Description
Object description
British private served with 1st Bn London Scottish, The Gordon Highlanders, 168th (2nd London) Infantry Bde in GB, 11/1937-11/1939; officer served with 2/7th (Machine Gun) Bn Middlesex Regt (Duke of Cambridge's Own), 46th Infantry Div in GB, 5/1940-9/1941; served with 70th Bn Middlesex Regt (Duke of Cambridge's Own) in GB, 9/1941-9/1943; served with 9th Bn Parachute Regt, 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in GB and Normandy, France, 1/1944-8/1944; served with Airborne Forces Depot, Hardwick Hall, GB, 11/1944-6/1945; served as staff officer with Eastern Command in Norwich, GB, 1945-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Saltburn-by-the-Sea and London, GB, 1919-1939: family; education; question of career in aviation; employment as management trainee for tobacco firm, 1937-1939. Recollections of period as private with 1st Bn London Scottish, The Gordon Highlanders, 168th (2nd London) Infantry Bde at Buckingham Gate Drill Hall, London, GB, 11/1937-8/1939: reasons for joining Territorial Army; uniform; drill and value of experience with Officer Training Corps; weapons training; tactical lectures; weekend and annual camps; question of commissioning; relationship with Other Ranks, NCOs and officers; increasing realism of training exercises. Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn London Scottish, 168th (2nd London) Infantry Bde in GB, 8/1939-11/1939: mobilisation with key party at Buckingham Gate Drill Hall, 8/1939; preparations for war; guard duties at Chelsea Barracks; filling sand bags; declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; move to Broome Hall, Barham, near Canterbury, 10/1939-11/1939; transfer to Carrier Platoon, Headquarters Coy; learning to drive and opinion of Bren Gun Carrier; role of Carrier Platoon; story of punishment for wearing civilian shoes whilst digging trenches; recommendation for commission. Aspects of period as officer cadet with No 162 Officer Cadet Training Unit at Bulford, GB, 11/1939-3/1940: volunteering for machine gun training course.
REEL 2 Continues: general training as officer cadet; training in Vickers Machine Gun including opinion of it, stoppages, and tactical employment; influence of Brigade of Guards on training; commissioning into Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own), 3/1940. Aspects of period at Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) Regimental Depot at Mill Hill Barracks, GB, 3/1940-5/1940: lectures from officers on leave from France; approach to training recruits; wiring parties and method of crossing barbed wire; anti-parachutist measures. Recollections of period as officer with 2/7th (Machine Gun) Bn Middlesex Regt (Duke of Cambridge's Own), 46th Infantry Div in GB, 5/1940-9/1941: state of unit at Tidworth Camp, 5/1940-6/1940; construction of coastal defences on Isle of Wight including failed attempt to establish underwater obstacles; relations with civilians; opinion of Major George Flavell; officer guilty of fraud; question of relations between Territorial Army and officers who had moved up through the ranks in officers mess; coastal defence role in Largo Bay; period with mobile reserve at Cupar; winter quarters at Selkirk; German Air Force raids on Great Yarmouth and Sheringham, 1941; adapting Vickers Machine Gun to anti-aircraft role; divisional exercises; role as motor contact attached to Headquarters, 46th Infantry Div.
REEL 3 Continues: opinion of Major-General Miles Dempsey. Aspects of period as officer with 70th Bn Middlesex Regt (Duke of Cambridge's Own) at Bexhill-on-Sea and Hounslow Barracks, GB, 9/1941-9/1943: state of unit; opinion of commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Humphreys; role as assistant adjutant and adjutant; opinion of officers; qualifying for regular commission; opinion of Other Ranks and problems with men going Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL); training; recommendations for staff college. Recollections of period of training at Airborne Forces Depot, Hardwick Hall, GB, 9/1943-10/1943: background to volunteering for Parachute Regiment; initial impressions on joining 9th Bn Parachute Regt at Kiwi Barracks, Bulford Camp, 9/1943; physical nature of training regime; policy of mixed rank training; fear of being Returned to Unit; live firing exercises; weapons training and opinion of Ordnance SBML 2 Inch Mortar, Projector Infantry Anti-Tank (PIAT), Gammon Bomb, Sten Gun, Thompson Machine Gun, pistol and hand grenades; assessment and effect on personal fitness.
REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of training at No 1 Parachute Training School, RAF at RAF Ringway, GB, 10/1943: ground training on rolling including use of 'fan' apparatus; first static line parachute jumps from balloon; parachute jump in high winds; visit to parachute packing sheds; issue of numbered parachute and static line; fitting parachute; dragging quick parachute release drill; procedure on static line parachute jumps from Armstrong Whitworth Whitley aircraft; incident of death from parachute not opening; problem with thrown line and consequent injury to shoulder in parachute landing tactical exercise. Aspects of hospitalisation in GB, 10/1943-1/1944: medical treatment for fractured shoulder; physical training during convalescence; medical board classifications initially as Category 'C' and then Category 'B'; return to unit. Recollections of period as officer with 9th Bn Parachute Regt, 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div at Kiwi Barracks, Bulford Camp, GB, 1/1944-6/1944: role as administrative officer including acting as president of officers' mess and regimental institute and administering regimental welfare fund; role as motor transport officer; role supervising supply of rations to battalion; role as replacement platoon officer.
