Description
Object description
British officer served with 1st Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 6th Infantry Div in Palestine, Greece, Egypt and French Syria, Egypt, 2/1940-8/1941; served with 1st Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 70th Infantry Div in North Africa and India, 9/1941-9/1944; served with 16 Column, 1st Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 3rd Indian Infantry Div during Second Chindit Expedition in Burma, 3/1944-6/1944
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of period as private with Artists Rifles, Territorial Army in GB, 1938-1939: uncle who served with regiment during First World War; background to enlistment in Territorial Army, 5/1938; prior military training at school; anticipations of coming war; reasons for joining Territorial Army; training with battalion at Dukes Road Drill Hall, London; summer camp at Warminster; embodiment of Territorial Army, 9/1939, Aspects of period as officer cadet at No 163 Officer Cadet Training Unit at Shorncliffe, GB, 9/1939-12/1939: start of training at Shorncliffe; training syllabus; punishment for dirty rifle; background to commissioning into Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, 12/1939. Recollections of period as officer with 1st Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 6th Infantry Div in Palestine, 2/1940-3/1941: drafting to battalion; character of NCOs; journey from GB to Palestine; situation in Palestine on joining battalion at Nablus, 2/1940; internal security duties; memories of his commanding officer; degree of fitness; character of pre-war regulars.
REEL 2 Continues: presence of illiterate sergeant; strength of unit; weapons and equipment; foot patrols in villages; patrol strengths; situation between Jews and Arabs; contact with Palestine Police Force; off duty activities; purpose of static guards; emergency platoon; accommodation; degree of contact with Arabs; desert tactics instruction; lack of information about Italian forces; tactical exercises; visit to artillery school; personal weapons carried; move to Allenby Barracks, Jerusalem; duties in Jerusalem; character of platoon sergeant-majors.
REEL 3 Continues: internal security measures in Jerusalem; role of junior officers; taking command of signal platoon; signals equipment and training; use of heliographs; Morse Code practice; use of signals flags; detachment guarding radio transmitter in Ramallah; contact with Arab villagers; use of field telephone; Palestinian interpreter; battalion training near Jericho; role of Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons) mounted patrols; battalion communications; health hazards and use of water purification tablets; problems with speargrass and scorpions.
REEL 4 Continues: training near Dead Sea; obtaining life membership of Sodom and Gommorah Golf Club; orders to entrain and leave to Jerusalem on war footing, 1/3/1941; preparations for signal's platoon move to Egypt. Aspects of period as officer with Baldrock Force on Lemnos Island, Greece, 4/1941: role as part of a composite force; voyage aboard landing craft to Lemnos Island; weapons and equipment; origin of codename Baldrock for force; arrival on Lemnos Island; deployment of battalion; use of sheepskin coats; nature of signals received from mainland Greece; sight of high flying German Air Force aircraft; orders to destroy vehicles and equipment; jamming of Bren Guns. Aspects of period as officer with 1st Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 6th Infantry Div in Egypt, 5/1941-6/1941: arrival at Mustapha Barracks, Alexandria; role receiving troops from evacuation of Crete, Greece; sight of HMS Orion damaged by German Air Force aircraft; disposal of body parts.
REEL 5 Continues: Axis bombing of Alexandria; prior recollection of commanding guard on Greek Royal family during Axis air raids, 4/1941; composition of 14th Infantry Bde; relations with other battalions. Recollections of period as officer with 1st Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 6th Infantry Div in French Syria, 6/1941-8/1941: situation in French Syria; taking positions south of Damascus; attitude of Syrian civilians towards French; character of military government control commission and disposal of Vichy French Army troops; dealing with Vichy French Army troops; lack of trouble in French Syria; reaction of Arabs to arrival of General Charles de Gaulle; character of Samaritans; seizure of Palmyra; occasion when Royal Horse Artillery officer insisted on precedence over Foot Guards; hospitalisation for skin complaint; state of troop's health; communications.
