Description
Object description
British officer served with 10th Bn Essex Regt, 223rd Independent Infantry Bde (Home) in GB, 10/1940-12/1942; served with 9th Bn Parachute Regt, 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in GB, 1942-1943; served as staff officer with 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in GB and North West Europe, 1943-1945; served as staff officer with 6th Airborne Div in Palestine, 1945-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Battersea, London, GB, 1917-1939: family; education including membership of Officer Training Corps; anticipation of Second World War; question of overemphasis on air power and French Army. Aspects of period as gunner with Royal Artillery in GB, 4/1940-6/1940: call-up to searchlight unit; medical grading due to short sight; duties guarding airfield at RAF Hatfield. Recollections of period as officer cadet at No 168 Officer Cadet Training Unit at Aldershot Garrison, 1940: selection for officer training; syllabus; problems learning to ride bicycles and motorcycles; tactics learned and deployment for invasion scare; character of training; accommodation; instruction received; sporting activities; attitude to weapons training.
REEL 2 Continues: attitude to range work; lack of parade at end of course. Recollections of period as officer with 7 Platoon, A Coy, 10th Bn Essex Regt, 223rd Independent Infantry Bde (Home) in GB, 10/1940-12/1942: reasons for choosing regiment; joining unit at Dovercourt; character of his platoon sergeant; inspections from Brigadier Alexander Stanier; all ranks dances at Dovercourt; accommodation; coastal defence duties; manning of pillboxes; increase in training on move to Colchester Garrison; occasion when he commanded brigade headquarters; character of brigade headquarters; guarding airfields. Recollections of period as officer with 9th Bn Parachute Regt in GB, 1942-1943: conversion of 10th Bn Essex Regt to 9th Bn Parachute Regt, 8/12/1942; attending battle course at Aldeburgh.
REEL 3 Continues: problems carrying Boys Anti-Tank Rifle; instructing on street fighting course; accident with bakelite grenade during street fighting course; use of live firing during street fighting course; address by General Frederick Browning at St Albans on conversion to parachute role; effect of arrival of Lieutenant-Colonel James Hill; parachute training at Ringway; reaction to jumping from static balloon and aircraft. Recollections of period as staff officer with 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in GB, 1943-1944: role as staff captain; training and exercises; story of being sole member of brigade headquarters in Normandy; amount of wastage from 10th Bn Essex Regt on conversion to parachute role; planning for D-Day operations; reasons for joining 9th Bn Parachute Regt for Normandy drop; exercises for D-Day.
REEL 4 Continues: role as umpire during Exercise Dryshod; briefing procedure in sealed camp; character of brigade transport and field ambulance; preparations for D-Day operation. Recollections of operations as staff captain with 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in Normandy, France, D-Day 6/6/1944: emplaning and flight to drop zone; meeting up with Lieutenant-Colonel Terence Otway; use of bird sound recognition sounds; arrival at chateau; move to crossroads at Le Mesnil; setting up headquarters at Le Mesnil crossroads; arrival of Brigadier James Hill; problems with having only one wireless set; equipment and maps carried on operation. Recollections of operations as staff captain with 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: loss of intelligence officer; Brigadier James Hill's visits to units; situation on 9/6/1944; question of location of headquarters; supply of rations and ammunition; divisional maintenance area.
REEL 5 Continues: jeeps delivered by glider; role in distribution of supplies; source of water; use of clerks; role of brigade at Ranville; armoured division passing through airborne forces; preparation of newspaper 'Pegasus'; question of armoured units not used to close fighting in Normandy; incident of having to drive through German lines on ridge; subsequent advance to Troarn; lack of contact with brigadier; arrival of battalion quartermaster; supposed duration of operation; advance to River Seine; importance of paperwork; keeping of war diary; return to GB.
REEL 6 Continues: Aspects of period as staff officer with 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in North West Europe, 12/1944-5/1945: degree of contact with American and Polish paratroopers; rapid move to Ardennes, Belgium, 12/1944; nature of time spent in Ardennes, Belgium; move to River Maas, Netherlands; acquiring Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) van for brigade transport; return to GB, 2/1945. Aspects of period as staff officer with 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in GB, 1945: divisional exercise in preparation for Operation Varsity, the crossing of River Rhine, Germany; memories of Brigadier James Hill; opinion of airborne bicycles, Welbikes and use of kitbags; measures to secure spectacles when jumping. Recollections of operations as staff officer with 3rd Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div during Operation Varsity, the crossing of River Rhine, Germany, 3/1945: American system of navigation; landing on drop zone; move to farm buildings and night time bombardment; role and duties with division; attitude to prospect of parachuting; contents of divisional headquarters caravan. Aspects of operations as staff officer with 6th Airborne Div in Germany, 3/1945-5/1945: dealing with discipline and civil affairs in Wismar; number of court martials; VE day celebrations, 8/5/1945; question of deterioration of discipline after VE Day.
REEL 7 Continues: sight of masses of German military personnel surrendering on route to Wismar; reasons for court martials; return to GB and disposal of captured weapons; further details of court martials. Recollections of operations as staff officer with 6th Airborne Div in Palestine, 1945-1946: background to posting to Palestine; reaction to potential posting to Far East; keenness to return to civilian occupation; voyage to Palestine; visit to 1st Airborne Div in Norway prior to posting to Palestine; value of his civil affairs officer; usefulness of goat skin coat; character of briefing on Palestine Police Force; hospitalisation for over fatigue; degree of overworking since 1943; proposed role of division; problems of obtaining reinforcements and turnover of personnel.
REEL 8 Continues: his replacement on staff duties; decision to set up of joint headquarters with Royal Air Force; visit to Cyprus; accommodation at Sarafand Camp; presence of female Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) organiser at Sarafand Camp; contrast between divisional and brigade headquarters; organisation of movement of headquarters; no operational role, only reactive one as Imperial Strategic Reserve; attitude towards parachuting; nature of work; visits to Headquarters, Palestine Command in Jerusalem; memories of civil affairs officer Fred Adams; visits to French Syria, Lebanon and Egypt; lecturing on law at Middle East Staff College in Haifa; entertainment available in Palestine.
REEL 9 Continues: visits to Transjordan; relations with civilians in Palestine and Transjordan; expectation that British could contain trouble in Palestine, 1946; character of division; background to leaving division and return to GB; prior recollection of embarking from Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches-les-Bains, Normandy, France; process of demobilisation after service in Palestine; story of meeting Huw Wheldon; readjusting to civilian life; attitude to having served in British Army during Second World War.
