Interview with Ralph Batteson

British seaman served as gunner aboard HMML 306, 28th Motor Launch Flotilla Coastal Forces in GB coastal waters, 1/1942-3/1942 and during Operation Chariot, the raid on Saint-Nazaire, France, 28/3/1942; prisoner of war in Frontstalag 133, Rennes, France, Dulag Nord Interrogation Centre, Wilhelmshaven, Marlag X-B, Compound, Stalag X-B, Sandbostel, Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke, Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, Arbeitskommando E3, Blechhammer and Stalag VII-A, Moosburg in Germany, 4/1942-4/1945

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Chesterfield, GB, 1922-1941: fathers naval service; social circumstances; education; employment as errand boy; employment with tarmacadam firm; reception given to troops returning from Dunkirk Evacuation, 6/1940; employment as turner making shells at Sheepbridge Works, 1939-1941; effects of German Air Force raid on Sheffield; story of initial rejection due to Reserved Occupation of attempt to join Royal Navy at Sheffield, 1941; billeted troops in Chesterfield. Aspects of enlistment training as seaman with HMS Ganges, Shotley, GB, 8/1941-9/1941: call-up for service with Royal Navy and question of Reserved Occupation, 7/1941; reception on arrival; relations with instructors; accommodation; morning routine; rations; physical training; drill; mast drill; seamanship training; rifle training. REEL 2 Continues: question of bayonet training; visits to Ipswich; story of friend's boxing match after theft of bedclothes; presence of cockroaches in kitchen; vaccinations; swimming tests; question of selection for various naval branches. Recollections of gunnery training at Royal Naval Gunnery School, HMS Excellent, Whale Island, GB, 9/1941-10/1942: reception and story of near accident in bombed barracks; nature of 'doubling'; tidal nature of Whale Island; rum ration; story of near accident firing twin .5 Inch Gun at air drogue on Eastney Firing Range. REEL 3 Continues: BL 4 Naval Gun drill and punishment for dropping shell; fire patrol to protect HMS Victory at Portsmouth during German Air Force raids and seamens' willingness to guard Women's Royal Naval Service Barracks; sentry duties and incident of being caught trying on officer hat; visit by General Charles de Gaulle; operation of various guns used by Royal Navy. Aspects of training on small craft with Royal Navy at Fort William, 10/1941-12/1941: lack of prior briefing; hotel accommodation; nature of training; rumours; punishment drill for practical joke; question of volunteering for special service; rescuing sheep in snow storm; effects of influenza epidemic. Aspects of period as seaman with Coastal Forces at HMS Hornet, Gosport, GB, 12/1941: training on various types of boats and motor launches; story of practical joke played by Sub-Lieutenant Robert 'Mickey' Wynn at Christmas party, 25/12/1941. REEL 4 Continues: story of escape of prisoner from armed guard; mess catering system. Recollections of operations aboard HMML 306, 28th Motor Launch Flotilla, Coastal Forces, at Falmouth, GB, 1/1942-3/1942: collecting ML 306 from Hamble; characteristics of launch and question of speed; action station as gunner on QF 2 Pounder Gun Mk XIV; ship's armament; opinion of crew members including Lieutenant Ian Henderson, Sub-Lieutenant Philip Dark, Sub-Lieutenant Pat Landy, coxswain Leading Seaman Walter Sargent, Ordinary Seamen Arthur Shepherd, Glyn Llewelyn, Adam Ritchie and Thomas Garner; nickname received; sea trials; dismounting of forward twin M1929 Hotchkiss Machine Gun in storm; role of coastal forces; story of sighting German Air Force aircraft; attending course on 20mm Oerlikon Cannon at Royal Naval Gunnery School, HMS Excellent, Whale Island; replacement of QF 2 Pounder Gun Mk XIV with 20mm Oerlikon Cannon; arrival of party form No 1 Commando; extra fuel tanks; issue of tropical kit as ruse; secrecy; practice raid at Devonport Dockyard, 21/3/1942. REEL 5 Continues: crew members aboard HMML 306; opinion of Sergeant Tommy Durrant and story of his use of condom to cover 20mm Oerlikon Cannon in rough weather; commandos present aboard HMML 306; opinion of Lieutenant Ronald Swayne; briefing aboard landing ship HMS Princess Josephine