Description
Object description
British trooper and NCO trained with 59th Training Regt Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 11/1942-3/1943; NCO served with Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 3/1943-6/1943; NCO served with 53rd Reconnaissance Regt, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in GB and North West Europe, 6/1943-6/1946; NCO served with 10th Royal Hussars (The Prince of Wales's Own) in Germany, 6/1946-1947
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Bristol, GB, 1924-1942: recites army number; family; education; recreational activities. Recollections of period of enlistment and training with Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment in GB, 10/1942-11/1942: personal reaction and parents' reaction to call-up for military service, 10/1942; journey to Bury St Edmunds; uniform worn on arrival; background of fellow recruits; first night of military service; NCO instructors; issue of rations and kit; cleaning kit and inspections; initial reaction to military life; organisation into squads and treatment received from NCOs; accommodation; guard duties; recreational activities; background of fellow recruits; lectures on current affairs; opinion of General Bernard Montgomery; drill; cleaning of rifles; weapons and bayonet training; grenade practice; gas training; field training; training in digging trenches and opinion of entrenching tool; interview at end of basic training and posting with Royal Armoured Corps. Aspects of period as trooper and NCO with 59th Training Regt, Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 11/1942-3/1943: posting in Barnard Castle; atmosphere in training unit; accommodation; reason for promotion to lance corporal; tests and interview with War Office Selection Board at Catterick Camp; results of selection board.
REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of period as NCO with Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 3/1943-6/1943: description of unit at Pontefract Racecourse; accommodation; effects of and reaction to race meetings being held; duties; reason for transfer and vehicles in units. Aspects of period as NCO and trooper with 53rd Reconnaissance Regt, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in GB, 6/1943-7/1944: posting in C Sqdn in Maidstone; opinion of organisation at Pontefract Racecourse; duties; formation of Reconnaissance Corps; memories of Captain Sir Henry D'Avigdor-Goldsmid; posting to water truck duties; water purification course at Aldershot Garrison; description of water truck; purification of water; collection of water truck; relations with motor transport officer; duties on exercises; degree of knowledge of future invasion of Europe; period near Bury St Edmunds; accommodation at Otham; female personnel based at Otham being trained for work in France; memories of commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Leo Williams; standard of troops' turnout and daily routine; memories of Peter Cobra; memories of Frank Long and other officers; organisation of unit; signs of approaching invasion; attending driver mechanics course in Maidstone and story of unofficial Christmas leave.
REEL 3 Continues: details of training; duties during exercises; attitudes of armoured car towards carrier troops; period as Willys Jeep driver; opinion of Philip Coburn and his duties during exercises; posting at Ashford; composition of squadron; accommodation at Brabourne Lees; contact with home; relations with civilian woman in Brabourne Lees; memories of John Lowe; reaction to demotion from corporal; later refusal of promotion and opinion of Sergeant-Major Davies; arrival of Sergeant-Major Mackie; divisional preparations for Normandy Landings at Mote Park, Maidstone; opinion of heaters issued; journey to East India Docks and earlier departure of B Sqdn for Normandy, France, 6/1944; German V1 Flying Bomb attacks, 6/1944-7/1944; state of East India Docks; contact with civilians; duration of time spent and sleeping arrangements at East India Docks. Aspects of voyage journey from London, GB, to Normandy, France, 7/1944: loading of vehicles onto ship; sight of children waving them off; rations during voyage; boarding of landing craft; sights witnessed along coast of Normandy, France; landing and disembarkation; removal of waterproofing and arrival in assembly area. Recollections of operations as NCO with 53rd Reconnaissance Regt, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 7/1944-8/1944: state of area; accommodation at Carpiquet; relief of infantry at Hill 112; duties with water truck; knowledge of situation.
