Interview with Nelson Francis Taylor

British private served with 1st Bn Highland Light Infantry, 71st Infantry Bde, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in GB and North West Europe, 1943-1945

REEL 1 Background in Monmouth, GB, 1924-1942: family; education; employment; duties with 10th (Monmouth) Bn Monmouthshire Home Guard. Aspects of enlistment and training with British Army in GB, 1942-1943: mass desertion on Christmas Eve, 24/12/1942; pattern of basic training; training with light anti-aircraft unit; narrow escape from crashing United States Army Air Force Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn Highland Light Infantry, 71st Infantry Bde, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in GB, 1943-1944: transfer to battalion at Sittingbourne; reception at battalion; German V1 Flying Bomb Incident; accidental artillery shelling during Exercise Henry on South Downs, 4/1944; embarkation at Newhaven, 6/1944. Recollections of operations as private with 11 Platoon, B Coy, 1st Bn Highland Light Infantry, 71st Infantry Bde, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944- 8/1944: nature of disembarkation on Juno Beach, 24/6/1944. REEL 2 Continues: move to Cheux; sight of bombing of Caen, 7/1944; move to Hill 112; capture of German V1 Flying Bomb site and execution of German prisoners of war by French Resistance; sight of carnage in Falaise Gap, 8/1944. Recollections of operations as private with 11 Platoon, B Coy, 1st Bn Highland Light Infantry, 71st Infantry Bde, 53rd (Welsh) Div in North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1945: shooting of Belgian collaborator near Menin, Belgium; arrival in Antwerp, Belgium; officer wounded by German V2 Rocket hit on cinema in Antwerp, Belgium; move to Netherlands; skirmish at Tilburg, Netherlands, 10/1944; fate of reinforcement from Royal Artillery who lacked comradeship; demand from NCO to shoot Waffen-SS prisoner of war. REEL 3 Continues: reasons for NCO wanting to shoot Waffen-SS prisoner of war; attack on s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, 10/1944; crash of Royal Air Force Avro Lancaster at Bemmel, Netherlands; advance to brickworks at Nijmegen, Netherlands; how inexperienced reinforcements put more experienced troops in danger; rumour that Germans would cross River Nederrijn in dinghies at Nijmegen, Netherlands, 11/1944; under artillery fire at Venlo, Netherlands, 11/1944; move to Waterloo area, Belgium, 12/1944; winter conditions in Ardennes, Belgium, 12/1944-1/1945; consequences of opening fire on German patrol in Ardennes, Belgium, 12/1944; his suspicion of group of United States Army troops in Ardennes, Belgium, 12/1944; effect of cold on hot rations in Ardennes, Belgium, 12/1944-1/1945. REEL 4 Continues: coping with cold weather; mine danger during crossing English Channel on leave, 1/1945; role supplying water for tea in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; fate of German prisoner of war who mocked British paratrooper red beret during crossing of River Rhine, Germany, 3/1945; effect of German 88mm Gun fire on battalion vehicles; advance to River Aller, 4/1945; narrow escape during skirmish with German marines; German use of paper bandages during truce to care for wounded; effect of lack of combat experience of German Navy marines; capture of Vreden, Germany, 4/1945. REEL 5 Continues: nature of German forces' machine gun fire at Ibbenbüren, Germany, 4/1945; discovery of bodies of German female civilians with rifles at Ibbenbüren, Germany, 4/1945; Waffen-SS shooting of German civilian who had showed white flag at Ibbenbüren, Germany, 4/1945; German forces' blowing of autobahn bridge; in billets in Hamburg, Germany, 5/1945; encounter with German civilians in Hamburg, Germany, 5/1945; sight of mass of German prisoners of war in Hamburg, Germany, 5/1945; devastated state of Hamburg, Germany, 5/1945. Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn Highland Light Infantry in Egypt and Palestine, 1945-1948: move to Egypt and Palestine; patrolling in Jerusalem, Palestine; contracting jaundice in Palestine; return to Canal Zone in Egypt; Egyptian dock workers stealing of tinned food at Suez, Egypt. REEL 6 Continues: return to Palestine for demobilisation, 1948; practical joke played on bum boat in Suez Canal, Egypt on return voyage to GB.