Interview with Leslie Ridout

British private and NCO served with 2nd Bn Dorsetshire Regt, 5th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in France and GB, 1940-1941; NCO served with A Coy, 5th Bn Dorsetshire Regt, 130th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB and North West Europe, 1944-1945; served with Military Provost Staff Corps in Belgium, Germany and GB, 1945-1946

REEL 1 Background in Okeford Fitzpaine, GB, 1919-1939: family; education; employment. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with 5th Bn Dorsetshire Regt in GB, 1939-1940: joining Territorial Army, 7/1939; medical examination at Weymouth; training at camp in Frome; basic training; uniform; drill. Aspects of period as NCO with 2nd Bn Dorsetshire Regt, 5th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in GB, 1940-1941: move to St Albans; duties guarding aerodrome; story of shooting down German Air Force bomber aircraft with Bren Gun; weapons training; recreational activities; move to Whitstable; promotion to sergeant; marksman qualification; duties as lance-corporal and sergeant; accommodation; duties guarding beach; physical training; route marching; hop-picking; relations with other recruits; discipline; pay; question of paying income tax; posting to Hastings and billets in Queen's Hotel. REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of operations as private with 2nd Bn Dorset Regt, 5th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in France, 1940: posting to Arras; description of retreat to Dunkirk and evacuation on fishing boat, 6/1940. Aspects of period as NCO with 5th Bn Dorsetshire Regt, 130th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB, 1942-1944: description of tactical scheme with Canadian Army troops; sergeant's mess; target practice; leave; donation of Welcome Home Fund to hospital; opinion of conscientious objectors; embarkation at Southampton, 6/1944; story of self-inflicted wound case. Recollections of operations as NCO with A Coy, 5th Bn Dorsetshire Regt, 130th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: landing on Gold Beach, Normandy, 16/6/1944; billeting at Château de Fontaine. REEL 3 Continues: role in operations at Hill 112; casualties; rations; communications with officers; maps; deserters; capture of wood; attitude of German prisoners of war; crossing River Odon; conditions in Falaise Gap; problem of mines; move into Caen; air support and bombardment from HMS Rodney; problem with snipers. Recollections of operations as NCO with A Coy, 5th Bn Dorsetshire Regt, 130th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Div in North West Europe, 1944-1945: role during Operation Market Garden in Netherlands, 9/1944; story of rescuing men from The Island, Netherlands, 9/1944; opinion of Operation Market Garden, 9/1944. REEL 4 Continues: opinion of General Bernard Montgomery; opinion of training; description of crossing River Rhine, Germany, 3/1945; attitude towards prospect of death in service; opinion of German Army troops; attitude of German civilians; opinion of Dutch civilians; billets in school on Luneburg Heath, Germany; memories of VE Day, 8/5/1945 and Victory Parade in Berlin, Germany, 7/9/1945; description of visit to Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; billeting with German family; attitude towards Germans after visiting Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. Recollections of period as NCO with Military Provost Staff Corps (MPSC) in Belgium, Germany and GB, 1945-1946: joining corps, 1945; transfer to Brussels, Belgium; duties in charge of prison camp for deserters; story of Irish prisoner; number of prisoners and staff. REEL 5 Continues: separation of nationalities; posting to prison camp for deserters in Diest, Belgium; opinion of deserters; conditions for prisoners; punishment for not saluting; posting to prison in Germany; story of escape; staff mess; memories of civilians in Diest, Belgium; posting to Deal Prison, GB, 1946. Aspects of demobilisation and return to civilian life in GB, 1946: demobilisation at Olympia, London, 1946; civilian suit and gratuity; return to Okeford Fitzpaine; problem of adjusting to civilian life. REEL 6 Continues: Reflections on military service: story of marriage, 1944; employment; question of Nazi sympathisers in Okeford Fitzpaine; communication with home; wounding by shrapnel; story of receiving Freedom of France medal from General Charles de Gaulle in Paris, France; attitude towards military service; attitude to discipline.