Description
Object description
British officer served with 1st Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, 8th Armoured Bde in North West Europe, 6/1944-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in London, GB, 1924-1942: family's military service; education; return to London after evacuation with Highgate School to Westward Ho; memories of Munich Crisis, 1938; arrival of German Jewish refugee pupils at Highgate School; memories of declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; effect of war on education. Recollections of training as trooper and NCO with Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 1942-1943: parent's reaction to enlistment in Royal Armoured Corps; call-up to 52nd Training Regt, Royal Armoured Corps at Bovington Camp; recruits adjusting to basic training; military discipline; move to 44 Troop, 58th Training Regt, Royal Armoured Corps; behaviour of NCOs.
REEL 2 Continues: driving and maintenance training; problems driving Churchill Tank; weapons training; introduction to signals; limitations of tactical training; contrast between British and German tank crew training; rations; decision to volunteer for War Office Selection Board; nature of selection War Office Selection Board at Warminster, 1943; attending pre-Officer Cadet Training Unit at Blackdown; pattern of training at Royal Armoured Corps Officer Cadet Training Unit at Royal Military College Sandhurst, Camberley; nature of training exercise in North Wales; gunnery practise at Lulworth; father's reaction to graduation parade at Royal Military College Sandhurst, Camberley, 4/1944.
REEL 3 Continues: question of inexperience of tactical instructors and length of time taken to turn out troop leaders; period in holding unit; orders to report to Southampton; waterproofing Cromwell Tanks. Aspects of voyage from GB to Normandy, France, 6/1944: loading tanks on Landing Craft Tank (LCT), 7/6/1944; crossing English Channel; comments of naval bombardment; sight of dead bodies of Royal Air Force Regiment personnel floating around ship; relations with Royal Navy crew; problems of unloading tanks; strafing by German Air Force on Gold Beach, 10/6/1944; narrow escape from aerial dogfight. Recollections of operations as officer with A Sqdn, 1st Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, 8th Armoured Bde in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: reception at unit from Major John Semken; first day in action at Saint Pierre; relations with crew; degree of training as troop leader; memories of Major John Semken.
REEL 4 Continues: commanding officer's reaction to reconnaissance on foot; sight of German tank commander during reconnaissance with Captain Neville Ferne, 6/1944; Major John Semken's destruction of Tiger Tank, 26/6/1944; method of identifying German tanks; importance of suppressive fire prior to advancing; technique for engaging German tanks; German forces' use of snipers against tank commanders; use of captured German weapons; method of deceiving German forces' snipers; tactical employment of tank troop; method of advancing including use of suppressing fire and cover; working with infantry and artillery; accidental firing on unit by Royal Air Force Hawker Typhoons; daily routine in Normandy.
REEL 5 Continues: night-time routine; meeting with squadron leader; opinion of role of unit within 8th Armoured Bde; degree of knowledge of wider aspects of war in Normandy; in action against German anti-tank team at Briquessard; advance to River Seine; description of Royal Air Force support prior to attack at Briquessard; assault crossing over River Seine at Vernon; commanding officer's method of command; in action at Vernon; unit morale.
REEL 6 Continues: further details of crossing of River Seine at Vernon, 8/1944; role supporting 4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert's) at Vernon; question of operating in wooded areas; importance of suppressive fire; operating in urban areas in Normandy; role of squadron commander; method of dealing with German Panzerfaust; fate of commanding officer of 4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert's). Recollections of operations as officer with A Sqdn, 1st Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, 8th Armoured Bde in North West Europe, 8/1945-5/1945: advance to Doullens, France; tactics employed during attack at Doullens, France; discovery of German V1 Flying Bomb site and capture of German ground crew; treatment of German prisoners of war; destruction of German 88mm Gun at Doullens, France and subsequent advance.
REEL 7 Continues: reasons for bypassing Lille, France; opinion of German Army troops, equipment and morale; capture of Tournai; memories of later leave in Louvain, 12/1944; advance into Netherlands; German forces' policy to counter-attack; notification of Operation Market Garden; role of 8th Armoured Bde; briefing for Operation Market Garden by General Bernard Montgomery; capture of Grave Bridge, Netherlands, 9/1944; comments on supply; arrival at Nijmegen, Netherlands, 9/1944; contact with Germans forces at Nijmegen, Netherlands; German Air Force attacks on Nijmegen Bridge; attitude of 82nd Airborne Div, United States Army personnel towards Germans; effect of being engaged by German 88mm Gun.
REEL 8 Continues: organisation of squadron; further details of engagement with German 88mm Gun and death of Lieutenant Harry Heenan, near Nijmegen, Netherlands, 25/9/1944; move to Geilenkirchen, Germany, 11/1944; casualty rates amongst troop commanders; reasons for driving into minefield during attack on Geilenkirchen, Germany; German layout and marking of minefields; effect of mines on tank at Geilenkirchen, Germany; reasons for use of tank suits; report to commanding officer following loss of tank; initial artillery bombardment prior to assault on Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; role as liaison officer during assault on Cleve, Germany, 2/1945; German Jagdpanther attack on vehicle convoy at Cleve, Germany, 2/1942; advance towards Goch, Germany, 2/1942.
REEL 9 Continues: nature of Allied artillery bombardments; opinion of effect of Ordnance QF 25 Pounder Field Gun; arrival of squadron commander, Major Bill Enderby; nature of advance to Loccum, Germany; bogging down of tanks; bailing out of tank; destruction of tank; character of M4 Sherman Tank engines; comments on 1st Sherwood Ranger Yeomanry graves at Loccum, Germany; method of requiring replacement tanks; limitations of Sherman Firefly; German propaganda leaflets; encounter with German naval mines during advance towards Bremen, Germany; advance into Bremen, Germany; attitude towards fighting as end of war drew nearer; reaction to end of Second World War in Europe, 8/5/1945; move to Hanomag Factory at Hanover, Germany.
REEL 10 Continues: arrival and surrender of German armoured column at Einbeck, Germany, 5/1945. Aspects of service with British Army, 1945-1947: return to Catterick Camp, GB and selection for posting to South East Asia Command; reaction to dropping of atomic bomb on Japan, 8/1945; posting to Derbyshire Yeomanry in Egypt; duties carried out in desert; relations with Bedouin Arabs; return to GB and demobilisation. Reflections on service with 1st Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry in Second World War: attitude to having served with 1st Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry in Second World War; role of medical officer and chaplain of regiment; comments of using female service personnel in front line service in tanks; comments of comradeship amongst tank crews.