Charlotte; importance of wearing clean underwear in action. Recollections of operations as gunner aboard HMML 306, 28th Motor Launch Flotilla during Operation Chariot, the raid on Saint-Nazaire, France, 26/3/1942-27/3/1942: provision of escorting destroyers during crossing; encounters with French fishing boats and German Navy submarine; entry into Loire Estuary; personal morale; jellyfish; decoy signals; question of Royal Air Force raid as diversion; orders to land at Old Mole defended by pillbox; firing at searchlights guided by Lieutenant Pat Landy; sight of burning motor launches; importance of having flushed out upper deck fuel tanks. REEL 6 Continues: German defensive fire; firing through slit of pillbox; abandoning attempt to land on Old Mole; hit on forward gun; casualties; firing on German defence boat; success in laying smoke and evasive tactics during retirement; sighting German Navy torpedo boats; sighting by German torpedo boat Jaguar and initial exchange of fire; firing 20mm Oerlikon Cannon at bridge of German torpedo boat Jaguar; refusal to surrender; casualties; actions of Sergeant Tommy Durrant in firing twin Lewis Gun; narrow escape from phosphorous bullet; hit on 20mm Oerlikon Cannon putting it out of action; effects of being rammed by German torpedo boat Jaguar; fear that hair had gone white with shock; situation prior to decision by Lieutenant Ronald Swayne to surrender; question of armament aboard German torpedo boat Jaguar. REEL 7 Continues: question of German attempt to capture HMML 306 relatively undamaged; wounds suffered by Sergeant Tommy Durrant on twin Lewis Gun; attempts to get wounded aboard Jaguar and state of Sergeant Tommy Durrant and Lance Sergeant Ernest 'Des' Chappell; looking below decks and story of being forced to board Jaguar; trivial wounds; being held in officers' wardroom with casualties; story of Ordinary Seaman Arthur Shepherd arguing with German sailor over broken watch; treatment of British and German wounded by former medical student Lieutenant Philip Dark; personal morale; German abandonment of attempts to tow HMML 306; situation on return to Saint-Nazaire; unloading wounded onto picket boat; effects of explosion aboard HMS Campbeltown; lorry journey to La Baule; photographs taken of prisoners on landing; period in temporary prisoner of war cage in La Baule; story of latrine break during train journey to Rennes. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Frontstalag 133, Rennes, France, 3/1942-4/1942: state of camp; erstatz coffee. REEL 8 Continues: state of camp; background to award of Victoria Cross to Sergeant Tommy Durrant; opinion of Lieutenant-Colonel Augustus Newman; relations with French civilians. Aspects of journey from Rennes, France to Wilhelmshaven, Germany, 4/1942: journey in cattle trucks; attempt to escape; separation from commandos; soup; prevalence of dysentery and story of dispute with German guard. Aspects of period at Dulag Nord Interrogation Centre, Wilhelmshaven, 4/1942-5/1942: story of attempting to escape on march through park; mice found in bedding; stories of attempts to deceive German Navy officers during interrogations; fake Red Cross representative present during interrogations; practical jokes played on guards. REEL 9 Continues: Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Marlag X-B Compound, Stalag X-B, Sandbostel, Germany, 5/1942: prisoners' morale; rations. Aspects of period as prisoner of war at Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke, Germany, 5/1942-7/1942: thefts of tools and materials on working parties constructing huts; question of escape; question of volunteering for working parties outside camp; hutted accommodation; Red Cross parcels. