Interview with Douglas William Old

British private and NCO served with 4th Bn Dorsetshire Regt, 130th Infantry Bde, 49th (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB and North West Europe, 9/1939-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Milton Abbas, GB, 1918-1939: family; education; employment; joining of Territorial Army, 7/1939. Aspects of period as private and NCO with 4th Bn Dorsetshire Regt, 130th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB, 9/1939-6/1944: accommodation and activities during initial period in Weymouth following mobilisation; pattern of signals training; memories of Wally Caines; attitude to promotion; accommodation in Cucklington; physical training; battalion move to Berkhamsted; relations with civilians; period in Hatfield Forest; contact with troops returning from Dunkirk Evacuation German Air Force attack during arrival at Dover Castle; battalion officers; composition of signal platoon; nature of exercises; characteristics of No 18 and No 48 Wireless Sets; fitness and further details of exercises; deployments in Kent; coastal defence duties at Herne Bay; weapons training; opinion of Bren Gun; relations with civilians; degree of knowledge of wider war and future role; attending signals course at Catterick Camp; moves to Ramsgate and Bexhill-on-Sea; unit activities. REEL 2 Continues: description of assault course; recreational activities; relations with civilians and other troops; sealed camp outside Southampton; awareness of D-Day, 6/6/1944. Aspects of crossing English Channel from GB to Normandy, France, 6/1944: embarkation in GB; wait for convoy including damage to vessel; voyage from GB to Normandy; sights witnessed off Normandy coast; embarkation aboard landing craft. Recollection of operations as NCO with 4th Bn Dorsetshire Regt, 130th Infantry Bde, 49th (Wessex) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: landing and movement inland; breakfast; first action at Cheux; opinion of German forces; reaction to situation; nature of battalion attack at Éterville; action in cornfield between Éterville and Maltot; events during following evening; advance to and position taken on Mont Pinçon, 8/1944; Allied bombing of Caen. REEL 3 Continues: contact with civilians; state of Caen; sights witnessed in Falaise Gap; actions of Canadian Army troops in Falaise Gap; advance through Argentan; crossing of River Seine and German opposition at Tilly; reason for rest period at Tilly; casualties and reinforcements; award of Military Medal to Signals Platoon member; details and selection of line parties; laying of lines; earlier wounding and hospitalisation including story of German Air Force raid; return to unit. Recollections of operations as NCO 4th Bn Dorsetshire Regt, 130th Infantry Bde, 49th (Wessex) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1945: reasons for not visiting Paris, France; advance to Brussels, Belgium; reception from civilians; knowledge of Operation Market Garden; problems during advance to Nijmegen including leadership of Signals Platoon. REEL 4 Continues: crossing of Nijmegen Bridge, Netherlands, 9/1944; attempted evacuation of airborne troops from Oosterbeek Perimeter, including sinking of boat in River Nederrijn, Netherlands; contact with Dutch civilians; period in Groesbeek, Netherlands including leaflets dropped by German Air Force; accommodation and rations obtained Geilenkirchen, Germany, 10/1944; relationship with Dutch civilians in Brunssum, Netherlands; further details of period in Groesbeek, Netherlands; impressions of United States Army troops; issue of uniform; supply of meals; problems with trench feet and treatment received; details of action in Dorset Wood, Germany; involvement in operations in Ardennes; Belgium, Christmas, 12/1944; relations with civilians in Belgium and Netherlands; preparations for operations in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945. REEL 5 Continues: degree of knowledge of wider war; advance through Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; air activity and reaction to Allied bombing; wounding by shrapnel, Germany, 2/1945. Aspects of hospitalisation in Netherlands and GB, 1945-1946: evacuation and medical treatment including amputation of arm; notification of future wife about wounding; background to flight to GB; nature of hospitalisation in Cardiff, GB including inoculations and details of fellow patients; mail including receiving news about incident that led to wounding; medical treatment received at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton, GB; details of pension; rehabilitation at Egham. Post-war life and employment: employment; reception on return home; coping with one arm. REEL 6 Continues: marriage. Reflections on military service: memories of chaplain; opinion of medical treatment received; mail; hospital uniform; relations with civilians during period of hospitalisation in Cardiff, GB; details and opinion of post-war pension and application for car; troops suffering from psychological stress; opinion of officers and story of NCO killed by mine; sight of refugees; awareness of concentration camps; VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945; settling back into civilian life; physical and psychological effects of war; lessons learned from war service; comradeship in British Army.