Interview with Gerald Lock

British NCO served with 1st Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 8th Armoured Bde in GB and North West Europe, 3/1943-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Bristol, GB, 1924-1942: family; education; employment; parents' reaction to his call-up for military service, 10/1942. Aspects of enlistment and training with British Army in GB, 1942: call-up to Gujarat Barracks at Colchester Garrison, 10/1942; issue of uniform; adjusting to military life; rations; kit inspections by Captain Peter Wilson; military discipline; army number; recreational activities in Colchester; pattern of training. Aspects of training with 61st Training Regt, Royal Armoured Corps at Catterick Camp, GB, 11/1942-2/1943: interview for Royal Armoured Corps; joining training regiment at Catterick Camp; introduction to Valentine Tank; courses attended including gunnery; relations with civilians. Recollections of period as trooper with B Sqdn, 1st Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 31st Tank Bde, 79th Armoured Div in GB, 3/1943-9/1944: reception at unit in Helmsley; tanks used by regiment; role of troop leader; introduction of Centaur and Cromwell Tanks; role of gunner; initial problems with Cromwell Tank; method of entering and exiting tank. REEL 2 Continues: gunnery communication; use of periscope; degree of confidence in Cromwell Tank; crew members; opinion of German tanks; move to Kirbymoorside; degree of socialisation amongst crew; exercises on North York Moors; hospitalisation for football injury at Nunnykirk; re-equipping with Churchill Mk V Tank and move to Bury St Edmunds; move to Woodbridge and introduction to Churchill Crocodile Flame Throwing Tank, 8/1944; operation of Churchill Crocodile; training at Woodbridge; distance flame would travel; move to Southampton area. Recollections of operations as trooper with B Sqdn, 1st Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 31st Tank Bde, 79th Armoured Div in North West Europe, 9/1944-5/1945: disembarking at Ostend, Belgium, 9/1944; reaction to sight of German fortifications; move to Tilburg and Eindhoven, Netherlands; contracting pleurisy at Eindhoven, Netherlands. REEL 3 Continues: accommodation in Netherlands; attachment of regiment to 2nd Armoured Div, Ninth Army, United States Army at Heerlen, Netherlands; conditions for Dutch civilians; American rations; opinion of United States Army; start of attack at Freialdenhoven, Germany; effect on tanks of hitting mines; bailing out drill; return to tank to collect magazines; muddy conditions during return to squadron positions; orders to return to tank; brewing up in tank; loss of American recovery vehicle attempting to recover tanks; reaction to loss of friend; supporting inexperienced United States Army troops; initial lack of use of flamethrower; failure of his tank's weapons during attack on wood. REEL 4 Continues: reliability of machine gun; naming of tanks; death of unit chaplain; effect on German Army troops of potential use of flamethrower; amount of flamethrower fuel carried; resupplying; advance into Germany; American treatment of dead; handling of British dead; role during German Ardennes Offensive, Belgium, 12/1944-1/1945; memories of New Year, 1/1/1945; death of NCO and driver from mines; description of inside of Churchill Tank; preparations for crossing River Rhine in Germany on River Maas, Netherlands, 2/1945; crossing River Rhine, Germany 3/1945; discovery of German body in dugout after crossing River Rhine, Germany, 3/1945. REEL 5 Continues: move towards Lüneburg, Germany; taking German civilians to exhibition of concentration camp photographs from village of Belsen, Germany, 4/1945; move to Zeven, Germany, 5/1945; victory celebrations. Aspects of period with 1st Fife and Forfar Yeomanry and 14/20th King's Hussars in Germany, 5/1945-11/1945: loss of tanks and replacement with armoured cars; story of unit member who had been burned and taken prisoner of war; breaking up of 1st Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 6/1945; canteen manager duties; relations with German civilians; move to 14/20th King's Hussars; evacuation to GB with tuberculosis, 11/1945. Aspects of hospitalisation in GB, 1945-1948: treatment received for tuberculosis; discharge from British Army, 1948. Reflections of military service with British Army, 1943-1945: patrolling with 14/20th King's Hussars; problems with German Werewolves; dealing with Displaced Persons in Germany, 1945; relations with Scottish born troopers in 1st Fife and Forfar Yeomanry. REEL 6 Continues: opinion of German Army troops; reaction to being in hospital with German prisoners of war; opinion of United States Army troops; sight of Germans disguised as Americans being chased by United States Army troops in Ardennes, Belgium, 12/1944; discovery of Nazi priest and dead bodies of Allied airmen in woods, Germany 1945; opinion of Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service; opinion of conscientious objectors; question of psychological effects of service; memories of chaplain; casualties amongst 1st Fife and Forfar Yeomanry; abortive potential movement to Japan; cases of self-inflicted wounds amongst United States Army troops; shooting of NCO by trooper who had received a letter from home; use of start lines; replacement of tank commander; pension received for military service; traffic duty; attachment to tank.