tanks; accidental shooting of German civilian at Verden an der Aller, Germany, 4/1945; character of German defence at Verden an der Aller, Germany, 4/1945. Aspects of wounding and medical evacuation from Germany to Belgium, 4/1945-7/1945: wounding by German 88mm Gun fire at Verden an der Aller, Germany, 18/4/1945; reaction to wounding; evacuation by jeep under German artillery fire at Verden an der Aller, Germany, 18/4/1945; German civilian volunteer working in Regimental Aid Post; evacuation to Brussels, Belgium; character of hospital at Duffel, Belgium; contact with wounded Canadians; character of wounds; medical staff; attitude towards medical treatment; inspection by British senior officer; opinion of Canadian and United States Army troops; character of convalescent camp; leave in GB; return to battalion, 7/1945.
REEL 6 Continues: Aspects of period as private with British Army in GB, 8/1945-12/1945: duties building camp near Clacton-on-Sea; attending clerk training course at Smethwick Technical College; embarkation leave and reasons for reporting to Crownhill Barracks, Plymouth; attitude towards medical discharge; memories of VJ Day night in Birmingham; character of clerk's course; demobilisation process in Taunton; attitude towards having served in British Army. Reflections of military service during Second World War, 1944-1945: arrangements for paying for burial sheets; various problems his platoon had in firing weapons; problems of firing Bren Gun wearing respirator; loss of ammunition from bandoliers; degree of communication; loss of his supply of cigarettes after wounding; attitude towards being an infantryman; attitude towards Corps of Military Police; visit to military prison; opinion of NCOs.
REEL 7 Continues: opinions of religious observance and chaplains; opinion of conscientious objectors; state of German Army in 1945; attitude towards black marketeers; German Air Force attacks on Harrogate, GB; snipers' use of American weapons; souvenirs brought back by British Army troops; opinion of British and German Army equipment including Sten Gun and MG42; question of self-preservation in British Army, 1945; use of camouflage; opinion of helmets worn; attitude to using flame-throwers; attitude to using phosphorus grenades.
REEL 8 Continues: adjusting to civilian life, 1945; question of pressure to smoke; premonition of his wounding; behaviour of British Army troops towards German civilians; degree of looting taking place; attitude towards Germans; opinion of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery; question of nature of war; behaviour of Polish Displaced Persons; conduct of battalion; question of lack of recognition of 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div; pension received for wounds; attitude to having served in Second World War.