Interview with Frederick Leonard Harris

British marine served with No 45 (Royal Marine) Commando, 1st Special Service Bde and 1st Commando Bde in North West Europe, 1944-1945

REEL 1 Background in Tottenham, Ponder's End and Enfield, GB, 1922-1942: family; education; employment; memories of German Air Force attacks and V weapon attacks on Enfield and Chingford, 1940-1941 and 1944. Aspects of enlistment and training with 5th Bn Royal Marines and No 45 (Royal Marine) Commando in GB, 1942-1944: call-up to Royal Marines, 1942; basic training at Royal Marine Depot, Lympstone; posting to 5th Bn Royal Marines at Burley; question of rivalry between British Army and Royal Marine commandos; method of getting berets to fit; nature of training at Commando Basic Training Centre, Achnacarry, 11/1943-12/1943; commando billeting system; role as rabbit wire man during exercises in Scotland; voyage aboard HMS Prince Baudouin from Scotland to Liverpool; billets in Eastbourne; background to disbandment of 5th Bn Royal Marines and transfer to No 45 (Royal Marine) Commando, 8/1943; river crossing and cliff scaling training. REEL 2 Continues: period in sealed camp, 5/1944-6/1944; escape aids issued. Recollections of operations as marine with A Troop, 45 (Royal Marine) Commando, 1st Special Service Bde in Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944: crossing English Channel sight of Allied naval armada; landing on Sword Beach; forming up and advance towards bridges on River Orne; in action at Merville Battery; unit casualties during advance to Merville-Franceville-Plage; in action at Merville-Franceville Plage; attempt of commando from No 3 (X) Troop, No 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando man to get Germans to surrender at Merville-Franceville-Plage; slight wounding from German throwing grenade at Merville-Franceville-Plage. Recollections of operations as marine with A Troop, No 45 (Royal Marine) Commando in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: patrols to collect stragglers, 8/6/1944; condition he was in after two days fighting; unit casualties, 6/6/1944-8/6/1944; digging in at Le Plein; role of 1st Special Service Bde commandos in beachhead; casualties during attack on Bréville-les-Monts, 12/6/1944 including Captain Eric Grewcock; move to brickworks at Le Mesnil. REEL 3 Continues: under German mortar fire at brickworks; use of Bren Gun firing on fixed lines; communicating by throat mike; story of comrade who became psychological casualty; patrolling at Amfreville and casualties caused by German Army field gun; breakout from Normandy, 8/1944; return to GB, 9/1944. Recollections of operations as marine with No 45 (Royal Marine) Commando, 1st Commando Bde in North West Europe, 1/1945-5/1945: move to Netherlands, 1/1945; winter conditions on River Maas, Netherlands, 1/1945; character of house-to-house fighting in Brachterbeek, Netherlands, 1/1945; background to Corporal Eric Harden winning Victoria Cross at Brachterbeek, Netherlands, 23/1/1945; reflections on award of decorations to commando; casualties incurred during raid on Belle Isle, Netherland; digging in in cemetery at Linne, Netherlands; winter conditions on River Maas, Netherlands; story of how unit received nickname '2nd Army Night Workers'; preparations for Operation Varsity; leave in Brussels, Belgium; handling German prisoners of war. REEL 4 Continues: crossing River Rhine and occupying factory at Wesel, Germany, 3/1945; firing on German self-propelled gun at Wesel, Germany; Allied bombing raid on Wesel, Germany, 3/1945; use of Projector Infantry Anti-Tank (PIAT) on safe in factory at Wesel, Germany; character of night march to Osnabrück, Germany; experience of accommodation provided for slave labour by Germans; capture of German prisoners of war in Osnabrück, Germany; memories of Ian Harris; German opposition during crossing of River Weser, Germany, 4/1945; German opposition during crossing River Aller, Germany, 4/1945; rest in Lüneburg, Germany; discovery of abandoned German equipment after crossing River Elbe, Germany, 4/1945; interrogation of Germans on capture of Neustadt Subcamp, Neuengamme Concentration Camp at Neustadt in Holstein, Germany, 5/1945. Aspects of period as marine with No 45 (Royal Marine) Commando, 1st Commando Bde in Germany, 5/1945-6/1945: degree of threat from 'Werewolves' in Eutin area; duties guarding prisoners of war; danger from Panzerfaust. Reflections on military service in Second World War: attitude to having served with No 45 (Royal Marine) Commando during Second World War; question of settling down after Second World War.