Description
Object description
British NCO served as driver with Royal Corps of Signals, 7th Armoured Div in North Africa, Greece, Italy and North West Europe, 1940-1945
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Deptford and Catford, London, 1915-1939: childhood; education; family; father's service in First World War; employment; passed driving test, 1934; attitude to rise of Hitler during 1930s; called up, 6/Jun/1940. Aspects of training with Royal Army Service Corps in GB, 1940: basic training in Whitby, Yorkshire; accommodation; issued with uniform and kit; story of German bomber; attitude to military life and discipline; opinion of food; driving tests; drill; guard duty; vehicle maintenance; physical training; posted to Huddersfield; story of passing out parade in rain; Salvation Army canteen; roll call; story of unofficial visit to family in Catford, London
REEL 2 Continues: description of air raids and conditions in communal and family air raid shelters; returned to Huddersfield; story of being posted missing; granted overseas leave and returned to family in London; story of losing bedding and kit in quartermaster's store.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of voyage to Egypt, c.10/1940: general duties aboard ship; story of accident with stew; sleeping quarters; speed of ship; shore leave in Dakar; amusing story of washing clothes in wake of ship; problem of sun burn; shore leave in Cape Town, South Africa.
REEL 4 Continues: further memories of Cape Town; amusing story of drunken officer; comparison of military and civilian experiences of war; further memories of father; disembarked Port Suez, Egypt, 11/1940. Aspects of operations as driver with Royal Corps of Signals in North Africa, 1940-1941: train to Cairo; description of camp and facilities; latrines; messing arrangements; problem of vultures taking food; opinion of rations; story of guard duty at brothel; opinion of prostitutes; problem of theft of kit and rifles; attitude to Arab civilians; question of sterilisation of water; vaccinations.
REEL 5 Continues: memories of shore leave in Aden; protection from sun; opinion of tope; problem of cold in desert; attitude to use of native labour; story of barber; train to Alexandra to collect trucks; types of lorries; problem of sand in engine; fuel supplies; description of transit camp at Sidi Bish; memories of Alexandria; daily routine and duties; use of camera and development of films; communication with family; awareness of progress of war; moved to Sidi Birani area; description of Italian troops; attached to Corps of Medium Artillery, 7th Armoured Div; organisation of Corps; relations with Australian troops.
REEL 6 Continues: comparison of Australian and British rations; description of action against Italians; duties on listening watch; Italian POWs; nature of operations under General Wavell; opinion of Italian weapons; danger from booby traps and mines; carried signals equipment in lorry; description of road journey from Tobruk; requisitioned supplies from Royal Army Service Corps store; story of being wounded in head during air attack; medical treatment at 8th General Hospital in Alexandria; posted to Greece; voyage to Greece; living conditions aboard destroyer; amusing story about crickets; disembarked Athens.
REEL 7 Continues: Aspects of operations as driver with Royal Corps of Signals in Greece, 1941-1942: attached to signals section, 15th Light Anti-Aircraft Regt; opinion of Commonwealth troops; role of 15th Light Anti-Aircraft Regt guarding airfield; dropping of metal spikes on runway; by German aircraft; description of aerial combats; description of going out 'swanning'; summary of movements and type of warfare; tanks and anti-tank guns; use of camera; description of sand storm; opinion of Bofors gun.
REEL 8 Continues: Aspects of operations as driver with Royal Corps of Signals in North Africa, 1942-1943: story of setting booby trap; moved into Qattara Depression sector with 7th Armoured Div; story of deception using loudspeakers to play recordings of troops and tanks; description of opening barrage at El Alamein; treatment of casualties; memories of seeing Montgomery and Churchill; description of advance to Tunis; problem of poisoned wells; bartering food with Arabs; rations; memories of Tunis and Homs; entertainments; story of accident while repairing stove.
REEL 9 Continues: treatment of burns on leg in 104 South African hospital; description of other patients and wounds; story of patient unable to urinate; duties repairing phone lines; posted to transit camp; story of deserter; story of incident with German soldier in no man's land.
