Description
Object description
British schoolchild in Madrid, Spain, 1936; seaman served aboard HMS Carnation, 37th Escort Group in North Atlantic, 11/1941-5/1942; officer cadet served with HMS King Alfred, Hove and HMS King Alfred III, Lancing, GB, 5/1942-8/1942; officer served aboard MGB 621 at HMS Bee, Weymouth and with MTB 621, 31st Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla at HMS Midge Great Yarmouth, 9/1942-3/1943: served as staff officer with Naval Operations Staff, Gibraltar, 4/1943-6/1944, served as liaison officer with 23rd (Free French) Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla in GB, English Channel and France, 6/1944-9/1945; served with Royal Navy on secondment to Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in GB, 1946-1947 and with Civil Service in Palestine, 4/1947-4/1948
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Madrid, Spain, 1922-1936: accommodation; relations with Spanish and British civilians; languages spoken; education at French school, 1928-1936; awareness of political events in Spain; influence of British fiction writing on attitudes; question of possible career; nature of family's political views and response to political events in Spain; decision to continue education in GB, 1936; review of political situation in Spain.
REEL 2 Continues: origins of Spanish Civil War, 1930-1936; rumours; suppression of Nationalist uprising at Montana Barracks in Madrid, 18/7/1936-20/7/1936; reactions to burning of churches. Aspects of evacuation from Spain to GB, 9/1936; train journey with refugees to Valencia; evacuation aboard HMS Devonshire to Marseille, France; reception. Aspects of period as schoolchild and student in Beckenham and Brighton, GB, 1936-1941: education at Xaverian College, Brighton; development of economic and political views including influence of Spanish Civil War.
REEL 3 Continues: taking French degree as external student of London University studying at Brighton Technical College, 1939-1941; father's situation on return from Spain; reaction to outbreak of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment in Royal Navy at Royal Navy Recruitment Office, Brighton, GB, 8/1941: recruitment procedure; parents' reaction. Recollections of training as seaman at HMS Collingwood, Fareham, GB, 8/1941-9/1941: accommodation; rations; reaction to naval discipline and lifestyle; relations with recruits and petty officers; interview and selection as potential officer candidate; recreational activities; physical training; drill and seamanship. Aspects of training as seaman at Royal Naval Barracks, HMS Victory, Portsmouth, GB, 9/1941-11/1941: living conditions.
REEL 4 Continues: anti-invasion exercise; infantry training; gas masks; passing examination to qualify as able seaman. Aspects of operations as seaman aboard HMS Carnation, 37th Escort Group in North Atlantic, 11/1941-5/1942: preference for small ship service; kitbag and uniform carried on joining corvette; reception; nature of forward mess; effects of rough weather; canteen messing system and meals cooked; watch system worked; scrubbing decks; lookout and steering duties; action stations as range setter on forward 4 Inch Gun; familiarity with depth charges.
REEL 5 Continues: waking officers for watch duty; extra training as potential officer candidate; relations with lower deck; opinion of officers and bosun; recreational activities; ablutions; tobacco ration and making 'plug'; rum ration; reception on arrival; seasickness; role of Royal Navy corvettes; personal morale; question of torpedo alarms; visits ashore and buying gifts at Gibraltar.
REEL 6 Continues: relations with civilians at Gibraltar; patrolling coast of French Morocco; attitude to war; effects of rough weather; impressions of Liverpool, GB; appearance as potential officer candidate in front of Admiralty Board at HMS King Alfred II, Mowden School, Hove. Recollections of training as officer cadet at HMS King Alfred at Hove and HMS King Alfred III at Lancing, GB, 5/1942-8/1942: preparatory training; lectures; patrols and sentry duty; commission as temporary acting sub-lieutenant; training uniform; background to selection for service aboard motor torpedo boats. Recollections of operations as officer aboard MGB 621 at HMS Bee, Weymouth, GB, 9/1942-2/1943: joining newly built Motor Gun Boat MGB 621 on River Clyde; armaments; crew complement; relations with captain.
