Interview with John Curtin Howe

British officer served with 90th Anti-Tank Regt, Royal Artillery, 45th Infantry Div in GB, 1942-1943; served with 1st Airlanding Light Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 1st Airborne Div in GB and North West Europe, 1/1944-5/1945; served with 4th Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 5th Parachute Bde in India, Malaya and Java, Dutch East Indies, 1945-1946

REEL 1 Background in Southsea, GB and India, 1922-1940: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training with British Army in GB, 1940-1941: nature of military railway from Guildford to Bordon Camp; basic training at Bordon Camp; background to being sent to University of Glasgow University; fire-watching in Glasgow; attending University of Glasgow University Student Union ball; officer training at Ilkley, 1942. Aspects of period as officer with 90th Anti-Tank Regt, Royal Artillery, 45th Infantry Div in GB, 1942-1943: joining unit at Frinton-on-Sea; move to Downpatrick, Northern Ireland and hospitality of both communities; value of battle school; disbanding of unit and move to holding unit at Otterburn, 12/1943; how he dealt with unhappy gunners; opinion of unit second in command Major George Foster. REEL 2 Continues: equipping of unit with Ordnance QF 6 Pounder Anti-Tank Gun; development of Ordnance QF 6 Pounder Anti-Tank Gun and Sabot shot. Aspects of period as officer with 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 1st Airborne Div in GB and Normandy, France, 8/1944-9/1944: reasons for volunteering for airborne forces in GB, 1/1944; taking command of B Echelon; landing in Normandy; abortive nature of operation; visit to General Bernard Montgomery's headquarters; crossing River Seine on pontoon bridge, France, 8/1944; fraternising with French civilians; advance into Belgium, 9/1944. REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as officer with 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 1st Airborne Div during Operation Market Garden in Netherlands, 9/1944-10/1944: encounter with elements of 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div; advance to Eindhoven; German shooting up of column; injuries he received in road accident; orders for his anti-tank troop to join 101st Airborne Div, United States Army; deployment of 101st Airborne Div, United States Army between Vehgel and s'Hertogenbosch; attitude of American military commanders; advance to Driel; terrain around Driel; character of Allied and German positions at Driel; shooting German Army soldier in orchard; loss of one of his guns in ditch after bridge collapsed; opinion of 101st Airborne Div, United States Army; destruction of German Army tank; wounding of his driver Gunner Simmons and his evacuation by jeep ambulance; fate of Dutch civilians in Driel area; problems off operating in Driel area. REEL 4 Continues: coping with German flares; reaction to discovery of dead German Army soldier; Allied troops relieving German prisoners of war of personal items; nature of rations; how he obtained codename 'Geronimo Pronto'; reaction to leaving Driel area; return to GB via Ostend, Belgium, 10/1944. Aspects of period as officer with 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 1st Airborne Div in GB and Norway, 1944-1945: hospitality received from Essex Regimental Depot at Warley Barracks, 10/1944; donation of German Army machine gun to Essex Regiment; destination of surplus army rations at Cambridge, 10/1944; reforming of 1st Airborne Div in GB, 1944-1945; abortive plan to drop over River Elbe, Germany, 4/1945; deployment of division to Stavanger, Norway, 5/1945. REEL 5 Continues: liberation of Stavanger, Norway; surrender of German forces in Stavanger, Norway; dealing with Soviet prisoners of war; celebration of Norwegian Independence Day; role of Norwegian interpreter on trip to Kristiansand, Norway; background to posting to 4th Airlanding Bty at Bulford Camp, GB. Recollections of period as officer with 4th Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 5th Parachute Bde in India and Singapore, Malaya, 6/1945-12/1945: nature of flight from GB to India; impressions of Karachi; character of Indian trains; opinion of Kalyan Camp, India; characteristics of Lilo Mk I Rocket; clothing worn at Kalyan Camp, India; bout of dengue fever; reaction to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; relaxation in Bombay, India; orders to move to Singapore, Malaya, 8/1945. REEL 6 Continues: role as officer commanding train whilst transporting unit guns from Bombay to Calcutta, India; measures he took to deal with fire danger from wood sparks from train at Jhansi, India; method of loading unit onto ship at Calcutta; thief of equipment by Indian civilians; voyage with British Indian Army troops from Calcutta, India to Singapore, Malaya; state of barracks at Selangor on arrival in Singapore, Malaya; make shift police force after Sikh police force imprisoned for co-operation with Japanese authorties; story of Lady Edwina Mountbatten's aid work. Recollections of operations as officer with 4th Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery, 5th Parachute Bde in Java, Dutch East Indies, 12/1945-3/1946: role of unit in kampong clearing; fighting at Kramit Kampong in which one of his men was wounded. REEL 7 Continues: attempt to carry wounded man; looting of warehouses and shooting of two looters; method used by brigadier to thwart punishment of guard who shot looters; effect of bad alcohol on paratroopers in Batavia; how his NCO adapted Indian table manners; move to Semarang; story of how Imperial Japanese Army Major Kido salvaged his honour in Semarang; prevalence of VD amongst paratroopers at Semarang; attending court martial in Semarang; effect of Royal Air Force mutinies in India on supplies to troops in Java; troops fishing off pier at Semarang; demand of traders for Japanese currency rather than Dutch; entertainments available in Semarang; attitude to serving in Java. Aspects of period as officer with 4th Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery in Malaya, 1946: mutiny of 13th Bn Parachute Regt at Muar. REEL 8 Continues: how mutiny was dealt with; second hand story of chaos during Operation Zipper, 1945; stay with Swedish officer who had served with Parachute Regiment; civilian attitude towards troops in Singapore, 1946; attitude to serving in Singapore; attitude to having served with 1st Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty, Royal Artillery during Second World War.