REEL 6 Continues: Recollections of operations as officer with Signals Section, 1st Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 70th Infantry Div in Tobruk, Libya, 9/1941-11/1941: voyage on board destroyer from Alexandria, Egypt to Tobruk; threat from German Air Force attacks; twenty minute disembarkation time; method of unloading petrol cans; guides provided by Australian troops from 2/17th Bn; taking over section of Tobruk Perimeter across Bardia Road; battalion communications; character of handover with Australians; nature of patrols; ditch and wire barrier; reasons for lack of daytime activity; Axis air attacks and artillery fire; communication with other branches; water availability; formation of 70th Infantry Div in Tobruk Perimeter; move of brigade into reserve, 11/1941 and preparations for breakout to link up with advance from Egypt; plan for attack on Axis positions; start of attack on Axis perimeter, 21/11/1941; capture of two German strongpoints by 2nd Bn Black Watch (Royal Highland Regt).
REEL 7 Continues: artillery support for operation; casualties amongst troops of 2nd Bn Black Watch (Royal Highland Regt); unit's own axis of advance; character of German Access Road; move southwards onto escarpment; orders to widen salient; B Coy's attack on Italian Army strongpoint; capture of Italian prisoners of war; nature of anti-vehicle mines; move to Bir Bel Hamed and blocking Access Road; use of vehicles to carry messages; occasion when he was blown up on landmine; Axis use of long-range gun 'Bardia Bill'; Deutsches Afrika Korps attack on road block across Access Road; adjustment of defensive positions; destruction of German tanks and capture of German prisoners of war; impression of Deutsches Afrika Korps troops; treatment of difficult German officer prisoner of war; arrival of brigade staff; narrow escape from discharge of captured German Luger Pistol; headquarters bunker.
REEL 8 Continues: visit to Sidi Rezegh battlefield; obtaining anti-flea powder and German rations; second blowing up on British mine; threat of court martial; nature of British and Italian mines; explosion of whole Italian minefield; Christmas present of brussel sprouts, 25/12/1941; return to Egypt; lack of battalion casualties.
REEL 9 Continues: Aspects of period as instructor at Middle East Officer Cadet Training Unit in Egypt, 1/1942-6/1942: number of cadets; character of cadets; qualities required of junior officers; pattern of training; lectures from officers attached to headquarters; main emphasis on infantry training; use of sand tables; political situation in Egypt, 2/1942; role of cadets in disarming royal guard at Adam Palace in Cairo; outcome of operation at Adam Palace; degree of failure in his platoon intakes; pattern of training; panic on 'Ash Wednesday' as documents burnt in Cairo as Deutsches Afrika Korps advanced to El Alamein Line, 6/1942; attitude of Egyptians to British presence.
REEL 10 Continues: lack of awareness of General Bernard Montgomery's presence; discovery that his battalion had moved to India; method of returning to his unit. Recollections of period with 1st Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 70th Div in India, 12/1942-9/1943: voyage on aboard MV Port Alma from Egypt to India; joining battalion at Ranchi; in tented accommodation during monsoon including problems with snakes; duties; threat from the activities of Indian National Congress members and duties guarding railway line; early hearts and minds policy; importance of mineral, mica; character of Kodama area; accommodation in station; use of punkawallahs; role as part of reserve for Eastern Army; training and leave arrangements; supply dependent on railway; supplementing rations with goat meat and soya.
REEL 11 Continues: occasion when he drove the Calcutta Mail train; reasons for cases of malaria and precautions taken; move to Diamond Harbour near mouth of River Hooghly, 12/1942; conditions in camp; incident when he was bitten by pi-dog; treatment to prevent contracting rabies at Pasteur Institute in Calcutta; reasons for accelerating treatment against rabies; move from Calcutta to Chittagong; inoculations against cholera; move to Cox's Bazaar; duties; medical treatment for septic bite on leg; removal of battalion from Arakan, Burma, 1943; joining 14th Infantry Bde at Bangalore, 8/1943; brigade casualties during outbreak of bubonic plague at Bangalore; inoculation against bubonic plague; hearing that elements of 70th Infantry Div was being attached to Chindits, 9/1943. Aspects of period as officer with Reconnaissance Platoon, 16 Column, 14th Infantry Bde, 3rd Indian Infantry Div training for Chindit operations in India, 9/1943-1944: loss of vehicles and arrival of mules; briefing by Brigadier Bernard Fergusson; move to Gwalior-Jhansi area; character of mules.
