Description
Object description
British NCO served with 7th Bn Black Watch, 154th Infantry Bde, 51st (Highland) Infantry Div in GB, North Africa, Sicily, Italy and North West Europe, 1939-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Leeds, GB, 1921-1939: family; education; employment. Aspects of enlistment and training with Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) in GB, 1939: enlistment in Leeds, 1/5/1939; basic training in Perth; attachment to 1st Bn Black Watch (Royal Highland Regt) to complete training at Dover. Aspects of period as private with 7th Bn Black Watch (Royal Highland Regt), 154th Infantry Bde, 51st (Highland) Infantry Div in GB, 1940-1942: joining battalion at Callander; reformation of 51st (Highland) Infantry Div; defence duties on Shetland Islands. Recollections of operations as NCO with Carrier Platoon, 7th Bn Black Watch, 154th Infantry Bde, 51st (Highland) Infantry Div in North Africa, 8/1942-5/1943: voyage from GB to Egypt via South Africa, 6/1942-7/1942; duties; positions in M Box on El Alamein line, 9/1942; rations and method of keeping clean; use of Universal Carrier; support role of Universal Carriers during Battle of El Alamein, Egypt, 23/10/1942-11/11/1942; aid given to wounded during Battle of El Alamein.
REEL 2 Continues: abuse screamed at Scottish troops by wounded Italian, 10/1942; battalion casualties killed by Axis booby-trap; his premonition of wounding followed by wounding in head by Axis sniper, 11/1942; hospital treatment for head wound; return to battalion at Fuqa, Egypt, 12/1942; encounter with Scotsman serving with French Foreign Legionnaire in Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAFFI) queue at El Adem, Libya, 12/1942; loss of Universal Carrier at El Agheila, Libya, 1/1943.
REEL 3 Continues: contracting jaundice and problems of getting suitable rations; eagerness to return to his battalion; witnessing pilfering of best rations by line of communications troops, 1/1943; rejoining battalion at Tripoli, Libya and promotion to company sergeant-major with A Coy; march from Tripoli. Libya to Medenine, Tunisia; orders to deceive Axis forces at Medenine, Tunisia, 3/1943; sight of 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div casualties at Wadi Zigaou, Tunisia, 27/3/1943; advance to Mersa Brega, Libya and request to revert to his old rank with Carrier Platoon; work with Carrier Platoon at Wadi Akarit, Tunisia, 6/4/1943.
REEL 4 Continues: opinion of Lieutenant-Colonel James Oliver; heroic action carried out by Corporal Peter Murphy at Roumana Ridge, Tunisia; withdrawal of Axis forces from Roumana Ridge, Tunisia; advance to Takrouna, Tunisia; character of reinforcements; move to French Algeria and end of North African Campaign; preparations for invasion of Sicily, Italy in French Algeria. Aspects of period as NCO with Carrier Platoon, 7th Bn Black Watch (Royal Highland Regt), 154th Infantry Bde, 51st (Highland) Infantry Div on Malta, 6/1943: move to Malta; sight of war damage in Valletta; acquisition of army blankets for sale to priest. Recollections of operations as NCO with Carrier Platoon, 7th Black Watch (Royal Highland Regt), 154th Infantry Bde, 51st (Highland) Infantry Div on Sicily, Italy, 7/1943: voyage from Malta to Sicily; role manning ship's anti-aircraft gun during landing at Pachino.
REEL 5 Continues: capture of Italian anti-aircraft gun by Captain Edward Meyer; advance to Noto; threat from German Air Force at Noto; liberation of Italian bus at Francofonte; distribution of flour to Italian civilians; preparations for attack at Sferro; result of attack at Sferro; Sergeant 'Tug' Wilson's narrow escape after he was run over by Universal Carrier during German artillery shelling; capture of airfield at Gerbini; amusing encounter with pig during reconnaissance patrol at Gerbini.
REEL 6 Continues: results of reconnaissance patrol at Gerbini; wiping out of German Army patrol and treatment of survivor; reprimand he received for trying to protect wounded German prisoner of war from artillery fire; German use of dog for ranging artillery; pursuit of German Army rearguard; loss of company sergeant-major to German artillery fire; end of Sicilian Campaign at Messina; patrol at Messina; move to Catania and rumour of return to GB. Aspects of period as NCO with 7th Bn Black Watch, 154th Infantry Bde, 51st (Highland) Infantry Div in GB, 12/1943-6/1944: return to Liverpool; dock workers' method of pilfering goods being unloaded, Liverpool, 12/1943; stationing of unit at Piper's Wood Camp, Amersham; re-equipping with Carden Lloyd Carrier, 1943; Christmas leave, 12/1943; start of intensive training after 12/1943; sight of Royal Air Force jet aircraft being tested, early 1944.
