Description
Object description
British driver served with 9th Bn Durham Light Infantry in Sicily and North West Europe, 1943-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Tulse Hill, GB, 1923-1941: family; education; memories of evacuations to Melbourne, Clacton and Tonypandy, 1939-1940; employment with General Electric Company; German Air Force attacks on Tulse Hill area; method of dealing with incendiary bomb; reluctance to use shelters; listening to radio; loss of sleep during German bombing. Aspects of training with The Buffs in GB, 1942-1943: call up, 16/7/1942; basic training; method of driving Bren-gun carrier; joining 10th Bn The Buffs at Newton Abbot; move to Shildon. Voyage from GB to Algeria aboard Britannic, 1943. Recollections of operations as Bren-gun carrier driver with 9th Bn Durham Light Infantry in Sicily, 7/1943-10/1943: joining unit at Primasole Bridge and allocation to mortar platoon; story of occasion of firing two mortars at a time in Germany, 1945; aftermath of Primasole Bridge action.
REEL 2 Continues: battlefield signage; description of corpse on battlefield; loss of carrier during advance towards Catania; problems of negotiating blown railway bridge; death of Italian civilian from German shellfire near Catania; guarding Axis POWs; narrow escape of ship from German shell-fire; Sicilian terrain; exploiting Sicilian irrigation system to have showers; casualties amongst observation post personnel; character of German S mines; news that unit was returning to GB, 10/1943. Aspects of period with 9th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1943-1944: invasion training in East Anglia and Southampton areas; name of his Bren-gun carrier 'Amphion'; briefing for D-Day landings; embarking on landing craft. Aspects of operations as Bren-gun carrier driver with 9th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 50th Div in Normandy, D-Day, 6/6/1944: character of landing on Gold Beach; effect of his waterproofing of carrier; progress inland from Gold Beach; strafing from RAF aircraft.
REEL 3 Continues: use of self heating soup; wounding and capture of Brigadier Senior. Recollections of operations as Bren-gun carrier driver with 9th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 50th Div in Normandy, 6/1944-8/1944: move to Jerusalem Crossroads, 7/6/1944; liberation of supply champagne; attack on Longerres, 13/6/1944; loss of commanding officer, 14/6/1944; opinion of role of Hawker Typhoons; unit casualties, 14/6/1944; repulsing of German counter attack in Longerres area; mortar support for Hampshire Regt; advance to Villers Bocage, 7/1944; destruction of Villers Bocage; under German 88mm shell-fire at Mont Pincon; sight of carnage in Falaise Gap; crossing River Seine at Vernon, 8/1944. Recollections of operations as Bren- gun carrier driver with 9th Bn Durham Light Infantry in North West Europe, 1944-1945: German tactics in northern France; liberation of Brussels, 1/9/1944; move to Geel; opinion of PIAT; destruction of Sherman tank by German Panther tank at Geel.
REEL 4 Continues: advance to Eindhoven to Nijmegen, 9/1944; patrolling on The Island; disbandment of 50th Div and move of unit to 7th Armoured Div; move to Sittard, c12/1944; celebrating Christmas, 25/12/1944; moving ammunition; loss of sentimental effects to shell-fire; role of Cheshire Regt firing heavy machine gun fire on beaten zone; fatigue in front-line; sight of Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks; in action at Ibenburen; advance through Germany towards Harburg; orders not to fire on German staff cars; capture of fourteen year old German POW; infantry's use of tanks and Kangaroos; devastation in Hamburg. Recollections of period with 9th Bn Durham Light Infantry during Occupation of Germany, 1945: drive through Russian Zone to Berlin; civilian occupation chipping cement off bricks; lack of charges for British troops in Berlin.
REEL 5 Continues: soldier who bought fur coat on black market; relations with German civilians; cultural facilities in Berlin; story of tank man who broke Russian officer's sword; sight of Marshal Zhukov at Victory Parade; attitude to prospect of being sent to Far East. Recollections of operations as Bren gun carrier driver with 9th Durham Light Infantry in North West Europe, 1944-1945: treatment of female collaborator in Beauvais; souvenir he received from nurse in Beauvais; reception of British troops in France, 8/1944; method of making bergoo; how crewmen of Bren gun carrier lived off the land; incident when cow set of trip flares in ambush; obtaining supply of milk from Dutch cow; how he learnt to cook in army. Attitude to having served with 9th Bn Durham Light Infantry in Second World War. Organisation of veteran's visits to Netherlands and welcome received by Dutch.