REEL 7 Continues: relations with lower deck; role of coxswain; role as divisional officer; duties as navigation officer and difficulties encountered; disagreements over procedure with captain over duties logging correspondence and signals; roles of cook and officers' servant; Christmas celebrations, 25/12/1942; seagoing qualities of motor gun boat during voyage from River Clyde to Weymouth; question of navigational ability; tactics employed in attacking convoys; method of aiming and firing torpedoes; techniques of depth charging surface ships; weapons for use in boarding ships; night training.
REEL 8 Continues: Aspects of period as officer aboard MTB 621, 31st Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla at HMS Midge, Great Yarmouth, 2/1943-3/1943: move to join flotilla on MGB 621's reclassification as motor torpedo boat MTB 621, 2/1943; navigation dispute with captain and posting for further training at HMS Bee, Weymouth; requesting posting to Naval Intelligence. Recollections of period as assistant staff officer role attached to Naval Operations Staff, Gibraltar, 4/1943-6/1944: role running 'Y' Intelligence radio station picking up German submarine wireless signals including use of direction finding stations to fix submarine locations, passing fixes to naval operations room, logging and passing on signals to Government Code and Cypher School Bletchley Park for deciphering; unofficial knowledge of Ultra; role as divisional officer to wireless operators; role in charge of situation plot including criteria in assessing signals and accuracy fixes of submarine's position; passing on intelligence and subsequent sucess in sinking of submarine; role of differing ranks in running and interpreting situation plot; co-operation with Royal Air Force and the use of probability statisticians to locate submarines; passing intelligence to convoys; question of German awareness of signals interception; German submarine signals prefix; background to posting; relations with staff and Women's Royal Naval Service personnel.
REEL 9 Continues: recreational activities; desire for sea service; visit to Spain; interrogation of captured Italian midget submarine crewman; naval language and slang; naval drill and discipline; developments in submarine war and winding down of 'Y' Intelligence, 1944. Recollections of period as liaison officer with 23rd (Free French) Motor Torpedo Flotilla in GB, English Channel and France, 6/1944-9/1945: reception at Kingswear, GB; liaision duties; developing sympathy for French perspective and accompanying patrols in English Channel; nature of patrols and operations; French naval personnels' reaction to bombardment of Brest, France, 6/1944; reception from French civilians; role on patrol; use of British telegraphists; question of use of Benzedrine and lifebelts; effects of leave in France on morale of French personnel; clearing war debris from Brest, France; role in securing supplies for Free French from Admiralty; reports on Free French; opinion of Free French officers; question of their efficiency; changing role of flotilla following capture of Brest, France.
REEL 11 Continues: relations between elements of Free French Navy and former Vichy French Navy personnel at Brest, France; living conditions at Brest, France; visits to Paris, France; coastal operations and liaision with French Resistance; liberation of Groix Island, France and treatment of German prisoners of war; Free French attitude towards Germans; nominal role as British liaison officer to French Commander in Chief Brest; relations with French civilians; blackmarket activities; resistance reprisals on collaborators; Breton customs; sailing up River Seine to attend French armed forces parade in Paris, France; post-war situation of Free French officers.
REEL 12 Continues: attending post-war reunions of Free French; return to GB, 9/1945; appointment to HMS Maidstone at Portsmouth, GB, 1945-1946. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Navy seconded to Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in GB, 1946-1947: role releasing wartime requisitioned land to civilian owners; interest in encouraging small holdings; role in redefining power of landlords and tenants in drafting Agricultural Act, 1947; development of political beliefs and support for election of Labour Government. Recollections of period as officer with Royal Navy seconded to Civil Service in Jerusalem, Palestine, 4/1947-4/1948: journey from GB to Palestine; political situation and question of relations with Jewish and Arab civilians; question of illegal Jewish emigration; background to failure of United Nations efforts to intercede between Jewish and Arabs factions; visits to religious sites; relations with Jewish and Arab civilians; opinion of Palestine Police Force; convoy from Jerusalem to Haifa, 4/1948; reflections on wartime service with Royal Navy.
REEL 13 Continues: reflections on wartime service with Royal Navy.
