Description
Object description
British private served with 7th Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 167th Infantry Bde, 56th (London) Infantry Div in North Africa, 6/1943-9/1943; served with 5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in Italy, 9/1943-10/1943; hospitalisation in Italy, French Algeria, Gibraltar and GB, 1943-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Witney, GB, 1921-1942: family; education; employment; discovery occupation as slaughterman was a Reserved Occupation; background to leaving work for military service; further details of civilian employment as slaughterman; membership of 3rd (Chipping Norton) Bn Oxfordshire Home Guard, process of rationing and question of black market; character of nearby RAF Brize Norton; contact with Royal Air Force personnel; activities with 3rd (Chipping Norton) Bn Oxfordshire Home Guard; local Supermarine Spitfire fund; presence of armed forces in Witney. Aspects of training as private with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry at Colchester Garrison, GB, 1943: reaction of mother to his enlistment; journey from Witney to Colchester Garrison; reception on arrival; nature of barrack accommodation.
REEL 2 Continues: settling into military life; morning procedures; treatment received from NCOs; preparation of kit for inspection; fitness training; weapons training; opinion of training; training with motor transport section; reaction to news of posting to 7th Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in North Africa, 6/1943; period in Woodhall Spa; nature of training including exercises; gas training; journey to Gourock. Aspects of voyage from Gourock, GB, to Phillipville, French Algeria, 1943: conditions on board; issue of tropical kit; length of voyage; description of German submarine scares; stopover at Algiers, French Algeria including illicit visit into city; arrival at Philippeville, French Algeria. Aspects of period as private with 7th Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 167th (London) Infantry Bde, 56th (London) Infantry Div in North Africa, 6/1943-9/1943: training during period in transit camp; arrival of soldier gone Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) in Algiers, French Algeria; preparations for departure from transit camp; journey to Bizerte, Tunisia. Aspects of voyage from Tunisia to Italy, 9/1943: embarkation on board landing craft; issue of ammunition; posting to Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment); story of German Air Force raid. Recollections of operations as private with 5th Bn Sherwood Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt (Sherwood Foresters), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in Italy, 9/1943-10/1943: approach to beach; landing and movement up beach.
REEL 3 Continues: joining of battalion in orchard; reception on arrival; story of reaction to posting as infantryman in North Africa; other troops landing in area; plan for attack; question of relations with colleagues; advance from beach; confusion in action; digging of positions; story of colleague being shot; briefing prior to advance towards Naples; German opposition faced; plan for and near failure of landings at Salerno, 9/1943; role in Bren Gun team; formation on start line; start of advance; artillery fire; help given to wounded colleague; advance towards Salerno; rations including problems with supply when on high ground; company deployment; knowledge of wider situation; morale; turnover of troops in battalion; arrival in Salerno; sheltering in butcher's shop; observing of German tank; withdrawal from Salerno; advance through and state of Naples including contact with Italian civilians; nature of positions taken up; opinion of infantryman's lot.
REEL 4 Continues: attitude towards situation; sleep; story of out of body experience; standard of turnout; story of Italian civilian with camera; advance to River Volturno; discovery of wedding presents in house by River Volturno; reconnaissance patrol prior to crossing of River Volturno; opinion of officers; sounds made by artillery and machine gun fire; march toward River Volturno including collection of collapsible boats; crossing River Volturno, 12/10/1944; advance towards German Army positions; German artillery fire and casualties sustained; reaction to situation; German Army tank attack and problems with making counter-attack; state of battalion and order to surrender or withdraw; reaction to order; nature of withdrawal towards River Volturno.
REEL 5 Continues: narrow escape from artillery shell and psychologically shocked troop during withdrawal to River Volturno; situation on arrival at River Volturno; method of re-crossing River Volturno; black out and crawl out and away from River Volturno. Recollections of hospitalisation in Italy, French Algeria, Gibraltar and GB, 1943-1945: hospitalisation in Naples, Italy; health problems; sight of activity in Bay of Naples, Italy; reaction to being called 'D-Day Dodgers'; presence of patients suffering from psychological shock; opinion of staff at hospital in Naples, Italy; convalescence in Algiers and Philippeville, French Algeria; result of medical board result; posting to 6th Bn Dorsetshire Regiment in Italy; hospitalisation after posting to Gibraltar; medical treatment received; occupational therapy; state of hospital in Gibraltar; return to GB; medical treatment; discharge and return home. Post-war life and employment: continuing medical treatment; civilian employment; continuing medical problems. Reflections on military service: story of mine on path near River Volturno, Italy, 10/1943.
REEL 6 Continues: story of receiving sniper fire; opinion of medical treatment; restraint of patients during hospitalisation in Gibraltar; settling back into civilian life after military service; presence of American service personnel in Witney, GB; question of receiving physical wounds; opinion of dock workers during Second World War; opinion of United States Army; contact with Canadian Army troops; opinion of German Army troops; problems with terrain in Italy; comradeship in British Army; memories of Gurkha troops in Italy; travelling before and during Second World War.
