Description
Object description
British private served with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt (Duke of Edinburgh's), 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB, 9/1939-12/1939; sapper served with 391st Anti-Aircraft Coy, 48th (Hampshire) Anti-Aircraft Bn, Royal Engineers in GB, 12/1939-8/1940; gunner served with 391st (Searchlight) Bty, 48th (Hampshire) Searchlight Regt, Royal Artillery, 35th and 47th Anti-Aircraft Bdes, 5th Anti-Aircraft Div in GB, 8/1940-4/1942; private and NCO served as signaller with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt (Duke of Edinburgh's), 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB and North West Europe, 4/1942-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Westbury, GB, 1922-1939: family; education; employment; father's military service in First World War; joining of Territorial Army. Aspects of period as private with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt (Duke of Edinburgh's), 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB, 3/1939-12/1939: arrival at Alfred Street Drill Hall, Westbury, 2/9/1939; pattern of signals training including attending summer camp at Exmouth, 1939; knowledge of approaching war; posting to Trowbridge; changes in battalion including learning to never volunteer; kit issued; opinion of posting; accommodation; posting and journey to Westbourne; drill; memories of NCO; fitness training; relations with recruits from London; discipline and punishments; opinion of service. Recollections of period as sapper with 391st Anti-Aircraft Coy, 48th (Hampshire) Anti-Aircraft Bn, Royal Engineers and gunner with 391st (Searchlight) Bty, 48th (Hampshire) Searchlight Regt, Royal Artillery, 35th and 47th Anti-Aircraft Bdes, 5th Anti-Aircraft Div in GB, 8/1940-4/1942: details of camp; sleeping arrangements; kit inspections; comradeship; roles in searchlight team including description and use of sound locator.
REEL 2 Continues: roles in searchlight team; characteristics of 150mm Projector Searchlight Mk IV; sites operated from; training received at Westbourne; opinion of posting; accommodation; routine; nature of searchlight site at West Wittering; story of reporting approaching German Air Force Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers, 12/8/1940; routine including problems with obtaining enough sleep and equipment; details of sites posted to; description and use of radar equipment; opinion of radar; story from radar training; weather and living conditions; opinion of radar; story of missed opportunity; details of courses attended and leave; discipline.
REEL 3 Continues: supply of rations; sleeping arrangements; storage of kit; cookhouse; details of site at Titchfield; story of German Air Force raid on site including delayed explosions; communications; deployment of searchlight sites; changes experienced during service; news of wider war; area covered by regiment; visits to Chichester; contact with and opinion of Home Guard; age of searchlight team members; nature of searchlight site at Havant. Recollections of period as signaller with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt (Duke of Edinburgh's), 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB, 4/1942-6/1944: reception on return to regiment at Dover; attending signals course; description of No 18 Wireless Set, including use of battalion radio net; maintenance of No 18 Wireless Set; route march.
REEL 4 Continues: exercises; live firing on cliff tops at Dover, 1942; story of suspected involvement in testing infra-red equipment; degree of knowledge of approaching invasion of Europe; participation in Exercise Spartan, 3/1943; participation in Exercise Tiger, 5/1942, including two hundred mile march and rations; organisation of battalion during exercises; non-stop nature of exercises; opinion of discipline.
REEL 5 Continues: fitness; opinion of training and potential opposition; background of battalion officers; memories of D-Day, 6/6/1944; train journey to Newhaven; embarkation on landing ship including issue of bicycles. voyage to Normandy. Aspects of operations as signaller with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt (Duke of Edinburgh's), 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: voyage across English Channel to Normandy; arrival at Arromanches-les-Bains; story of later reunion with soldier; initial accommodation during wait for battalion at Sommervieu; source of orders; advance behind 15th (Scottish) Infantry Div; reason for discarding of bicycle; shelter taken under vehicle; orders given for attack; sight of first dead soldiers; contact with civilians; story of reconnaissance party in defile.
REEL 6 Continues: advance and digging in with mortar platoon before battle at Hill 112, 7/1944; casualties; situation during battle for Hill 112, 7/1944; period in observation post; effect of cleaning feet; German artillery bombardment at Hill 112, 7/1944; messages sent and received; problems with radios; noise of battle; contact with German prisoner of war; opinion of German forces; sight of German sniper whilst laying lines; casualties from snipers; opinion of artillery support received; rest period including shelter taken during German Air Force raids; shell shocked troops; allocation to role of signals storeman.
REEL 7 Continues: initial problems obtaining supplies; subsequent collection of supplies from Royal Army Ordnance Corps; battalion operations including own position and role; advance to River Seine at Vernon, 8/1944; role and activities of battalion including visit to mayor's house; crossing of river to Vernonnet, 8/1944; search for and location of battalion headquarters; incident of near miss from German sniper; cooking of rations; K rations; replacement of regiment sergeant-major; advance from Vernonnet. Recollections of operations as signaller with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt (Duke of Edinburgh's), 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1945: battalion rest period in Giverny, France; maintenance of wireless sets and adaptation to pick-up British Broadcasting Corporation radio broadcasts; looting of homes for mattresses; opinion of United States Army troops; advance to Nijmegen, Netherlands, 9/1944.
REEL 8 Continues: crossing of Nijmegen Bridge including German artillery fire; story of German artillery fire received during aborted journey; journey to Elst, Netherlands, 9/1944; German artillery fire received whilst digging in at Elst, Netherlands, 9/1944; withdrawal from Elst, Netherlands, 10/1944; arrival with A Echelon; arrest of Vic Adams; visit to Philips Factory in Eindhoven, Netherlands; withdrawal from Elst, Netherlands, 10/1944; activities of battalion at Brunssum, Netherlands; opinion of United States Army troops; activities during run-up to Christmas, 12/1944; leave in GB including marriage; return to battalion; accommodation and relations with civilians; discussion of Operation Market Garden in Netherlands, 9/1944.
REEL 9 Continues: advance through Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; period in Belgium; contact with brother; crossing River Rhine, Germany, 3/1945; liberation of towns in Netherlands; advance into Germany; action fought at Bremen, Germany, 4/1945; contact with German civilians; reaction to state of German towns; reaction to seizing civilian homes. Aspects of period as private and NCO with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt (Duke of Edinburgh's), 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in Germany, 5/1945-4/1946: degree of knowledge of Holocaust; nature of visit to Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; posting to former Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; accommodation; duties and brother's duties; war crime trials of former camp staff; burning of camp, 6/1945; processing and behaviour of Displaced Persons; training given to new recruits; courses undertaken prior to demobilisation.
REEL 10 Continues: question of continuing service with British Army; role of discipline; demobilisation in Aldershot Garrison, 4/1946. Post-war life and employment: settling into civilian life; employment; reflections on life since military service including physical effects; family home; comradeship; opinion of treatment of veterans; opinion of opposition and modern world.
