Interview with Harold Roberts

British private served with 2nd Bn Liverpool Scottish, 165th Infantry Bde, 55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Div and No 4 Independent Coy, 9/1939-6/1940; NCO served with No 2 Commando, Special Service Brigade and 1st Special Service Bde in GB, 1940-1942 and during Operation Chariot, the raid on Saint-Nazaire, France, 27/3/1942; prisoner of war in Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke and Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, Germany, 1942-1945

REEL 1 Background in Liverpool, GB, 1920-1939: family and social circumstances; education; employment and football activities; background to signing as professional footballer with Chesterfield Football Club, 9/1939. Aspects of period as private with 2nd Bn Liverpool Scottish, 165th Infantry Bde, 55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Div in GB, 1939-1940: enlistment and training with 2nd Bn Liverpool Scottish, Territorial Army at Fraser Street Drill Hall, story of mobilisation whilst playing match for Chesterfield Football Club in Liverpool, 9/1939; period at Harrington Road Barracks, Formby, 8/1939-4/1940, including training and living conditions. Aspects of periods as private with No 4 Independent Coy in GB, 4/1940-6/1940: volunteering for Independent Companies; nature of training; coastal defence role at Sandwich; story of impromptu shower and subsequent punishment fatigues. REEL 2 Continues: coastal defence role; shortage of rifles. Aspects of period as private with No 5 Troop, No 2 Commando, Special Service Brigade and 1st Special Service Bde in GB, 1940-1942: composition of unit; accommodation at Paignton; speed marches and fitness standards required; recreational activities; question of smoking cigarettes; accommodation at Weymouth; football match played against Royal Air Force; nature of training in Scotland; river crossing; weapons training; New Years Eve celebrations in Scotland, 31/12/1941; relations with civilians; weapons training and opinion of Thompson Machine Gun; unarmed combat training and question of using issued knife; landing training. REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as private with No 2 Commando aboard HMS Campbeltown during Operation Chariot during raid on Saint-Nazaire, France, 26/3/1942-27/3/1942: joining HMS Campbeltown at Falmouth; question of plans and role protecting demolition parties; depth charges concreted into bow of ship; opinion of Lieutenant-Colonel Augustus Newman and Major Bill Copland; removal of ship's main armament to assist passage over sandbanks in Loire Estuary; role of Royal Navy motor launches; practice demolition raids on Southampton Docks; secrecy; encountering French fishing boats during crossing; crossing sandbanks in Loire Estuary; ruses to confuse German defences; position crouching behind port side; importance of surprise; opinion of Captain Donald Roy, Regimental Sergeant-Major Alan Moss and Sergeant George Haines; coming under German fire; question of diversionary Royal Air Force raid; question of effectiveness of German fire; impact on hitting dock caisson; landing on quayside; opening of ship seacocks; move to capture German guns situated on warehouse; taking up defensive positions; fire received from German ships. REEL 4 Continues: capture and demolition of German guns situated on warehouse; withdrawal of demolition party; failure of attackes launched from motor launches on Old Mole at Saint-Nazaire; crawling on stanchions underneath bridge to avoid heavy German fire; move into bollarded area; German enfilade fire; shrapnel leg wounds and head wound inflicted on Private Arthur Ashcroft; surrender with party under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Augustus Newman after being surrounded in cellar; move of prisoners to basement of hotel; detonation of HMS Campbeltown; medical treatment for wounds. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke, Germany, 1942: cattle truck train journey to camp; conditions; method of digging escape tunnel from hut with tools supplied for gardening; use of makeshift candles to check oxygen situation. REEL 5 Continues: German discovery of tunnel; rations and Red Cross parcels; bartering with prisoners and German guards. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, Germany, 1942-1945: nature of camp divided into compounds; German searches; nature of working parties; football activities playing for working party compound as captain of England in international matches; reputation of 'rackets' compound. REEL 6 Continues: reputation of 'rackets' compound; uses of tin cans; concert parties; importance of Red Cross parcels; question of escapes; United States Army Air Force raids; approach of Soviet forces; escape from working party; reception and treatment by United States Army troops in Munich area, 1945; journey by air back to GB. Aspects of period as private with British Army in GB, 1945: reaction on meeting family; opinion of Operation Chariot, the raid on Saint-Nazaire, France, 3/1942; demobilisation. Post-war life and employment: return to play football for Chesterfield Football Club; career as professional footballer and coach; effects of war service.