Interview with Clifford Pember

British trooper trained with 54th Training Regt, Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 1942; served with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Armoured Div in GB and North West Europe, 1942-1945

REEL 1 Background in Ryhdyfelin, GB, 1924-1942: family; education; employment. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with General Service Corps in GB, 1942: reaction to call-up to British Army; awareness of war situation; journey to Brecon; prior service with 2nd (Pontypridd) Bn Glamorganshire Home Guard at Ryhdyfelin; accommodation and sleeping arrangements; origins of recruits; volunteering for Royal Armoured Corps; weapons training; fitness training; opinion of war service; settling into military life; memories of NCOs; rations; leisure activities; details of Dering Lines, Brecon; church parades; guard duties; posting to Barnard Castle. Aspects of period as trooper with 54th Training Regt, Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 1942: reception on arrival; trade tests; driving training; weapons and gunnery training; wireless training; field training; physical training. Recollections of period as trooper with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Infantry Div in GB, 1942-1943: posting in B Sqdn at Chippenham Camp, Newmarket; reception on arrival; relations with fellow troopers; training; driving and characteristics of A15 Cruiser Mk VI Crusader Tank; characteristics of M4 Sherman Tank; recreational activities; move to Bridlington; accommodation; relations with civilians; role of tank commander; relationship amongst tank crew including sleeping arrangements during exercises; training with Guard Armoured Division at Kirkcudbright; leisure activities; gunnery proficiency; exercises in North and East Yorkshire; storage of tanks in Bridlington; relations with civilians; maintenance. REEL 2 Continues: degree of knowledge of upcoming invasion of Normandy, France, 1944; posting to and description of Warburg Barracks, Aldershot Garrison; activities at Aldershot Garrison; reaction to possible overseas posting; leave; contact with officers; move into sealed camp; embarkation at Gosport, 6/1944. Recollections of operations as trooper with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: nature of voyage across English Channel, 6/1944; refusal to marry before embarkation; sight of Allied armada from landing ship tank and disembarkation; move off beach; period at Cully, including rations; camouflage of and equipment carried on tank; evening activities; cigarette ration; contact with French civilians; memories of tank commander; anti-tank weapons; troop movements; German multi-barrelled mortar fire; unit casualties; in action at Hill 112; contact with infantry; method of escape from tank; German burial of troops; degree of knowledge of Churchill Tank; opinion of Churchill and M4 Sherman Tanks; movement down valley and action against German forces; rest period and relations with comrades. REEL 3 Continues: rotation of tanks; start of Operation Goodwood, 18/7/1944; passing over of Allied air armada; advance across railway line; opposition faced; withdrawal; German Air Force raid during night; reflections on Allied air bombardment and Operation Goodwood; problems with M4 Sherman Tank; evacuation from M4 Sherman Tank; impressions of German forces; replacement of tank; story of driving over mine and subsequent events; accidental attack by United States Army Air Force; liaison with Royal Air Force; opinion of German tanks; change of tank commander; reaction to situation; story of attack on tank in orchard; evacuation from tank and wounding; taking cover and appearance of infantry troops; hospitalisation and problems with foot; evacuation to Villers-Bocage; details of first aid post; flight to GB; reactions to situation. REEL 4 Continues: sights of devestation in Falaise Gap; story of flight to Swindon. Aspects of period of hospitalisation in GB, 8/1944-12/1944: train journey to Leicester Infirmary, Leicester; state of wounds and treatment; periods at Grantham and at Lincoln; marriage; medical at Catterick Camp and rehabilitation course at Chippenham. Aspects of operations as trooper with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Armoured Div in North West Europe, 12/1944-5/1945: return to regiment at Ypres, Belgium, 12/1944; changeover to Comet Tank; involvement of unit in Ardennes, Belgium, 12/1944; weather and tank suits; United States Army troops; training with Comet Tanks at Dunkirk, France; characteristics of Comet Tank; crossing of River Rhine at Wesel, Germany, 3/1945; advance through Germany; events following surrender of area around Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; relations with German civilians including looting; route taken through Germany; blown bridge near Minden, Germany; Allied air raid over Minden, Germany; navigation; liaison with Royal Air Force; problems crossing Dortmund-Ems Canal, Germany; impressions of Hitler Youth, German Army and Waffen-SS; death of Major Arthur Loram near Petershagen, Germany, 7/4/1945 and comrade in A Sqdn; crossing of River Elbe and advance to Lübeck, Germany, 4/1945-5/1945; arrival in Lübeck, Germany, 5/1945; story of injury to wireless operator; postings in Germany; nature of German opposition and German their fear of Soviet Army; state of German civilians; contact with Displaced Persons and Allied former prisoners of war; VE Day, 8/5/1945; clearance of German forces from towns near border with Denmark; reactions at end of war; return of German forces from Norway. REEL 5 Continues: duties with Displaced Persons; embarkation leave and cancellation of posting to Far East, 8/1945. Aspects of period as trooper with Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons) in Germany, 1945-1947: posting to Lüneburg Heath; opinion of reason for training; problems with power cuts; accommodation; sports; offer to stay in British Army; course attended including employment obtained following demobilisation; demobilisation; post-service life and employment; impressions of American and French-Canadian troops; memories of Soviet Army officer and batman with regiment; Soviet activities in Germany; contact with Corps of Military Police; recreational activities; story of chaplain at Ypres, Belgium; relations with civilians in Ypres, Belgium; visit to Poperinghe, Belgium; story of ex-Bevin Boy; opinion of conscientious objectors; black market in Germany including visit to dentist; end of smoking habit; gratuity on leaving British Army; obtaining army pension; lasting physical effects of military service; health; story of brother-in-law worrying wife in early 1945; reflections on military service. REEL 6 Continues: story of German Army troops surrendering during visit to latrine; contact with former comrades.