Interview with Dennis Harland Sinclair

British signalman served with No 2 Special Wireless Group, Royal Corps of Signals in Italy, Malta and Palestine, 1943-1947

REEL 1 Background in County Durham and Bristol, GB, 1924-1939: family; education; musical activities. Aspects of period as civilian in Bristol, GB, 1939-1942: employment in laboratory at Bristol Aircraft Company factory; attending night school and qualifications received; duties as part-time fireman. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with 20th Primary Training Centre, General Service Corps, Boyce Barracks, Church Crookham, GB, 12/1942-2/1943: reaction to call-up for military service, 12/1942; story of his father making boots; reporting to 20th Primary Training Centre at Church Crookham; accommodation; six weeks basic training; kit; daily routine; physical training; shaving; opinion of NCOs; weapons training; tests. Aspects of training as signalman with No 3 Signal Training Centre, Royal Corps of Signals, Huddersfield, GB, 1943: posting to No 3 Signal Training Centre, Huddersfield; description of Fuller Phone and other signals equipment; signals training; posting to Pre-Officer Cadet Training Unit at Chester; attitude to propect of being officer; move to Isle of Man. Aspects of training with Special Wireless Sections, Royal Corps of Signals on Isle of Man, 1943: accommodation in hotel in Douglas; signals training; German and Japanese signalling methods; words per minute; receiving further basic military training; playing cinema organ; embarkation leave. Aspects of voyage from GB to French Algeria, 1943: embarkation aboard troopship from Gourock, GB, 6/1943. REEL 2 Continues: sailing in convoy; duties manning anti-aircraft guns; organisation of Special Wireless Section on board; disembarkation at Philippeville, French Algeria; march to camp; posting to No 2 Special Wireless Group. Recollections of operations with 2nd Special Wireless Group, Headquarters, Eighth Army in Italy, 7/1943-5/1945: voyage from French Algeria to Sicily, 7/1943; duties; use of headphones; interception of messages; equipment; direction finding and location of enemy signals; method of tracking German military formation; monitoring of phone traffic and identifying individual operators; terrain in Monte Cassino area, Italy; operating behind German lines at night; problem of carrying radio set; organisation of section; communication with headquarters; call signs; monitoring German forces' signals traffic; story of using dog to locate mines; rations. REEL 3 Continues: problem of identification at night; language skills; stay with Italian family; story of visit to accordion factory; attachment to 36th Infantry Div, United States Army in Monte Cassino area; opinion of United States Army troops; casualties; vehicles; opinion of unit NCO; opinion of Italian Campaign; monitoring United States Army radio traffic; reaction to casualties caused by United States Army Air Force bombing; opinion of bombing of Monte Cassino Monastery; attachment to Polish 12th Podolski Uhlan Regt; problem of communication with Polish and Moroccan forces. REEL 4 Continues: contact with British regiments; role in operations in Po Valley and Brenner Pass, 1945. Aspects of operations with No 2 Special Wireless Group, Royal Corps of Signals at Valletta, Malta, 1945: duties monitoring signals traffic in Greece and Palestine; voyage aboard aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable from Malta to Palestine; reaction to VE Day, 8/5/1945. Aspects of operations with No 2 Special Wireless Group, Royal Corps of Signals in Palestine, 1945-1947: posting to Sarafand Camp; duties monitoring activities of Jewish insurgents, including Stern Gang (Lohemei Herut Israel-Lehi); attitude to Arab-Jewish conflict; casualties; playing football; reaction to killing of British Army soldiers by Stern Gang (Lohemei Herut Israel-Lehi; return to GB, 7/1947. Aspects of period with Royal Corps of Signals in GB, 1947: general duties, including delivering coal; demobilisation at York; question of continuing service with British Army. Aspects of post-war life and employment: reflections on military career; adjustment to civilian life; attitude to veterans of Italian Campaign being called 'D-Day Dodgers'. Reflections on military service in Second World War: story of attending army educational course; musical activities; psychological and physical effects of wartime military service; opinion of No 1 Demolition Squadron, Popski's Private Army; opinion of Germans. REEL 5 Continues: opinion of German careless radio talk and propaganda broadcasts; attitude to shell shock cases; memories of winter in Italy, 1944-1945; opinion of adequacy of kit and equipment; communication with home; post-war employment as chemical analyst in aircraft industry.