REEL 5 Continues: danger of 'ringing the bell' on jumping from Armstrong Whitworth Whitley aircraft; posting to command Vickers Machine Gun platoon; method of air dropping and moving Vickers Machine Gun; opinion of Major Terence Otway; opinion of Lieutenant-Colonel Martin Lindsay and story of his arrest and dismissal for breach of security on dropping zones; parachute jump and failed attempt to be reclassified as Category 'A'; promotion to captain and assignment to seaborne role as administrative officer; unit move minus administrative section for special training in capture of battery; waterproofing unit motor transport; motor transport signs; loading stores on lorries; move into sealed camp in Essex, 5/1944-6/1944. Aspects of period aboard United States Merchant Marine Liberty Ship MT 21, 5/6/1944-7/6/1944: embarkation and initial period in Thames Estuary; relations with United States Merchant Marine crew; long-range German coastal gun fire; move towards American beach area on arrival; landing on coast near Crépon, 7/6/1944; briefing aboard ship.
REEL 6 Continues: Recollections of operations as officer with 9th Bn Parachute Regt, 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: drive along coast to join battalion at Bénouville, 8/6/1944; German artillery fire; move forward to Château Saint-Come, 12/6/1944; situation; role visiting forward positions to deliver food and ammunition; German artillery bombardment and attack; action to stop retreat by troops from 5th Bn Black Watch (Royal Highland Regt) at Château Saint-Come, 12/6/1944; taking over Vickers Machine Gun, opening fire and problem with stoppages from damaged gun lock; taking up position in ditch; ordering opening fire on German Tiger Tank, effects of retaliatory fire and subsequent visit to scene; arrival and destruction of Centaur Tanks; slit trenches; casualties; importance of Château Saint-Come position; acting as advance party during move to Brickworks at Le Mesnil; digging slit trenches; narrow escape from German artillery shell whilst attempting to replace water cart; move to Ranville, 20/6/1944; unit morale; reports from captured German Army officer of effectiveness of demolition of guns of Merville Battery; question of unit performance at Merville Battery, D-Day, 6/6/1944; rest period at Ranville; situation on return to Le Mesnil.
REEL 7 Continues: situation; compo rations; water supply; latrines; taking command of Support Coy; question of fighting, standing and reconnaissance patrols; rest period by River Orne; looking after horses; German Air Force attacks; Allied bombing of Caen; move to Bois du Bavent; exchanges of mortar and artillery fire; problems with noisy trailers and reversing of Willys Jeeps when delivering supplies; evacuation of wounded Lieutenant-Colonel Terence Otway; opinion of Lieutenant-Colonel Napier Crookenden; interrogation of German Army deserter; story of trip to obtain extra rum and cigarettes from beach area; unopposed attack on Bois du Bavent, 19/8/944; crossing fascine bridge over River Dives; problems organising rations; situation facing Dozulé; capture of Dozulé Railway Station, 20/8/1944; German artillery fire whilst taking rations forward.
REEL 8 Continues: prior heavy calibre shell fire; advance into Dozulé; abandonment of inessential equipment for flying column role; advance to Annebault; rum ration; fatigue and story of sleep walking prior to attack at Annebault, 23/8/1944; German multi-barrelled mortar fire; advance by road to Pont-l'Eveque; abandoned plans for further parachute attack; story of visit by Major-General Richard Gale during night advance; preparation of cooked meals and haversack rations; ammunition supply role during attack on Beuzeville, 26/8/1944; reception from French civilians on entering Beuzeville to find unit accommodation; looting from French collaborators' home used as officers' mess; reaction to return to GB, 9/1944. Aspects of period with 9th Bn Parachute Regt, 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div at Kiwi Barracks, Bulford Camp, GB, 9/1944-11/1944: leave; opinion of Operation Market Garden. Aspects of period commanding Rehabilitation Coy, Airborne Forces Depot, Hardwick Hall, GB, 11/1944-6/1945: background to posting and promotion to major; role rehabilitating veterans with psychological problems; question of locating appropriate duties for individuals; VE Day, 8/5/1945; question of demobilisation or taking regular commission.
REEL 9 Continues: Recollections of attending course at Staff College, Camberley, GB, 6/1945-10/1945: nature of course; work of syndicates; story of Tactical Exercise Without Troops involving defence of farmhouse; paper exercise planning route for armoured division; success in passing course; question of modern focus of course; question of posting as liaison officer to Royal Navy in Far East. Aspects of period as staff officer with Norfolk Sub District, Eastern Command at Norwich, GB, 10/1945-6/1946: role in liaising with Royal Engineers in clearing minefields in beach and coastal areas; use of high pressure hoses in clearing mines from beaches; checks made prior to signing clearance certificates; question of casualties; unclearable sand dune areas; role inspecting conditions in German prisoner of war camps; liaison with local infantry units; safety inspections of old comrade clubs proposed rifle ranges; regeneration of Army Cadet Force; relations with Royal Norfolk Regiment; staff roles; organisation of Eastern Command; background to decision to leave British Army and return to tobacco firm; demobilisation, 6/1946. Post-war life and employment: decision not to use army rank; career as sales and senior executive with tobacco firms in GB, North Africa and Middle East, 1946-1957.
REEL 10 Continues: subsequent management consultancy career; effects of shoulder injury; story of making charity parachute jump into sea in 1989; psychological effects of military service; membership of various Parachute Regiment Association.
