Description
Object description
British private served with 5th and 4th Bns Wiltshire Regt in GB, 1939-1944; served with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt in North West Europe, 1944 and 1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Trowbridge, GB, 1919-1939: family; education; civilian work; joining of Territorial Army; pattern of training; annual camps; mobilisation. Aspects of period as private with 5th and 4th Bns Wiltshire Regt in GB, 1939-1944: guard duties; state of troops returning from Dunkirk; further details of guard duties; posting to 4th Battalion in Walmer; exercises; proficiency with rifle; discipline; knowledge of future task and war's progress; posting in Rye; fitness; scenes of equipment going to Normandy; voyage to Normandy. Recollections of operations as private with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt, 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in Normandy, 6/1944-7/1944: landing and movement inland; friends in unit; preference for being on own; scenes and conditions in Normandy; details of first action at Sommervieu; effects of Minenwerfer multi-barrelled fire at Tourville.
REEL 2 Continues: description of fighting patrol on chateau near Caen including casualties; situation at Hill 112; artillery support; terrain; orders about dealing with opposition; situation at night; wounding from shell, 15/7/1944; evacuation on Bren Carrier; initial treatment in France. Aspects of hospitalisation in GB, 7/1944-2/1945: arrival and journey to Stoke-on-Trent; details of hospital; reunion with Arthur Frank; details of wounds; journey to battalion including reactions to return. Aspects of period as private with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt, 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 2/1945: second reunion with Arthur Frank; advance into Germany on tank; events in Kleve including wounding, 10/2/1945; evacuation to Nijmegen; details of wounds; treatment received including further problems; visit from padre. Aspects of hospitalisation in GB, 1945: details of hospital in Dudley; physical state; visits from family members; treatment received; story of bed pan; discharge; reaction to end of war; return home; civilian work; contact with officers; rations; opinion of officers; stress among troops; opinion of German troops; reason for fighting; mental effects of service; operation for haemorrhoids.
REEL 3 Continues: settling into civilian life; physical effects of service. Reflections on military service with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt, 1939-1945: reflections on modern world and army service; death of mother, 1940; war service of brother; question of pride; nickname for Germans; discipline; return visits to North West Europe; mail; opinion of treatment of veterans; reflections on service abroad; wife's knowledge of his woundings; wife's experience of Second World War; family including talking about experiences.