Description
Object description
British private served with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt in India and Sudan, 1937-1939, served with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 8th Infantry Div in Egypt and Palestine, 1939-1940; served with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, Creforce on Crete, Greece, 11/1940-5/1941; served with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 70th Infantry Div in North Africa, French Syria and India, 10/1941-11/1943; served with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 3rd Indian Infantry Div in India and during Second Chindit Expedition in Burma, 11/1943-1944; served with 11th Bn West Yorkshire Regt (Prince of Wales's Own) in GB, 1944-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Leeds, GB, 1921-1936: childhood spent in children's homes; reasons for sudden departure from care; employment and accommodation; education. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with York and Lancaster Regiment in GB, 1936-1937: decision to enlist in British Army; recruitment process; arrival at Pontefract Barracks; processing on arrival and issue of uniform; NCOs in barracks; description of barrack room; issue of first rifle; rifle training; grenade training; stripping and re-assembly of Lewis Gun; proficiency with rifle; contact with officers, including kit inspections; making of bed and punishment for having untidy bed cot; wearing puttees; method of maintaining creases in uniform.
REEL 2 Continues: relations with comrades; posting to A Coy 1st Bn York and Lancaster Regt at York; receiving overseas posting; changes after posting to battalion; knowledge of age; relations with older troops; issue of tropical kit; inoculations; journey to Southampton. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Neuralia from Southampton, GB to Bombay, India,1937: character of troopship; storage and setting up of hammocks; seasickness; duties on board; ports of call; regimental magazine; arrival off Bombay, India; transport of kit and changeover into tropical kit; disembarkation. Recollections of period as private with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt in India, 1937-1938: train journey to Ahmednagar; march on arrival to camp; description of barracks.
REEL 3 Continues: composition of battalion; presence of civilian workers in camp; sleeping arrangements and storage of rifles; supplementing rations; language related to service in India; relations with civilians; morning routine; training and recreational activities; afternoon activities; exercises; climate; recreational activities; story of fighting fire at cinema; sources of supplements to rations; role of battalion; hunting of dangerous tigers; contact with officers' families and local women; venereal disease lectures.
REEL 4 Continues: social activities in battalion; leisure activities; visits to bazaar and details of counterfeit currency; presence of Small Arms School at Ahmednagar; contact with troops of other regiments; guard duties; clothing worn during day and at night; work of anti-malaria squad; battalion health; guard duties; memories of officers and band; story of soldier returning from leave in GB; method of cooling water; church parades in India and GB; activities of chaplain; army education.
REEL 5 Continues: duration of posting to Ahmednagar; nature of trooping season; story of band learning to play 'Lambeth Walk'; arrival of Queen's Ow n Cameron Highlanders; prior knowledge of posting to Sudan; departure from camp and battalion horses; final contact with civilian workers; voyage from Bombay, India to Port Sudan, Sudan. Recollections of period as private with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt in Sudan, 1938-1939: train journey to Khartoum; impressions of Khartoum; description of barracks; posting to Mortar Platoon, Headquarters Coy; sports fields; change to walking out dress; relations with civilians; recreational activities and daily routine; sandstorms; story of locust swarm; guard duties at barracks; accident in swimming pool; camp canteens; role of battalion; stains on sheets; involvement in film 'The Four Feathers' (1939); opinion of posting; pay; degree of knowledge of approaching war; declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939.
REEL 6 Continues: further details of length of posting and stains on sheets on arrival; involvement in film 'The Four Feathers' (1939); opinion of posting; pay; knowledge of approaching war and reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; Italian Air Force activity; capture of German merchant vessel at Port Sudan; anti-gas precautions; mortar training in absence of mortars; arrival of mortars; composition and roles of mortar team; firing of mortars. Aspects of period as private with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 8th Infantry Div in Egypt and Palestine, 1939-1940: journey to Cairo, Egypt; period in Cairo, Egypt, including story of Australian Imperial Force troops; move to Palestine; climate in Palestine; posting to Jenin, Palestine; pots shots taken at those using latrines.
