Description
Object description
British private with Gloucestershire Regiment Regimental Depot, Horfield Barracks at Bristol, GB, 8/1938-1/1939; private and NCO served with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 145th Infantry Bde, 48th (South Midland) Infantry Div in GB, France and Belgium, 1/1939-6/1940; prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, Arbeitskommando E8, Krappitz, Stalag XX-B, Marienburg, Stalag XX-A, Thorn, Stalag 383, Hohenfels and Stalag III-A, Luckenwalde, Germany, 6/1940-4/1945; private and NCO served with Gloucestershire Regiment in GB, Bermuda and Cyprus, 1945-1960
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Ireland and GB, 1920-1938: father's service with British Army; family move from Ireland to GB and places lived afterwards; employment and education. Aspects of enlistment in British Army, 1938: initial attempts to join British Army; background to joining Gloucestershire Regiment. Aspects of period as private with Gloucestershire Regiment Regimental Depot, Horfield Barracks at Bristol, GB, 8/1938-1/1939: wait for squad to form at Horfield Barracks in Bristol; background of recruits; changes to kit and formation including sports; attitude to approaching war; receiving best recruit award. Aspects of period as private and NCO with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 45th Infantry Bde, 48th (South Midland) Infantry Div in GB, 1/1939-10/1939: reaction to joining battalion at Plymouth; army education; pattern of training; character of Seaton Barracks, Plymouth; reception from sergeant-major; initial role as batman; courses undertaken; outbreak of Second World War, 3/9/1939; reasons for avoiding seamen in Plymouth; story of fight; reaction to new of overseas posting; move to Bridport; opinion of and training with 25mm Hotchkiss Anti-Tank Gun including composition and roles of gun team. Recollections of period as NCO with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 45th Infantry Bde, 48th (South Midland) Infantry Div in France, 10/1939-5/1940: voyage from GB to France; battalion postings in France; accommodation; rations; coping with winter conditions at Halstroff on Maginot Line; story of fighting patrol led by Captain John Mackenzie, 15/1/1940; reaction to sight of first dead German Army soldier; arrival of Territorial Army battalions.
REEL 2 Continues: composition of 48th (South Midland) Infantry Bde; leisure activities; digging of defences; promotion to sergeant; relations with French civilians; contact with French Army troops including at Waterloo, Belgium. Recollections of operations as NCO with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 45th Infantry Bde, 48th (South Midland) Infantry Div in Belgium and France, 5/1940-6/1940: states of road during withdrawal; state of Cassel on arrival; taking up positions at Cassel with French Army artillery support; equipment shortages; orders to take up positions at Zuytpeene; attack from German Army tanks en route to Zuytpeene and subsequent withdrawal; Royal Artillery bombardment of German Army tanks; memories of Captain Edward Dixie and story of his death at Cassel, France, 27/5/1940; damage done to German Army tanks at Cassel; degree of knowledge of German and French Army tanks; listening patrols undertaken; story of pork; news of withdrawal from Cassel; firing Boys Anti-Tank Rifle; destruction of weapons; withdrawal from Cassel; under fire from German forces; story of death of militiaman; problems obtaining accommodation; sighting of German Army motorcyclists.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of period as prisoner of war in France and Netherlands, 6/1940: story of capture, 3/6/1940; initial treatment by captors; sleeping; comrades made prisoner of war; impressions of German Army troops; opinion of luck in capture; journey through German lines; treatment from German captors including carrying of their kit; incident of French prisoner of war asking for rations; rations issued on boat in Netherlands. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf, Arbeitskommando E8, Krappitz, Stalag XX-B, Marienburg, Stalag XX-A, Thorn, Stalag 383, Hohenfels and Stalag III-A, Luckenwalde, Germany, 6/1940-4/1945: arrival at and processing at Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf; reaction to situation; refusal of chance to escape; sleeping arrangements; move to work camp at Arbeitskommando E8, Krappitz; accommodation; selection of cooks and senior NCO; background to becoming senior NCO; nature of working party; contact with Polish workers and civilians; court martial in Torgau and imprisonment; talking with cellmate; ill discipline in jail; self-harm among prisoners of war; executions; background of prisoners; story of working party with Belgians; death of Private John 'Jimmy' Fitzgerald at Marienburg, 1/2/1945; relations with German prisoners; story of letter written to senior NCO at Stalag VIII-B, Lamsdorf; story of obtaining cigarette gained at Graudenz Prison.
REEL 4 Continues: medical treatment for faked complaint; brief stay at Stalag XX-B, Marienburg; arrival at Stalag XX-A, Thorn; involvement in transfer of illicit radio to Stalag 383, Hohenfels; sporting activities; reason for movement from Stalag 383, Hohenfels; accommodation at Stalag III-A, Luckenwalde; interrogation by German captors about illicit radio and punishment received; sabotage of army boots bound for Eastern Front; attack on German guard; death of German worker; help given to depressed prisoner of war; items received from Red Cross including contents of Red Cross parcels; Red Cross parcel thefts in Stalag III-A, Luckenwalde; contact with German civilians and post-war visit to Berlin. Recollections of liberation and return to GB, 4/1945-5/1945: arrival of Soviet Army at Stalag III-A Luckenwalde, 22/4/1945; receiving war news; prisoner of war treatment by Soviet Army; knocking out of Soviet Army troops; burial of dead; contact with Soviet prisoners of war; story of Royal Air Force prisoners of war.
REEL 5 Continues: rations received from Soviet Army; physical state; extra rations on return home; organisation of departure from camp; departure of German guards; journey westward to United States Army lines; delousing; activities during transit in Brussels, Belgium; reception on arrival at Worthing, GB; reception on arrival home and fates of brothers during war service; leave. Aspects of period as private and NCO with Gloucestershire Regiment in GB, Bermuda and Cyprus, 1945-1960: period with 7th Bn Gloucestershire Regt on return to GB; opinion of National Service conscripts and other recruits; period with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt in Bermuda, 1947-1948; marriage; health problems in Bermuda and evacuation to GB via New York, United States; voyage aboard HMT Queen Mary from New York, United States of America to GB including medical treatment; medical downgrading; arrival at Southampton and journey to Hindhead; leave.
REEL 6 Continues: postings in Gloucester and Colchester Garrison; duties as drill sergeant-major; changes in military service since enlistment; attempt to obtain posting in Kenya; posting with Gloucestershire Regiment Regimental Depot, Horfield Barracks at Bristol; training troops for parade; move to Cyprus; leaving British Army, 1960. Aspects of civilian life and employment in GB, 1960-1978: background to joining Territorial Army; nature of service with Territorial Army including promotions to officer; civilian employment; membership of old comrades association. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Germany, 6/1940-4/1945: nature of entertainment show watched in prisoner of war camp; methods of coping in solitary confinement; fitness in camps; mail sent and received; contact with American prisoners of war.
REEL 7 Continues: opinion of German Army troops; knowledge of Holocaust. Reflections on military service: opinion of medical treatment received in Bermuda and by son serving in Hong Kong; sporting activities including shooting; psychological effects of military service; details of pension; opinion of treatment of British Army troops, 2001; contact with old comrades; opinion of Battle of Cassel, France, 5/1940; visits to Cassel, France; story of obtaining gravestones for previously unknown soldiers at Cassel, France.
