Interview with Eric William Wheeler

British NCO served with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt (Duke of Edinburgh's), 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB and North West Europe, 1939-1945

REEL 1 Background in Warminster, GB, 1920-1939: family; education; employment. Aspects of period as NCO with 14 Platoon, C Coy, 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt (Duke of Edinburgh's), 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB, 1939-1940: joining Territorial Army, 4/1939; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; guard duties at Porton Down, 1939-1940; anti- invasion roles in Southern England; coastal defence duties at Folkestone and Dover, 1940-1941; origin of 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div's nickname 'Kent Home Guard'. Recollections of operations as NCO with 14 Platoon, C Coy, 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt (Duke of Edinburgh's), 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: voyage from GB to Arromanches-les-Bains, 16/6/1944; casualties caused by German artillery fire whilst supporting left flank of 15th Scottish) Infantry Div, 6/1944; attack on Hill 112, 7/1944; character of ricochets from tanks; attack on Maltot; capture of two Germans in woodland at Maltot; reinforcement and level of casualties; condition of unit morale. REEL 2 Continue: attack on Mont Pinçon, 8/1944; digging in under fire; view from Mont Pinçon, 8/1944; attitude towards German Army troops; rate of German machine gun fire; dead cattle in Normandy; occasion when commanding officer ordered troops to stand and fight on Hill 112, 7/1944; German defensive advantage; casualties among battalion officers; advance to Vernon on River Seine, 8/1944. Recollections of operations as NCO with A Coy, 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt (Duke of Edinburgh's), 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1945: under machine gun fire from German tanks; crossing River Nederrijn at Nijmegen, Netherlands; outflanking Elst, Netherlands; in action on railway line; platoon casualties; pause in German fire whilst battalion buried dead; reaction of officer to number of platoon casualties; attention received from German Air Force fighter aircraft near Arnhem, Netherlands; chaotic move to Ardennes, Belgium, 12/1944. REEL 3 Continues: in front line at Roermond, Netherlands, 1/1945; German anti-tank hit on Kangaroo Armoured Personnel Carrier ferrying unit at Straeten, Germany, 11/1944; strong artillery support at Straeten, Germany, 11/1944; false report of 15th (Scottish) Infantry Div's capture of Cleve, Germany, 2/1945; nature of German resistance at Cleve, Germany, 2/1945; changes in unit personnel between Normandy, France and Reichswald Forest, Germany; British economizing of troops; how he treated German children; capture of Bremen, Germany, 5/1945; loss of unit officer in Bremen, Germany, 5/1945; attitude of German civilians in Bremen, Germany, 5/1945; calling off of planned attack on Bremerhaven, Germany, 5/1945. Aspects of period with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt (Duke of Edinburgh's), 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in Germany, 1945-1946: attitude of troops to prospect of being sent to Far East; sight of survivors of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; relations with civilians in Bergen, Germany; raids by Polish Displaced Persons on German farm houses. REEL 4 Continues: refusal of comrades to talk about duties on firing squad; attitude to having served with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt Duke of Edinburgh's) in Second World War; amusing story about supposed dead man in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945.