Aikman, William Henry (Oral history)

British officer served with No 5 Bty, 1st Heavy Regt, Royal Artillery in GB and North West Europe, 1938-1940; served with 511 Regt, Coast Regt, RA in GB, 1940-1943; served as instructor at Military College of Science in GB, 1943-1943; served as gunnery instructor with South West Sector, Southern Command in GB, 1943-1944; served with 505 (Forth) Coast Regt, RA in GB, 1944-1945; served with 533 (Orkney) Coast Regt, RA in GB, 1945; served as staff officer Headquarters, Orkneys and Shetland Defences, 1945-1946; served with 349 Light Anti-Aircraft Regt in GB, 1948-1955; served as Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General, Headquarters 2nd Army Group Royal Artillery in GB, 1955-1959; served as civil defence staff officer at Headquarters, 40 AGRA in GB, 1959; served civil defence staff officer with Headquarters, 127 Bde in GB, 1959-1966.

REEL 1 Recollections of background in South Africa, Harrow and Bradford, 1919-1938: social circumstances; prep school at Harrow; education at Bradford Grammar School, 1928-1838; contacts with Denis Healey; training with OTC including drill, rifle training, visits to artillery unit, summer camps, passing Certificate 'A' and promotion to company sergeant major; broadcast for BBC 'In Town Tonight' prior to W H Rhodes Educational Trust trip to Canada, 1937; entry to Queens College, Oxford University, 1938. Recollections of period as supplementary reserve officer with No 5 Bty, 1st Heavy Regt, Royal Artillery, Plymouth, 1938-1939: background to enlistment and prior interview; kitting out; Easter vacation training including air cooperation; opinion of Colonel Robin Stavely and Rodney Hilton; nature of officers' mess; summer exercises at Larkhill; relationship with NCOs; story of minor traffic accident. REEL 2 Continues: story of taking draft to Southampton; test mobilisation; administrative nature of role; equipment with 8" howitzers and Scammell lorry gun towers. Period as student at Queen's College, Oxford University, 1938-1939: involvement in by-election campaign; social life; collection of money for Chinese victims of Japanese; membership of Oxford University Labour Club; call up as regular officer, 24/8/1939. Recollections of period at Fargo Camp, Larkhill, 8/1939-10/1939: mobilisation; taking driving tests; stories illustrating character of reserve officers; creation of new units; familiarisation with wireless; reactions to outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; Channel crossing arrangements. REEL 3 Continues: requisitioned vehicles; story of visit to Stonehenge; Channel crossing, 10/1939. Aspects of period on Belgian border, 10/1939-5/1940: initial concentration in Le Mans sector; drinking habits; detachment and movements; rejoining unit; story of visit with French interpreter to hotel; censoring letters; training exercises; attending artillery course at Larkhill, 1/1940; attachment to French artillery unit; training exercises. Aspects of operations in Belgium and France, 5/1940: advance to River Wavre; gun pits; location near hospitals; German dive bomb attack on Armentieres hospital first contact with Germans; retreat; role providing harassing fire on German communications; nature of problems during retreat; German shellfire on crossroads; German air attacks. REEL 4 Continues: liaison role with infantry brigade; fatigue; nature of observation post duties; role of 8" howitzers; destruction of guns; walk in small groups to Dunkirk; evacuation from harbour mole aboard HMS Codrington, 29/5/1940. Period at Market Harborough, 6/1940: prior movements and reformation of unit; state of unit; anti-parachutist infantry role; question of establishing OP in church tower; relationship with civilian population; dispersal of regiment. Recollections of period with 511 Coast Regt, RA at Hartlepool, 6/1940-1/1943: background to formation of unit from Durham Heavy Regt, Royal Artillery; question of fifth columnist officer; review of disposition of Teeside coastal batteries; comparison of territorials with regulars; posting to command 268 Bty based at Old Pier; question of lack of coastal artillery training; 12pdr guns and command post. REEL 5 Continues: opinion of various officers and NCOs including Major Walter Todd and Battery Sergeant Major Ord; drafts; officer's servant; routine duties; German air raids on Middlesbrough including anti-aircraft Lewis gun and Norwegian anti-aircraft ship sunk in bay; activities of minesweepers; East coast convoys; billets; football activities; absence of German naval attacks posting to command 267 Bty at Heugh Battery, 1/1941; organisation of battery; installation of new 6" guns and mountings; proof firing; emergency batteries and