Interview with Raymond Peter Maddock Child

British officer served as with 18th Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 24th Infantry Bde (Guards) in GB, 1940-1942; served as forward observation officer with 166th (Newfoundland) Field Regt, Royal Artillery, First Army Group Royal Artillery in North Africa, 1/1943-5/1943; served with 166th (Newfoundland) Field Regt, Royal Artillery, Eighth Army in Italy, 9/1943-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Reading, GB, 1914-1939: family; education; employment; involvement with Boy Scouts; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Artillery in GB, 1939-1940: enlistment, 1939; reaction to training period at Aldershot, winter 1939-1940; commissioning into 18th Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 6/1940. Aspects of period as officer with 18th Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 24th Infantry Bde (Guards) in GB, 1940-1942: role of unit with brigade; nature of German Air Force attacks on Croydon area; public morale during German Air Force bombing campaign, 1940-1941; nature of British war effort. Recollections of operations as forward observation officer with 166th (Newfoundland) Field Regt, Royal Artillery, First Army Group Royal Artillery in North Africa, 1/1943-5/1943: initial role training Newfoundlander gunners in GB, 1942; voyage from GB to Algiers, French Algeria, 12/1942-1/1943. REEL 2 Continues: attack on convoy from Algiers to Bône, French Algeria; role holding line at Kasserine, 2/1943; memories of Commandant Leboeuf; patrolling with French Goum troops; role as forward observation officer; visit by German Air Force reconnaissance aircraft; memories of Mick Shields; relations with French personnel; strength of Axis opposition; wounding by shrapnel during German Air Force dive-bomber attack; Axis counter-attack at Bou Arada; last stand of Deutsches Afrika Korps troops in Tunsia. REEL 3 Continues: attending victory parade in Tunis, Tunisia, 5/1943; training in desert after end of Tunisian Campaign. Recollection of operations as forward observation officer with 166th (Newfoundland) Field Regt, Royal Artillery, Eighth Army in Italy, 9/1943-5/1945 in Italy, 9/1943-5/1945: method of advancing northwards; reception by Italian civilians in Naples; problems of terrain on route northwards arrival at Monte Cassino; conditions at Monte Cassino; German positions at Monte Cassino; stages of Monte Cassino battles; German artillery fire at Monte Cassino; United States Army Air Force attack on Monte Cassino; opinion of General Mark Clark's capture of Rome, 5/6/1944; problems with mud; encounter with Douglas Fairbanks Junior in Naples Harbour; story of brigadier's visit; Axis tactics for hampering Allied advance; occasion when German wire across road caught him. REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period as officer with Royal Artillery in Austria and Italy, 1945-1946: period as commandant of gunnery school in Austria after end of Italian Campaign; role as town major of Rome, Italy; concert in opera house including Gracie Fields performance; cancellation of his demobilisation; relations with Italian civilians; problems of re-adjusting to civilian life after Second World War; avoiding arrest in Venice; memories of guardsmen of 1st Guards Bde in Tunisia, 1943; attitude to having served with Royal Artillery in Second World War.