Interview with Robert Nurse

British NCO served as tank driver with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Armoured Div in GB and North West Europe, 1942-1945

REEL 1 Background in Bristol, GB, 1923-1939: family circumstances; education; recreational activities; employment as office clerk. Aspects of period as clerk in Bristol, GB, 9/1939-7/1942: declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; installing Anderson Shelter; effects of German Air Force raids; volunteering with Air Raid Precautions as fire warden and stretcher-bearer; promotion to senior clerk due to wartime conditions. Aspects of period as private training at Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry Regimental Depot, Victoria Barracks, Bodmin, GB, 7/1942-9/1942: call-up for military service, 16/7/1942; reception; kitting out; hutted accommodation; rations; physical training and drill; weapons training; night exercise; relations with fellow recruits and question of two suicides; relations with NCOs and officers; preparation for kit inspections; German Air Raid; interview prior to assignment to Royal Armoured Corps. Recollections of training as trooper with 61st Training Regt, Royal Armoured Corps at Barnard Castle, 9/1942-12/1942: driving and maintenance; gunnery; wireless training; use of miniature range; story of avoiding fatigue duty; question of status as atheist. Recollections of period as trooper with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Armoured Div in GB, 12/1942-6/1944: reception at Chippenham Park Camp, Newmarket. REEL 2 Continues: opinion of various officers including Major Michael Spencer-Nairn, Lieutenant Richard Leith, Second Lieutenant Eric Lamont and Lieutenant-Colonel Alec Scott; relations with Scottish troopers in regiment; characteristics of A15 Cruiser Mk VI Crusader Tank; role as gunner in crew with Corporal S L Tippett and Wireless Operator 'Taffy' Mallard; problem with reverse steering on A15 Cruiser Mk VI Crusader Tank; attack of mumps and cancellation of posting to North Africa as unit was quarantined; policy of learning other crew roles; move to Rudston, 6/1943; characteristics of M4 Sherman Tank including method of driving, unreliable linked engines, driving position, role of co-drive, opinion of M1919 Browning Machine Gun, role of wireless operator and No 19 Wireless Set, storage of ammunition, firing orders, loading and breech action of 75mm Gun, cleaning guns and role of tank commander; hull down position; firing on Kirkcudbright tank range; training exercises; opinion of Major Chris Nicholls; move to Warburg Barracks, Aldershot Garrison, 3/1944; waterproofing M4 Sherman Tank. REEL 3 Continues: attitude to military lifestyle; relations with Lance Corporal Donald 'Dan' Molyneux, Corporal Patrick O'Brian, Trooper John 'Jack' Keightley, Sergeant William Fenwick and Corporal William Warden; personal morale. Aspects of operations as trooper with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Armoured Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944: embarkation aboard landing ship tank for crossing English Channel, 6/1944; landing at Courseulles-sur-Mer; first unit casualty in Sten Gun accident; positions in field near Cully; story of accidentally firing smoke bomb; bivouacs; equipment carried on tank; compo and normal rations; latrines. Recollections of operations as trooper with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Armoured Div during attack on Cheux, Normandy, France, 26/6/1944-28/6/1944: situation; move into wooded area on night of 26/6/1944; awareness of tank casualties and loss of nerve of Corporal S L Tippett; narrow escape from German artillery shell; prior advance on Cheux; reaction to casualties and flammability of M4 Sherman Tank; withdrawal; story of move into valley, getting out of tank to investigate abandoned German positions; German multi-barrelled mortar fire; incident of M4 Sherman Tank becoming stuck in mud. Recollections of operations as trooper with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Armoured Div at Hill 112, Normandy, France, 30/6/1944-1/7/1944: joining crew of Lieutenant Eric Lamont with Wireless Operator 'Taffy' Millard and Driver Ted Gwalter; situation; ineffectiveness of fire on four German Army tanks; German direct hit on B Echelon vehicle. REEL 4 Continues: problems with engine during retirement; constipation and resulting haemorrhoids; nature of overnight laager; question of treatment for haemorrhoids; German