REEL 7 Continues: breaking his foot in motorcycle accident near Southwold; recuperation from injury; prohibition on military hospital patients using public houses in Bishop's Stortford; encounter with Italian prisoners of war; discharge and move to holding unit; keenness to rejoin battalion, 6/6/1944. Recollections of operations as NCO with Carrier Platoon, 7th Bn Black Watch, 154th Infantry Bde, 51st (Highland) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: rejoining battalion at Bois de Bavant; casualties in Bois de Bavant; plan for attack at Colombelles; role of Carrier Platoon in planned attack on Colombelles; German counter-attack and use of multi-barrelled mortars; aiding wounded Gordon Highlander; withdrawal of Carrier Platoon back to Ranville.
REEL 8 Continues: sight of 5th Bn Black Watch (Royal Highland Regt) casualties; question of reasons for failure of attack at Colombelles; taking over from Guards Armoured Division at Cagny; anxiety over loss of his map case; attack on Garcelles; sight of United States Army Air Force accidental bombing of Canadian gun line; exchange of machine gun fire with German forces during advance to St Pierre; narrow escape from German machine gun fire; use of tank machine gun to suppress German fire coming from house.
REEL 9 Continues: Recollections of operations as NCO with Carrier Platoon, 7th Bn Black Watch, 154th Infantry Bde, 51st (Highland) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 1944-1945: return to Saint-Valery-en-Caux, 8/1944; reconnaissance to check crossings on River Seine at Rouen, France; sight of abandoned vehicles on banks of River Seine, France; attempt to round up Russian prisoners of war who had served with German Army in Rouen, France; positions taken up around Dunkirk, France; arrangements for armistice with German forces at Dunkirk, France, 9/1944; German treatment of deserters at Dunkirk, France, 9/1944; story of rabbits setting off trip flares in Belgium; German V2 Rocket attacks on Antwerp, Belgium; move to Elst, Netherlands, 11/1944; rapid move to the Ardennes, Belgium, 12/1944; problems with icy weather in Ardennes, Belgium and use of Weasel Carrier; narrow escape from minefield.
REEL 10 Continues: wounding in chest during attack on s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands; hospitalisation in Brussels, Belgium; his joke with wounded German that he would receive transfusion of Jewish blood; attitude of wounded Waffen-SS man at Brussels, Belgium; recuperation at Amiens, France; refusal of doctor to allow him to return to battalion; return to battalion and B Coy in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; effect of deserter with self-inflicted wound on unit casualties; minor wounding in foot in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1942; orders to attack position not captured by Seaforth Highlanders; artillery support in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1942; character of German defensive positions in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945.
REEL 11 Continues: dealing with German defences at Heijen, Netherlands, 2/1945; retaliation against German forces for shooting a unit member in the back at Heijen, Netherlands, 2/1945; crossing river in LVT Mk IV Buffalo under Allied artillery fire; finding wounded German Army soldier in farmhouse; capture of German Army officer; attack on Goch, Germany; unit casualties at Goch, Germany; foraging in Goch, Germany; feeding of terrified civilian and her children; minor wound received in shoulder from Allied artillery fire.
REEL 12 Continues: preparations for Operation Varsity in Netherlands, 3/1945; assault crossing of River Rhine at Rees, Germany, 24/3/1945; capture of Kivitt, Germany, 24/3/1945; narrow escape from German Panzerfaust hit at Kivitt, Germany, 24/3/1945; attack on Empel, Germany, 25/3/1945; loss of comrade Private George Gardener at Empel, Germany, 25/31945; use of sniper rifle.
REEL 13 Continues: advance to Dinxperlo, Netherlands; advance towards Meckelstedt, Germany, 5/1945; narrow escape prior to ceasefire, 4/5/1945; capture of two German deserters at Meckelstedt, Germany; providing guard of honour for German surrender delegation; opinion of General Brian Horrocks; return to peacetime soldiering, 5/1945; discovery of area for storing German V2 Rocket parts; posting to 1st Bn Black Watch (Royal Highland Regt), 1946; capture of Joachim von Ribbentrop and Heinrich Himmler.
