Interview with Charles Edwin White

British NCO served with 2nd Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Regt, 1st Airlanding Bde, 6th Airborne Div in GB, 1943-1944; served with 5th Bn Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, 152nd Infantry Bde, 51st (Highland) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 6/1944-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Upper Froyle, GB, 1924-1942: family; education. Aspects of enlistment and training with British Army in GB, 1942-1943: joining British Army, 11/1942; reaction to basic training in Colchester Garrison; posting to 70th Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in North Ireland. Aspects of period with 2nd Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 1st Airlanding Bde, 6th Airborne Div in GB and Normandy, 1943-1944: transfer to battalion; Exercise Footslog; character of battakuib NCOs; German long-range shelling of Broadstairs; training at Kingsgate; witty reply to commanding officer; preparations to move to Normandy, France at Aldershot Garrison; crossing to Normandy, France, 7/6/1944. Recollections of operations as NCO with D Coy, 5th Bn Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, 152nd Infantry Bde, 51st (Highland) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: background to transfer to battalion; period in line in River Orne bridgehead at Troarn, 6/1944-7/1944. REEL 2 Continues: problems with mosquitoes at Troarn; period in reserve; threat from German Army snipers; comparison between German weapons pit and British slit trench; narrow escape from German Army soldier with revolver; sheltering with scared dog in slit trench; occasion when he got isolated; interception of Germans crossing River Seine; entering Saint-Valery-en-Caux, France, 8/1944; attack on Le Havre, France, 9/1944. Recollections of operations as NCO with D Coy, 5th Bn Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, 152nd Infantry Bde, 51st (Highland) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1945: move to Best, Netherlands; use of Salvation Army mobile canteen; liberation of concentration camp at Vught, Netherlands. REEL 3 Continues: reception from Dutch civilians in Vught, Netherlands, 9/1944; casualties during attack on Schijndel, Netherlands; canal crossings; relieving 101st Airborne Div, United States Army; effects of German flooding of Netherlands; reasons for reverting to private; link-up with United States Army troops in Ardennes, Belgium; move into Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; facial appearance of shot men; attempt to deceive German forces in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; capture of German prisoners of war in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; leave in GB, 3/1945. REEL 4 Continues: fight for airfield at Delmenhorst, Germany, 4/1945; end of Second World War in Europe, 8/5/1945. Aspects of period as NCO with 5th Bn Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and 1st Bn Black Watch (Royal Highland Regt) in Germany, 1945-1946: guarding German war criminals; guard duties near Hanover; black marketing in Hanover; transfer to 1st Bn Black Watch (Royal Highland Regt) at Duisburg. Reflections on military service: attitude to having served with British Army; relations between officers and other ranks; question of self-sacrifice in German Army and British Army.