Interview with Gerald Edward Crouch

British marine served with 2nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Marines, No 1 Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation in GB, Egypt and Crete, 2/1940-5/1941; prisoner of war on Crete and Dulag 183, Salonika, Greece, Stalag XVIII-D and Arbeitskommando GW1046, Maribor, Yugoslavia and Stalag XVIII-A, Wolfsberg, Austria, 6/1941-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Chard, GB, 1918-1940: family; education; employment. Aspects of enlistment and training with 2nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Marines, No 1 Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation in GB, 2/1940-1/1941: call-up to Royal Marines, 2/1940; training as range finder on anti-aircraft guns at Houndstone Camp, Yeovil; opinion of training; opinion of instructors; firing training at Towyn. Recollections of period as marine with 2nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Marines, No 1 Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation in GB and Egypt, 1940-1941: unit's anti-aircraft role in Folkestone, 6/1940-10/1940; awaiting embarkation at Portsmouth, 11/1940-12; voyage aboard HMT Rangitata from GB to South Africa, 1/1941; voyage from South Africa to Egypt. REEL 2 Continues: arrival at Port Tewfik, Egypt. Recollections of operations as marine with 2nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Marines, No 1 Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation on Crete, Greece, 5/1940: embarkation for Crete in Egypt, 5/1941; Italian Air Force attack on ship during voyage from Egypt to Crete; arrival at Suda Bay and move into first positions; reasons for greater success with Ordnance QF 3 Inch 20 cwt Anti-Aircraft Gun, than Ordnance 3.7 Inch Anti-Aircraft Gun; description of gun site; German Air Force attacks; unit officers; casualties; lack of awareness of evacuation; firing on German airborne troops; officer who came back to find men in house; shooting of German airborne troops on hillside near Suda Bay; conditions on march towards Spharkia; order of evacuation; contact with Australian Imperial Force troops acting as rearguard; arrival at Spharkia. REEL 3 Continues: volunteering to search for water in bowser; building roadblock using abandoned tank; orders to surrender, 1/6/1941. Aspects of period as prisoner of in Greece, 6/1941-8/1941: march across island to Suda Bay; prisoner of war work on German memorial on Crete; voyage to mainland Greece; transfer to Dulag 183, Salonika. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag XVIII-D and Arbeitskommando GW1046, Maribor, Yugoslavia and Stalag XVIII-A, Wolfsberg, Austria, 9/1941-5/1945: background of transfer to camp; issue of clothing and footwear; working parties; bombing of factory by United States Army Air Force; working hours; mass escape from camp, 1944 and transfer to Stalag XVIII-A, Wolfsberg, Austria; work on railway; physical condition. REEL 4 Continues: degree of contact with civilians in Yugoslavia; question of escaping to Switzerland; problem for prisoner of war whose wife left him. Aspects of liberation and return to GB, 1945: drive westwards after liberation; return flight to GB; initial reception on arrival; liberation by United States Army troops; move into barracks at Fort Cumberland, Portsmouth; incident of being sent to guardroom for having bath in Fort Cumberland, Portsmouth; move to barracks at Royal Marine Depot, Deal and period of being confined to barracks; forging travel warrants and subsequent period of detention; running rehabilitation office at Walmer; demobilisation. REEL 5 Continues: attitude to leaving Royal Marines and return to civilian life; attitude to treatment by Royal Marines on return to GB. Reflection on period as prisoner of war in Yugoslavia and Austria, 1941-1945: story of rescuing German Army guard from bottom of pool in Camp XVIII-D, Maribor; presence of Soviet civilian and military prisoners of war; participation in burial parties for Soviet prisoners of war.