Description
Object description
British officer served with 104th Royal Horse Artillery (Essex Yeomanry) Regt, 1st Cavalry Div in GB and Palestine, 12/1939-9/1940; served with 104th Royal Horse Artillery (Essex Yeomanry) Regt, XIII Corps in North Africa, 9/1940-3/1941; served as staff officer with Judge Advocate General's Staff and as instructor attached to Egyptian Army in Egypt, 1942-1943; served as second in command of 14th Royal Horse Artillery in Syria and Egypt, 1943-1944; student at Staff College, Camberley, GB, 1945; served with Legal Division, Allied Control Council in Germany, 1945-1950
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as officer with Essex Yeomanry in GB, 1935-1939: prior military training with Officer Training Corps at Eton College; reasons for joining Territorial Army; unit equipment and strength; enlistment as second lieutenant; training in mathematics of gunnery; annual training camp; placing and ranging of guns; Ordnance QF 18 Pounder Field Gun's rate of fire; gun drills; character of recruits; mobilisation of unit at Chelmsford, 9/1939; move to Southwell. Aspects of period as officer with 104th Royal Horse Artillery (Essex Yeomanry) Regt, 1st Cavalry Div in Palestine, 1/1940-9/1940: journey to Haifa; reaction of unit to posting; training; character of 1st Cavalry Div; visit to kibbutz; relations with Jews and Arabs; orders to move to Egypt.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations a officer with Royal Horse Artillery (Essex Yeomanry) Regt, XIII Corps in North Africa, 9/1940-3/1941: opinion of positions in Bagush Box, Egypt; character of Bagush Box, Egypt; issue of Ordnance QF 25 Pounder Field Gun; duties as troop commander; character of observation post party; problems with wireless communications and line communication being cut; nature of advance to Sollum, Egypt; deployment to fire on perimeter at Bardia, Libya; characteristics of good gun positions for Ordnance QF 25 Pounder Field Gun; time taken to deploy and dig in; view forward from positions at Bardia, Libya; exchanges of fire with Italian Army artillery; defective Italian artillery fuses; use of flashes to spot Italian Army artillery; reasons for changes of position at Bardia, Libya; question of noise; Italian Air Force attack on positions; sequence for firing on Italian forces' movement; rate of fire and handling of Ordnance QF 25 Pounder Field Gun.
REEL 3 Continues: lack of attacks by Italian forces at Bardia, Libya; move to Tobruk, Libya; Italian defences at Tobruk, Libya; effects of fatigue at Tobruk, Libya; sleeping arrangements, 12/1940; layout of battery; food and water rations; use of ex-Italian Army vehicles; behaviour of Italian prisoners of war; effects of General Richard O'Connor's to attack across desert to Beda Fomm via Mechili, Libya; scene at Beda Fomm; return to Cairo, Egypt; move to Mersa Brega, Libya; degree of intelligence about recently arrived German forces; other units in Mersa Brega area, Libya.
REEL 4 Continues: observation posts at Mersa Brega, Libya; deployment of vehicles; German Air Force reconnaissance activities, 3/1941; question of not advancing to Tripoli, Libya; start of German Deutsches Afrika Korps attack; withdrawal of unit; capture of fuel party; taking up positions on escarpment; problems of withdrawing in column across desert; orders for battery to move to Mechili, Libya; encounter with Generals Richard O'Connor and Philip Neame; situation in Mechili, Libya; withdrawal towards Tobruk Perimeter, Libya; length of Tobruk Perimeter, Libya; relations with Australian Imperial Force troops; reconnaissance with commanding officer of Australian battalion; use of Ordnance QF 25 Pounder Field Guns against Axis tanks attacking Tobruk Perimeter, Libya; arrangement for defensive fire.
REEL 5 Continues: morale problem in Tobruk, Libya; evacuation of Australian Imperial Force troops; concern about Polish troops using up ammunition; Deutsches Afrika Korps attacks on south west salient; attitude towards German propaganda leaflets; use of former Italian Army observation posts; restrictions on visibility; counter-battery fire; Italian Army artillery; risks to using captured Italian Army artillery; method of aiming guns; use of observation posts in eastern sector of Tobruk Perimeter; Australian technique for directing guns; use of flash spotting to locate Axis guns; contracting jaundice and evacuation to Egypt; return to Tobruk, Libya; wounding when truck ran over mine; behaviour of staff in hospital in Tobruk, Libya; reasons for not rejoining unit. Aspects of period as staff officer with Judge Advocate General's Staff and instructor attached to Egyptian Army in Egypt, 1942-1943: joining Judge Advocate General's Staff; role defending German accused of espionage; degree of desertion in Allied forces; attachment to Egyptian Army; opinion of Egyptian Army.
REEL 6 Continues: training Egyptian Army troops in anti-tank gunnery; relations with Egyptian Army personnel. Recollections of period as second in command of 14th Royal Horse Artillery in French Syria and Palestine, 1943-1944: background to joining unit as second in command in French Syria; dealing with theft of tentage; prior recollection of fleas and lack of rations during Siege of Tobruk, Libya; duties as second in command; artillery shoot at Mount Hermon, Palestine to test effect of Ordnance QF 25 Pounder Field Gun; recreational activities in French Syria; lack of contact with civilians. Aspects of period as student at Staff College, Camberley, GB, 1945: return to GB and initial impressions; effect of German V weapons; opinion of syllabus; planning exercises; telephone exercise at night; attitude to posting to Sierra Leone. Recollections of period as officer and civilian with Legal Division, Allied Control Council in Germany, 1945-1950: acceptance after interview.
REEL 7 Continues: pre-war legal career; preparation for work with commission; aspects of German legal system; importance of restoring legal system to 1933 status; abolishing of Nazi People's courts; role monitoring legal system; level of Nazi influence in Hamburg; setting up courts to try members of Nazi organisations; question of role of German Police; inspecting courts and their records; reconstruction of legal system; example of mistake in senior appointment; reporting to head of Legal Division; dealing with French, American and Soviet opposites; encounter with Soviet military personnel in the Ruhr; own post civilianised on demobilisation; accommodation in Bielefield area; return to GB to become secretary of Bar Council; benefits of military service on civilian career; connections with Territorial Army in Germany.
