Interview with Robert Oscar Summers

British officer served with 555th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in Germany, 2/1945-5/1945; served with Indian Army Corps of Engineers in Burma, 10/1945-1/1947; served as staff officer in Singapore, Malaya, 1/1947-6/1947

REEL 1 Background in Lapworth, GB, 1923-1943: family; education; employment. Aspects of enlistment and training with British Army in GB, 1943: reaction to call-up; amusing story of reception at Beverley, 4/1943; behaviour of NCOs during basic training. Aspects of period as sapper with 3rd Training Bn, Royal Engineers at Aldershot Garrison, 6/1943-9/1943: pattern of training; opinion of training; character of instructors; swapping items of clothing with Canadian Army personnel; attitude to serving in British Army; leave and marriage after training. Aspects of period as officer cadet with British Army in GB, 1943-1944: attending War Office Selection Board in London; vehicle driving course at Aldershot Garrison; conditions at pre-Officer Cadet Training Unit at Wrotham 2/1944-3/1944; use of bicycles at No 140 Officer Cadet Training Unit, Royal Engineers at Newark-on-Trent. REEL 2 Continues: amusing story relating to battle training in Wales; bridging work during night scheme; attitude to commissioning; posting as training officer to 1st Training Bn, Royal Engineers at Chatham, 9/1944-1/1945; awaiting posting at Halifax, 1/1945. Recollections of operations as officer with 555th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in Germany, 2/1945-5/1945: nature of journey from Halifax, GB to Belgium and in transit at Knocke, Ghent and Bourg-Leopold, Belgium and Eindhoven, Netherlands; joining company in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; officer accommodation in farm; role organising marshalling areas for Operation Varsity, the crossing of the River Rhine; opinion of maps; contact with Royal Navy personnel prior to crossing of River Rhine. REEL 3 Continues: sight of Allied airborne armada crossing River Rhine, 24/3/1945; obtaining airborne jeep from wrecked glider; removing demolition charges from bridge; bridging work conducted at Rethem; problems with terrain on North German Plain; bridging culvert under German multi-barrelled mortar fire; effect of tank collapsing of bridge over culvert; nature of advance through Northern Germany; sight of Churchill Crocodile Flame Throwing Tanks in action against German Army troops; relations within unit; devastation in Hamburg and Essen; question of German forces' tactics, 5/1945; reaction to sight of dead Allied airborne troops on crossing River Rhine, 3/1945; unit communications. REEL 4 Continues: places where he slept in Germany; German sanitary methods; unit morale and fatigue; story of divisional padre and unit padre celebrating in Hamburg; role dealing with troops' matrimonial problems; importance of mail; sight of camp inmates from Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; capture of German Army general. Aspects of period as officer with 555th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in Germany, 5/1945-7/1945: move to the Ruhr; unit personnel selling souvenirs to United States Army troops; opinion of United States Army troops; role managing bridge in Ruhr; opinion of German Army troops; opinion of Displaced Persons; posting to GB. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Engineers in GB, 1945: throwing captured weapons into sea on return to GB; conditions in GB; end of Second World War in Far East, 15/8/1945; Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Durban Castle from Liverpool, GB to Rangoon, Burma, 9/1945: start voyage from Liverpool to Rangoon, Burma; story of deportation of Soviet troops who had fought for German Army to ships at Liverpool, GB. REEL 5 Continues: conditions on board; funeral service held on board. Recollections of period as officer with Indian Army Corps of Engineers in Burma, 10/1945-1/1947: initial illness on arrival; posting to unit; organisation and role of unit; situation in Rangoon, 1945; opinion of Burmese; character of mixed unit; sense of isolation; scam selling beer run by officer. Aspects of period as staff officer with Royal Engineers in Singapore, Malaya, 1/1947-6/1947: posting to Singapore, 1/1947; attitude of Regular Army officer to his not playing polo; character of Singapore; use of Japanese prisoners of war; attitude to having to serve aboard. REEL 6 Continues: voyage aboard HMT Dilwara from Burma to GB, 6/1947-7/1947; demobilisation in Guildford, GB, 1947; return to civilian life and employment, 1947. Reflections of service with Royal Engineers during Second World War: story of avoiding Corps of Military Police on railway platform; opinion of Corps of Military Police personnel and dentists of Royal Army Dental Corps; relations between officers and men; opinion of senior officers; memories of VE Day in Hamburg, Germany, 8/5/1945; question of effects of military service.