REEL 12 Continues: disposal of surplus equipment; division of battalion into two columns; removal of elderly troops and arrival of new commanding officer; column headquarters; Royal Air Force section and air support; composition of columns; reconnaissance platoon; opinion of Karen hill people; need for absolute quiet in jungle; exercised drills for formation of column larger; problems with crossing rivers; use of floats; special drills for movement; dispersal procedures; building confidence by use of patrols; control command for column; training of reconnaissance platoon by Burma Rifles officer Captain George Carne; role of reconnaissance platoon; rate at which reconnaissance platoon could move; routine marching drills; use of chaguls for water; use of large pack; movement rate determined by terrain; moving through jungle; overnight drills.
REEL 13 Continues: security during overnight stops; specialist training including use of flame-throwers, care of mules and butchery; level of wastage in training; emphasis on map reading for lance-corporals; move to Jhansi and onto Dimapur; loading mules into transport aircraft. Recollections of operations commanding Reconnaissance Platoon, 16 Column, 1st Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 3rd Indian Infantry Div during Second Chindit Expedition Operation Thursday in Burma, 3/1944-6/1944: landing on Aberdeen Landing Zone, 31/3/1944; move to Indaw area; discovery of Imperial Japanese Army supply dumps; role providing floater columns to cover evacuation of 77th Indian Infantry Bde's heavy equipment; attacks on railways; character of jungle; navigation in jungle; slow rate of movement north; platoon moved in single file; loads carried by platoon mules; contents of American K-rations; method of supply tea; air supply disrupted by monsoon; quality of parachutes including canvas statochute; method of dropping fodder to mules; diversion of air transport; how jeep tracks became impassable in monsoon.
REEL 14 Continues: American General Joseph Stilwell's critical of rate of movement; arrival at Lake Indawgyi; orders to liaise with Chinese forces; discovery of village with smallpox problem; vaccination against smallpox; orders to carry out reconnaissance north westwards from Lake Indawgyi; encounter with American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) personnel, 6/6/1944; celebration feast on hearing news of D-Day, 6/6/1944; mission northwards to contact Chinese forces; problems of dealing with wounded Royal Engineer officer and men with malaria; developing abscess and reaction to hearing that he was to be evacuated; use of Royal Air Force Short Sunderland Flying Boats to evacuate casualties from Lake Indawgyi; construction of canvas boats to ferry wounded from shore to Short Sunderland Flying Boat; evacuation by river to American headquarters; medical treatment for abscess; weight after operation.
REEL 15 Continues: fortitude of Chindits and subject of conversations; presented to General Walter Lentaigne at Chindit headquarters; flight in light aircraft to Ledo, India; treatment on arrival at hospital at Ledo; move to battalion rear base; role of unfit troops in air supply of columns; orders to move back to Bangalore, India; Python repatriation scheme to return to GB. Aspects of return to GB, 11/1944-12/1944: voyage aboard HMT Almanzora from India to GB; disembarking at Greenock; troops infuriated by story about leave in newspaper; arrival in Broadstairs; disembarkation leave; posting to Infantry NCOs School at Warrington on return; relations with commandant and adjutant and near riot in mess. Aspects of period as instructor at School of Infantry at Warminster, GB, 1945-1946: bout of malaria; move of NCOs wing to Warminster; commanded company; syllabus of training and method of instruction.
REEL 16 Continues: teaching tactics; nature of exercises; continued demand for training after VE Day, 15/8/1945; reaction to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; offer of posting to Far East; reasons for returning to civilian life; attitude to having served with 1st Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt during Second World War; demobilisation, 5/1946.