REEL 7 Continues: news of Italian invasion of Greece, 1940. Recollections of operations as private with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, Creforce on Crete, Greece, 11/1940-5/1941: journey to Crete; reception from civilians on arrival; story of air raid, including effect on NCO; initial accommodation and rations; anti-aircraft defences; awaiting orders; construction of airfield; subsequent air activity; role of Carrier Platoon; organisation of battalion; rations; sleeping arrangements; story of accidental engagement to local woman.
REEL 8 Continues: departure from camp and boarding HMS Hotspur; voyage to Heraklion; activities on arrival; news of approaching German forces; training; discovery of airfield; use of bugle alarm calls; story of local woman and letter written to accidental fiancée; disposal of unexploded bombs and death of Private Frederick Sidaway, 5/5/1941; march from camp to prepared positions; description of positions occupied; telegram received from Prime Minister Winston Churchill; rest period; cessation of German Air Force raids and subsequent atmosphere.
REEL 9 Continues: first sight of German airborne forces, 20/5/1941; departure from tavern; sight of German paratroopers landing; problems of finding way; attack made of group of German troops; details of comrades killed and wounded in attack; continuation of journey to positions; evading capture.
REEL 10 Continues: story of evading capture for second time; medical treatment given to wounded Royal Engineer; plan to return to section position; contact with Australian Imperial Force officer; situation in area around section position; nature of attack made by German airborne troops; contact made with Australian Imperial Force chaplain and other 14th Infantry Bde troops; treatment received; evacuation group; clothing worn and method of silencing boots; return to section; arrival in section position and search for haversack; sleep and visit from civilian.
REEL 11 Continues: aerial activity and attack by German Air Force Messerschmitt Bf 109; rations; fighting patrol sent to Heraklion Airfield; story of patrol sent to remove German forces from harbour; handover of German prisoners of war to Greek forces; story of entering cave on first day of German invasion, 20/5/1941; return to cave after attack on harbour at Heraklion; situation in area and change of position; brewing coffee and care taken over civilian possessions; reason for evacuation and return to original positions.
REEL 12 Continues: shooting of Greek civilians by German forces; period in house opposite cave; German Air Force raids; plans and orders for withdrawal to harbour at Heraklion; reaction to posting to rear party; withdrawal to harbour at Heraklion; boarding of HMS Imperial. Aspects of voyage aboard HMS Hotspur from Crete, Greece to Egypt, 5/1941: reaction of evacuated troops to aerial activity; nature of passage; transfer to HMS Hotspur; destruction of HMS Imperial, 29/5/1941; German Air Force attacks on HMS Hotspur; awareness of destination; opinion of campaign on Crete; issue of Thompson Machine Gun, 19/5/1941.
REEL 13 Continues: passengers aboard HMS Hotspur; reaction to news of destination; opinion of German superiority; German Air Force attacks on HMS Hotspur; morale after and during voyage; German Air Force change in targets; end of German Air Force attacks and remainder of voyage, 5/1941; reaction to sight of Fleet Air Arm aircraft; reception on arrival in Alexandria, Egypt. Aspects of period as private with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde in Egypt, 5/1941-6/1941: train journey to Sidi Bishr; reception on arrival; re-assembly of battalion.
REEL 14 Continues: awareness of troops who did not return to battalion; opinion of German Air Force attacks on HMS Hotspur; posting to Qassassin Camp; problem with legs; attempt to obtain leave in Tel Aviv, Palestine; hospitalisation; work of Italian prisoners of war in camp; cancellation of leave; sick parade; departure from camp; train journey to Palestine. Aspects of operations as private with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde in French Syria, 6/1941: reaction to arrival on border between Palestine and French Syria; move into French Syria; encounters with Vichy French Army troops; positions taken in mountains; nature of Vichy French opposition; washing in stream; in action against Vichy French forces until armistice; withdrawal from positions; journey north; march to airfield.