REEL 10 Continues: conclusion of story; description of destroyed gun emplacement and dismembered gun team; memories of field dressing hospital; duties in cookhouse in Ismailia; reason forgiving food to Arabs; story of visit to Arab quarter.
REEL 11 Continues: conclusion of story; description of dugout and living conditions; problem of insects; story of visit to Palestine, 1942; memories of Jerusalem; story of chance meeting with Cpl Charlie Hill.
REEL 12 Continues: description of train journey to Alexandria; story of soldier shooting ox from train; story of incident on sailing boat; returned to transit camp. Aspects of voyage to Sicily, 1943: description conditions aboard American troop ship 'Fighting 46th'; shore leave in Malta. Aspects of operations as driver with Royal Corps of Signals in Sicily, 1943-1944: description of harbour; accommodation aboard American ships; sailed to Salerno, 9/1943; summary of movements; joined 7th Armoured Div in Pompeii; duties with signal section; terrain; living conditions for local civilians; story of farmer.
REEL 13 Continues: story of assisting at birth; description of macaroni factory; opinion of priests and religion; problem of thefts from lorries; duties in cookhouse; memories of Christmas dinner, 1943; duties in galley aboard liberty ship in Bay of Naples.
REEL 14 Continues: Aspects of voyage to GB, 1944: description of galley; duties on night shift cooking food; story of incident in Bay of Biscay; disembarked Greenock, Scotland. Aspects of period in GB, 1944: period of leave with family; preparations for Normandy landings including waterproofing lorries; amusing story of Argentine tourist; maintenance and repairs to lorries; story of fire in lorry; embarkation on liberty ship, 5/Jun/1944. Aspects of operations as driver with Royal Corps of Signals in North West Europe, 1944-1945: description of lorries being transferred to landing craft; disembarkation on beach at Arromanches, Normandy, France; problem of German shelling and barbed wire.
REEL 15 Continues: summary of movements away from beach; story of friendship with French farmer and family; moved in convoy of lorries; story of Canadian NCO burying brother; further memories of cookhouse in camp in GB; various memories of friends; story of leather jerkin; attitude of civilians in France and Belgium; story of two sisters.
REEL 16 Continues: rations; sleeping arrangements; personal hygiene; washing clothes; shaving; supplemented rations from local farms; bartered food; story of seeing punishment of collaborators in Belgium; German POWs; personal arms; carried grenades to destroy vehicle; memory of seeing airborne operations at Arnhem; story of Bren gun jamming after using motor oil; opinion of officers; opinion of Americans; moved into rest area on Belgian-Dutch border, 1/1945.
REEL 17 Continues: billets in pub; problem of cold weather; amusing story of urinating out of window; description of frozen German soldier; method of preventing engine freezing; moved into Eindhoven, Germany; burial of dead; communication with family; description of crossing Rhine; description of German corpses covered in maggots; summary of various engagements with German troops; comparison of British and German tanks; attitude to looting civilian houses in Germany; memories of VE Day in Hamburg, 5/1945; description of column of disabled German soldiers; question of German resistance; story of driving into Denmark; description of bomb damage in German towns and cities.
REEL 18 Continues: story of visit to Bergen-Belsen camp; duties checking German houses for weapons; various memories of German civilians. Aspects of period as driver with Royal Corps of Signals in Germany, 6-12/1945: opinion of Russians; requisitioned houses; opinion of Russian female soldiers; story of elderly German woman protecting niece against Russians; attitude to cases of rape by Russian troops; bartering with German civilians; story of friend with syphilis.
REEL 19 Continues: left Berlin, 9/1945; transferred to 11th Armoured Div signal section at marine camp in Schleswig Holstein; opinion of NCOs; attitude to leaving 7th Armoured Div; put on charge for not cleaning buttons; guard duty; cold weather clothing; problem of cold weather; story of replacement of colonel and sergeant-major; story of making made wooden boxes to send gifts home; returned to GB, 1946; demobilised, 1/1946; issued with civilian clothes; retained army overcoat; attitude to remaining in army. Post-war life and employment in GB. Reflections on period of service.