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, Germany, 8/1042-9/1942: nature of camp; treatment of Soviet prisoners of war; collecting rations from central cookhouse; visits to other compounds and story of being caught by athletic German guard; injury during football match with barefoot African prisoners of war; camp concerts; activities of Squadron Leader Douglas Bader; German guards. Recollections of period as prisoner of war at Arbeitskommando E3, Blechhammer, Germany, 9/1942-1/1945: nature of camp; neighbouring prisoner of war camp. REEL 10 Continues: sabotage activities on working parties building synthetic oil refinery including collapsing wooden shuttering on party of Italian workers, breaking up wooden shuttering, blocking concrete pipes and pushing light railway skips into concrete foundations; success in blaming neighbouring German construction firm for theft of light railway skips; ruse to minimise loading rubble into railway trucks and German reaction on discovering ruse; United States Air Force bombing raid when refinery became operational; German smoke screen devices; story of narrow escape from failing bombs; German air raid shelters; effects of bombing and story of carrying out additional sabotage damage; state of health; food. REEL 11 Continues: varying origins of prisoners of war and workers; bartering; foraging for food in neighbouring fields during Allied air raids; story of meeting senior Luftwaffe officers; story of bomb hitting German rations store; work assisting Polish civilian in ration stores; question of parcel and letter contact with GB; concert party; brewing alcohol and story of being caught drinking by German guard; question of sporting activities; question of escape and offer of assistance from German civilian declined after loss of escape equipment. REEL 12 Continues: story of attempt to evade German interpreter and subsequent interview with German NCO; question of learning German language; digging mass grave for British casualties in Allied air raid; German use of Jewish concentration camp inmates to deal with unexploded bombs; behaviour of Kapos; question of progress of war; hearing sound of Soviet Army guns, 1/1945. Recollections of march from Blechhammer to Moosburg, Germany, 1/1945-3/1945: false start; attitude of German guards; personal possessions; importance of regularly changing socks; German shooting of Jewish concentration camp inmates; sleeping in barns; story of failed attempt to barter soap for food with German civilians and pursuit during return to overnight barn. REEL 13 Continues: march routine and route avoiding population centres; story of stealing chickens; attempt by German farmer to claim prisoners of war had stolen blankets; cooking stolen chicken; story of meeting German Waffen-SS officer on leave whilst attempting to barter soap; hospitality from Czech civilian passing through Czechoslovakia; story of being attacked by German farmer after being caught stealing corn; state of prisoner of war health. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Stalag VII-A, Moosburg, Germany, 3/1945-4/1945: American prisoners of war activities taunting German guards; over-crowded conditions; sight of United States Army and German forces' tank battle outside of camp; liberation by United States Army troops; visit by General George S Patton; breaking out of camp to collect souvenirs and story of bartering for boots. REEL 14 Continues: looting of wine casks; repaired car; breaking out of camp; nature of American rations; lottery for air flights back to GB and decision to make own way. Aspects of journey from Moosburg, Germany to Paris, France, 4/1944-5/1944: hitch-hiking with United States Army drivers; hospitality on visit to depot in wine storehouse; story of shooting at debris floating in River Rhine, Germany; VE Day celebration in French village, 8/5/1945; period in United States Army leave centre in Paris, France, 5/1945: activities selling food to estaminets on black market; delaying journey to GB; story of trouble with United States Army Military Police Corps during visit to night club; journey back to GB. Aspects of period as seaman at Royal Naval Barracks, HMS Pembroke, Chatham, GB, 5/1945-6/1945: reception and initial problems over wearing of United States Army uniform; leave. REEL 15 Continues: ruses played on petty officers capitalising on status as former prisoner of war. Aspects of period as seaman on shore duties with Royal Navy at Grimsby, 6/1945-4/1946: billeting aboard old minesweeper; duties on shore patrol; story of assisting drunken merchant seamen back to ship; role assisting in stores and as messenger; demobilisation, 4/1946. Post-war life and employment: employment in building trade; effects of prisoner of war experiences; membership of St Nazaire Society.