observation posts; overall system of coastal defence. REEL 6 Continues: overall system of coastal defence and counter-bombardment role of Heugh Battery; partially completed fire control system in underground bunker at Hartlepool Rovers Football Ground; officers' mess; drinking habits; recreations; relationship with officers , NCOs and ORs; question of disciplinary problems and role in court martial of man attempting to evade conscription; umpiring infantry exercise involving attack on Tyneside coastal defences; inspections; battery layout and underground magazines. REEL 7 Continues: underground magazines; move of gun positions on introduction of new 6" guns. Recollections of training as instructor at Military College of Science at Bury and Stoke on Trent and Coastal Artillery School, Llandudno, 1/1943-8/1943: prior course in 6" gunnery, searchlights and counter-bombardment; radar and optics courses at Bury; billets; theoretical gunnery course at Stoke on Trent; introduction of high-projection shells; practical gunnery course at Llandudno; relationship with students; question of active service role. Recollections of period as gunnery instructor with South West Sector, Southern Command, Plymouth, 8/1943-10/1944: unfamiliarity with typed of gun deployed on SW coast; composition of staff; inspection of batteries accompanying Brigadier Weigeall; reduction in risk of invasion and introduction of Home Guard personnel into coastal defence unit. REEL 8 Continues: inspection of Home Guard coastal batteries and story of premature shell burst during firing exercise; story of premature shell burst during inspection of Torquay Bty, subsequent court of inquiry and question of fault in 4.7" gun breech mechanism; story of suspending fire due to risk of shells landing on coastline during live firing exercise at Penzance; story of civilians petition against live firings to prevent vibration damage to their houses; question of anti-Semitism in army and background to dismissal of Jewish officer; reductions in CA; German air attacks on Torquay; duties at combined operations headquarters at Plymouth; awareness of German attack on US troops at Slapton Sands; problem over acquiring training area at Slapton Sands; contacts with US personnel; concentration areas and secrecy prior to D Day; question of relationship with white and black US personnel; success in repulsing E Boat attack on Falmouth, c5/1944. REEL 9 Continues: German air raids on Plymouth, ca 5/1944; equipment of coastal batteries with Bofors guns; question of launch of D Day operations; reaction to US re-introduction of officers only establishments; minimal role of CA following D Day, 6/6/1944. Recollections of period with 505 (Forth) Coast Regt, RA, Edinburgh and Forth area, c10/1944-5/1945: reduction in unit and disposition of batteries; posting to Inchcombe Island Bty; water and food supplies; posting to Inchkeith Island Bty; liaison with Royal Navy and fire command role; VE day celebrations, 8/5/1945; false alarm of German destroyer raid from forward post at Island of May, ca 5/1945. Period with 533 (Orkney) Coast Regt, RA Island of Flotta, Orkneys, 5/1945-10/1945: reversion in rank to lieutenant; routine duties. Period as staff officer (Q) with Headquarters, Orkneys and Shetland Defences, 10/1945-1/1946: question of missing stores; process of de-requisitioning land; use of Italian POWs and Polish unit to clear land; stories illustrating duties and impact of bad weather; visits to Iron Age sites; Oracdian personnel. REEL 10 Continues: Demobilisation, 1/1946. Post-war career: completion of degree at Queen's College, Oxford University, 1946-1947; career in textile industry in Manchester; rejection of career in merchant banking; acclimatisation to civilian lifestyle. Service as officer with 349 Light Anti-Aircraft Regt at Sale and Chester, 10/1948-5/1955: background to enlistment; role commanding battery established in Hale and subsequent move to Sale; promotion to second in command based at Headquarters, Chester; composition of unit; merger of unit. Period as Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General, Headquarters 2nd Army Group Royal Artillery, Peninsula Barracks, Warrington, 5/1955-4/1959: composition of unit; story of incident during wild officers' mess arty; duties; suspension of unit. Period as civil defence staff officer at Headquarters, 40 AGRA, 1959. Period as civil defence staff officer with Headquarters, 127 Bde, Manchester Garrison, Bellevue, Manchester, 1959-1966: prior civil defence course; role and liaison with civilian services; underground bunker and arrangement since event of atomic bomb strike; developing health problems and decision to leave army; story of confusion over name.