REEL 15 Continues: character of airfield; comparison of conditions for Royal Air Force and British Army personnel. Aspects of hospitalisation in Palestine, 1941: nature of medical problems; hospital train journey to Nazareth; move to 2/9th Australian General Hospital; character of medical operation and reaction to results; recovery and visits to Nazareth. Aspects of operations as private with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, Tobruk Garrison in Libya, 8/1941-11/1941: return to battalion; voyage aboard HMS Hotspur to Tobruk; scene on arrival in Tobruk Harbour; disembarkation and departure of HMS Hotspur; march to front line; description of defence lines at Tobruk; state of Tobruk town; platoon organisation.
REEL 16 Continues: climate; situation in Tobruk and North Africa; problems with water supply; listening and fighting patrols; information gained from listening patrols; opinion of Italian Army troops and weapons; guard duties; warning system on wire; night attacks; defence put up by Italian Army and Deutsches Afrika Korps troops; rotation around defence lines; role of battalion; knowledge of Eighth Army operations; reaction to news of breakout; role of B Coy in breakout; opposition faced during advance towards Axis lines during Operation Crusader, 11/1941.
REEL 17 Continues: capture of Dolby Square and treatment of casualties; reasons for handover of position; length of advance during Operation Crusader, 11/1941; Deutsches Afrika Korps counter-attack; situation following withdrawal; description of Italian Army positions; problems with fleas; use of Axis fuses and cartridges; visit to mobile shower unit; cooking meals; arrival of Eighth Army and attitude towards them; journey back to Egypt; leave.
REEL 18 Continues: boarding HMT Mauritania at Port Tewfik, Egypt; voyage from Egypt to India. Aspects of period as private with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 70th Infantry Div in India, 2/1942-11/1943: journey to Ahmednagar; changes since last posting; guard duties; story of bill for light bulbs; posting to Ranchi; pattern of training; story of endurance test; debriefing; in camp at Ranchi; accommodation; latrines; problems with dysentery amongst troops; story of accident in latrines and subsequent changes; cookhouse; problems with vultures; visit from Lord Louis Mountbatten.
REEL 19 Continues: medical examination. Recollections of operations as private with 2nd Bn York and Lancaster Regt, 14th Infantry Bde, 3rd Indian Infantry Div in India and Second Chindit Expedition Operation Thursday, Burma, 11/1943-1944: character of Chindits; glider training including contact with actor Jackie Coogan; silencing of mules; jungle training; endurance training; opinion of machetes; learning to build accommodation in jungle; contact with chaplain; story of poultry issued for Christmas dinner, 25/12/1943; finding bear in cave; hunting in jungle.
REEL 20 Continues: shooting of water buffalo; journey via Calcutta to Cox's Bazaar; conditions underfoot; turnover and background of troops; character of Blackpool Landing Zone; jungle patrols; news of posting to GB; journey to Deolali; reflections on involvement with Chindits; further details of jungle patrols. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Empress of Scotland from India to GB, 1944: embarkation at Bombay, India; reaction to embarkation; accommodation on board; relations with civilians in Durban, South Africa; duties on board; presence of married families on board; character of voyage and stopover in New York, United States of America.
REEL 21 Continues: arrival in Liverpool; disembarkation; reaction of troops on train journey to Nottingham; medical processing at Whatton-in-the-Vale; story of leave and meeting future wife. Aspects of period as private with 11th Bn West Yorkshire Regt in GB, 1944-1946: background to posting to unit; cap badges worn; posting to Romsey; guard duties in Plymouth; posting to Porthcawl; accommodation; VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1944; opinion of chances of survival in wartime.
REEL 22 Continues: move to Woodhall Spa; duties on attachment to Royal Engineers; news of demobilisation; accommodation and processing at Haywards Heath; demobilisation. Post-war life and employment: obtaining employment; problems settling into civilian life; story of search for family and discovery of date of birth.
REEL 23 Continues: obtaining information on mother; meeting with mother and subsequent notification of her death; psychological effects of military service; question of continuing service with British Army; search for and meeting other family members; prior recollection of relations with civilians during service on Crete, Greece, 11/1940-5/1941.