Interview with John McManus

British private served with 1/5th Bn Essex Regt, 19th Indian Infantry Bde, 8th Indian Infanry Div in Italy, 10/1943-7/1944; served with 5th Bn Essex Regt, 13th Infantry Bde, 5th Infantry Div in Middle East and North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Royal Leamington Spa, GB, 1924-1942: family; education; employment at Lockheed Precision Products Ltd; reason for volunteering for military service, 11/1942; reaction of parents to his volunteering. Aspects of training as private with Royal Warwickshire Regiment Regimental Depot at Budbrooke Barracks, Budbrooke. GB, 11/1942-12/1942: posting to regimental depot; attitude to basic training; opinion of NCOs; background of other recruits; accommodation; problem of inoculations; drill; physical and weapons training; attitude to discipline. Aspects of training with 70th Bn Royal Warwickshire Regt in GB, 1942: posting to battalion at Winchester; move to Exeter; opinion of accommodation and training; posting to Woodhall Spa. Aspects of voyage from Liverpool, GB to Alexandria, Egypt, 1943: embarkation at Liverpool; conditions on board ship; recreational activities; disembarkation at Alexandria, Egypt. Aspects of operations as private with 1/5th Bn Essex Regt, 19th Indian Infantry Bde, 8th Indian Infantry Div in Italy, 10/1943-7/1944: disembarkation at Taranto; question of age; opinion of commanding officer; rum ration; description of crossing River Sangro, 11/1943; artillery barrage; wounding by grenade splinters. REEL 2 Continues: strafing by German Air Force aircraft; treatment at dressing station; return to battalion on River Sangro; organisation of rations; description of attack on Villa Grande; story of killing German airborne troops; wounding in shoulder; medical evacuation to 58th British General Hospital in Salerno and treatment; move to 98th British General Hospital at Bari; medical treatment and other patients; rejoining battalion at Lanciano; story of mine exploding on bridge; story of sniper in church; move into positions on Monte Cairo, 3/1944; duties with night patrol setting white guide tapes; description of terrain around Monte Cassino; reaction to capture of Monte Cassino Monastery, 5/1944; burial of dead. Aspects of operations with 5th Bn Essex Regt, 13th Infantry Bde, 5th Infantry Div in Middle East and North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1945: return to Alexandria, Egypt, 7/1944; Christmas leave in Bethlehem, Palestine, 12/1944; memories of Palestine and Lebanon; voyage to Marseille, France, 3/1945; posting to Ghent, Belgium, 3/1945; attitude to promotion; reason for joining Corps of Drums. REEL 3 Continues: duties as member of Corps of Drums; civilian accommodation in Ghent, Belgium; concerts and repertoire; role in operations on River Elbe, Germany; posting to Zealand, Netherlands; VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945; posting to German prisoner of war camp in Münster, Germany; duties in charge of Waffen-SS prisoners of war; story of sauna. Aspects of period as NCO with 6th Bn Devonshire Regt at Lüneberg, Germany, 1945-1947: duties in officers' mess; return to GB and demobilisation in York, GB, 1947; attitude to continuing service with British Army; post-war life and employment; story of visit to former Buchenwald Concentration Camp; attitude towards military service.