REEL 4 Continues: situation and activities at Hill 112; delivery of water to front; weather and need for care driving on dusty roads; signs erected by Corps of Military Police; casualties; memories of chaplain The Reverend Harry Smith and relgious services; reason for transfer to armoured car troop; composition and background of armoured car crew; reinforcements; advance from Falaise; organisation and movement of armoured car troop; story of capture of prisoners of war at Chaumont; fire power available in armoured car; positions taken and state of Chaumont; relations with French civilians; evacuation of German prisoners of war; German roadblocks and stragglers; use of firearms; aid given to Royal Engineers against German Army snipers; knowledge of surrounding units; rest periods; guard duties at night. Recollections of operations as NCO with 53rd Reconnaissance Regt, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 9/1944-5/1945: advance to Lille, France, 9/1944; contact with French Resistance on arrival in Lille, France; opinion of French Resistance personnel; reception from French civilians in Lille, France; relations with civilians in Normandy, France; reaction to liberation of Lille, France, 3/9/1944; reconnaissance work in Belgium.
REEL 5 Continues: visit to Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium; nature of armoured car fighting; colour codings for movement; in action Moorsele, Belgium, 9/1944; knowledge of Operation Market Garden; opinion of tactics used in Netherlands; nature of action around Eindhoven, Netherlands; actions of Captain Sir Henry D'Avigdor-Goldsmid at Hoogaloom, Netherlands; description of armoured car; sighting and firing of guns; attachment to 101st Airborne Div, United States Army at Nijmegen; nature of American and British rations; attitude of American airborne troops; aerial activity; description of Nijmegen Bridge; opinion of American airborne troops; role during attack on Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; accommodation; story of placing Corps of Military Police front line positions; advance towards River Rhine and link-up with American troops, Germany, 3/1945; cleaning and maintenance of car and weapons; conditions of roads; crossing of River Rhine, German, 3/1945; accommodation; rest in Brussels, Belgium; training at Turnhout, Belgium; journey to Namur, Belgium; scenes on arrival; activities of unit.
REEL 6 Continues: story of night spent in Roman Catholic Church; ration packs; communications; story of bank in Bocholt; selling Luger Pistol to United States Army troops; crossing of River Aller, Germany, 4/1945; story of attack on billets in farmyard; being relieved by infantry troops and aftermath of attack; advance towards Hamburg, Germany, 5/1945; VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945; outlook on chances in war; symptoms of battle exhaustion and cases in division; treatment of troops with battle exhaustion; memories of Captain Sir Henry D'Avigdor-Goldsmid and his treatment of German prisoners of war. Aspects of period as NCO with 53rd Reconnaissance Regt, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in Germany, 5/1945-6/1946: guard duties at divisional headquarters in Hamburg; postings including Hilden; posting as squadron clerk and duties; common charges; enjoyment of new post; disbandment of unit; short posting with North Irish Horse in Wuppertal. Aspects of period as NCO with 10th Royal Hussars (The Prince of Wales's Own) in Germany, 6/1946-7/1947: posting to unit at Lübeck; duties; frontier duties and relations with Soviet Army troops; use of Salvation Army canteen; duties taking Polish Displaced Persons to Stettin.
REEL 7 Continues: opinion of Displaced Persons; relations with German civilians; change in attitude after starting office work. Reflections on military service: prior recollection of liberation of 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, 10/1944; opinion of Corps of Military Police; opinion of conscientious objectors; black market; cigarette ration and reason for not smoking; foreign troops serving in unit; opinion of Polish troops; casualties in squadron; death and burial of Lance Corporal William 'Bill' Pope in Netherlands, 1/4/1945; memories of officers; story of visit from Frank Long's wife; memories of medical officer Captain Robert Clarke; evacuation of wounded; opinion of medical staff; marking for posting in Far East; reaction to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945. Aspects of demobilisation in GB, 7/1947: duties putting demobilisation book together; journey to York, GB, 7/1947; process of demobilisation; marriage. Post-war life and employment: employment; gratuity; offers to continue with military service and reason for not doing so; call-up on Army Reserve and period with anti-tank battery at Stanford; reaction to call-up to Army Reserve.
REEL 8 Continues: return to civilian employment; salary; adjusting to civilian life; opinion of attitude towards veterans; effects of wartime military service; life prior to call-up for military service and opinion of what life would have been like without war; problems with pension fund; payment for damage to ear; nightmares about war; separation of Other Ranks and officers during military service; attending spoken German language course; skills learned during military service; civilian employment; opinions of service in British Army; opinion of reinforcements arriving with unit, 1944-1945.