flares. Recollections of operations as as trooper with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Armoured Div during Operation Goodwood, Normandy, France, 18/7/1944-19/7/1944: plan; advance towards ridge; prior Allied air raid; German effective use of 88mm Gun; collapse of attack; successful attack led by Lieutenent Eric Lamont on Hubert Folie, 19/7/1944; withdrawal to laager; story of narrow escape from German artillery fire. Aspects of operations as trooper with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Armoured Div in North West Europe, 8/1944-12/1944: nature of relations with tank crew and Lieutenant Eric Lamont; story of salvaging abandoned Sherman Firefly with Lance Corporal Donald 'Don' Molyneux; high profile of M4 Sherman Tank; advance towards Falaise, France, 8/1944; air support from Royal Air Force Hawker Typhoons; opinion of German tanks; narrow escape from encounter with German tank; sight of dead animals and abandoned German equipment in Falaise Gap, France, 8/1944; state of morale; fitting extra armour to M4 Sherman Tank. REEL 5 Continues: fast pace of advance into France and Belgium, 8/1944-9/1944; story of falling behind unit after running out of petrol during advance to Amiens, France; accommodation and relations with French and Belgian civilians; entry into Brussels, Belgium, 9/1944; rejoining unit at Antwerp, Belgium, 9/1944; reactions to casualties on German V2 Rocket direct hit on Rex Cinema, Antwerp, Belgium; sight of air armada during Operation Market Garden, 9/1944; clash with German Panther Tanks during attack on Deurne, Belgium, 10/1944; minor wounds suffered by Lieutenant Eric Lamont and death of his replacement. Aspects of period as as trooper with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Armoured Div at Ypres, Belgium, 12/1944-3/1945: handing in M4 Sherman Tanks; accommodation and recreational activities; departure of unit to Ardennes, Belgium whilst on detachment collecting Christmas special rations; story of investigating suspected Fifth Columnist; rejoining unit prior to return to Ypres; death of replacement Gunner Lesley Lines near Hotton, Belgium 4/1/1945; leave in GB, 1/1945; characteristics of Comet Tank. Aspects of operations as trooper with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Armoured Div in Germany, 3/1945-5/1945: story of bailing out after being hit by German Panzerfaust; threat of Panzerfausts; story of deliberately missing on being ordered by Lieutenant Eric Lamont to shoot German female civilian; story of tank commanded by Lieutenant A Leah being hit and obeying Lieutenant Eric Lamont's order to shoot uninvolved German civilian farmer; story of Lieutenant Eric Lamont using revolver to shoot German civilian farmer after being isolated by blown bridge behind them; incident of driver being sniped at; story of Lieutenant Eric Lamont spotting Panzerfaust booby-trap across road; question of German tank and air opposition. REEL 6 Continues: prior recollection of accidentally firing gun whilst checking alignment of telescope and 75mm Tank Gun in France, 8/1944; casualties resulting from accidental firing of gun near Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; reaction to reports of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; opinion of Major George Trotter and Lieutenant Eric Lamont; removal of inadequate officers; question of commanders having turret hatch open; effects of driving over mine; opinion of Major George Trotter; story of searching German prisoners of war on arrival at Lübeck; story of acting as Lieutenant Eric Lamont's bodyguard during curfew patrol; VE Day, 8/5/1945. Aspect of period as trooper with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Armoured Div at Bredstedt, Germany, 5/1945-8/1945: German Army troops returning from Denmark; prior recollection of sight German Air Force Messerschmitt Me 262 jet aircraft; question of non-fraternisation and relations with German civilians; question of fate of Soviet prisoners of war and Displaced Persons. Aspects of period as trooper with 1st Royal Tank Regt in Gatow, Berlin and Bremerhaven, Germany, 8/1945-2/1946: recreational activities; stories illustrating relations with Soviet personnel; question of black market activities; running activities; question of taking commission; demobilisation, 2/1946. Post-war life and employment: employment as clerk; membership of South of the Border Brach, Fife and Forfar Yeomanry Association; question of effects of war service.