Interview with John Travers Cosgrove

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Description

Object description

Canadian officer served with 244th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in GB and North West Europe, 1943-1945

Content description

REEL 1 Background in Canada and GB, 1920-1942: family background in North Vancouver, Canada; family's return to GB; education; employment as civil engineer with railway companies in Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Aspects of enlistment and training with 2nd Training Bn, Royal Engineers in GB, 5/1942-6/1942: attempt to join Canadian Army at Iver; reaction of parents to his enlistment; attitude to joining British Army; accommodation for recruits at Barton Stacey; sporting and recreational activities in Winchester; weapons and gas training; memories of Lance Corporal Philips. REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of officer training as officer cadet at No 140 Officer Cadet Training Unit, Royal Engineers at Newark-on-Trent, 6/1942-12/1942: move to No 140 Officer Cadet Training Unit, Royal Engineers at Newark-on-Trent; technique for giving orders; pattern of training in bridging; lack of training in field works; learning watermanship; demolitions training; passing out parade. Recollections of period as officer with 244th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in GB, 1943-1944: posting to unit at Maidstone; problems with mess etiquette; accommodation; relations with batman; taking over platoon. REEL 3 Continues: character of platoon training; degree of personal fitness; relations with platoon members; opinion of General Bernard Montgomery; issue of maps of Pas-de-Calais, France; pattern of unit movements, 1943-1944; road building and bridging techniques; role of umpires during exercises; question of fatigue of platoon commanders; method of digging in command vehicle; waterproofing vehicles; assembling in West Ham Football Stadium; attitude towards move to Normandy, France; embarkation on board liberty ship at London Docks. REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of operations commanding of 2 Platoon, 244th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: sight of Mulberry Harbour in Thames Estuary; conditions on board liberty ship; question of not having officer's mess; character of beach landing at Arromanches-les-Bains, 6/1944; military road signage; moving inland; operating water point; advice to officers to avoid attention of snipers; building bridge across River Orne; construction of tank route; problems digging in command vehicle of 1st Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry; use of slit trenches; nature of divisional actions in Normandy; communications; unit casualties. REEL 5 Continues: impressions of battlefield at Falaise. Recollections of operations commanding 2 Platoon, 244th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1945: redeployment of brigades amongst division, 8/1944; attachment to 1st Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry; crossing River Seine, France; method of crossing river on French/Belgian border; state of Antwerp, Belgium; petrol shortage in Antwerp, Belgium, 9/1944; building Bailey Bridge at Lommel, Belgium. REEL 6 Continues: state of bridges in Nijmegen, Netherlands; movements in the Arnhem Corridor, 9/1944-10/1944; mine clearance role during attack on s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, 10/1944; bridging work on River Maas, Netherlands, 11/1944; method of building Bailey Bridge under fire; move to Waterloo, Belgium area during German Ardennes Offensive, 12/1944; Christmas celebrations, 25/12/1944; taking over demolition duties in Namur, Belgium, 12/1944. REEL 7 Continues: reconnaissance across River Meuse, Belgium; death of unit members during accidental encounter with United States Army patrol; weather conditions in Ardennes, Belgium; engineering duties in Ardennes, Belgium; lack of contact with United States forces; return to Netherlands; leave in GB, 2/1945; return to unit at Goch, Germany, 3/1945; constructing bridge into Goch, Germany; use of fascines to cross anti-tank ditch; liaison with other arms; problems crossing damaged embankment; discovery of German Werewolf hideout; move to Geldern, Germany; problems of tank mobility from Reichswald Forest to River Rhine, 3/1945; media posed link-up with United States Army troops; method of filling gaps in embankment at Geldern, Germany. REEL 8 Continues: road building efforts at Geldern, Germany; use of armoured dozers at Issum, Germany; question of award of Military Cross; working on assembly areas prior to crossing of River Rhine, Germany, 3/1945; advance along border of Netherlands and Germany; construction of high level bridge at Osnabrück, Germany; method of dealing with casualty in minefield and clearing roadblock; reconnaissance of blown bridge on River Weser at Hoya, Germany; method of crossing River Aller, Germany. REEL 9 Continues: question of fatigue, 4/1945; clearing destroyed bridge on autobahn; advance over River Elbe, Germany; devastation of Hamburg, Germany; use of German civilians to remove roadblocks; question of unwillingness not to speak to British woman who had married German. Recollections of period as officer with 244th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in Germany, 1945-1946: move to Ruhr; technique for acquiring civilian labourers; role of unit; maintaining floating Bailey Bridge on River Rhine; posting to engineer training unit at Knocke, Belgium; role as instructor at Hamelin, Germany; demobilisation, 12/1946; memories of victory parade in Hamburg, Germany; question of psychological effects of military service. Recollections of operations commanding of 2 Platoon, 244th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 1944-1945: religious status; medical support; cases of shell shock. REEL 10 Continues: contact with Belgian Army engineers; opinion of German Army troops; capture of German prisoners of war; knowledge gained during active service; role of training; attitude of soldiers to soldiering; letters written to bereaved relatives; lack of First World War veterans in mobilised divisions; further exploration of psychological effects of military service; return to civilian life as civil and industrial engineer.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1990 to the present day (production), Second World War (content), Second World War (association)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Baker, Lindsay (Recorder)
Cosgrove, John Travers (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 2000-08-15
Dimensions: whole: Duration 300, Number Of Items 10
Catalogue number: 20841

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Interview with John Travers Cosgrove

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