Harris, Henry John (Oral history)

British gunner served with 307th Anti-Aircraft Bty, 55th Anti-Aircraft Bde (TA) Royal Artillery in GB, 10/1937-1/1939; served with 307th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Bty, 55th (Kent) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 28th Anti-Aircraft Bde, 6th Anti-Aircraft Div in GB, 1/1939-4/1941; officer served with 16th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in GB, 10/1941-3/1942; served as liaison officer with Headquarters, 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in North Africa, Italy, French Syria, Greece and Austria, 1942-1946

REEL 1 Background in Royal Tunbridge Wells, GB, 1920-1939: family; education; membership of Officer Training Corps; work on family farm. Aspects of period as gunner with Anti-Aircraft Bty, 55th Anti-Aircraft Bde (TA) Royal Artillery in GB, 10/1937-1/1939: reasons for joining Territorial Army; process of enlistment; use of drill hall; signs of approaching war; further details of reasons for joining Territorial Army; church parades; gun drill for misfiring shell; training at Watchet Camp; background of unit members. Recollections of operations as gunner with 307th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Bty, 55th (Kent) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 28th Anti-Aircraft Bde, 6th Anti-Aircraft Div in GB, 1/1939-4/1941: mobilisation on outbreak of Second World War; move to All Hallows; description of a gun site; activities at Allhallows; alarms at Felixstowe; story of accidental firing on Royal Air Force bomber aircraft; move to RAF North Weald; settling into military life; NCOs and officers served under; posting at RAF Detling; description of anti-aircraft firing; frequency of German Air Force raids; destruction of control room at RAF Detling. Aspect of selection as officer cadet and period at Officer Cadet Training Unit at Falmouth, GB, 5/1941-10/1941: selection for commission; selection interview in Halifax; date of commission and posting to Durham Light Infantry; pattern of officer cadet training at Falmouth. Aspects of period as officer with 16th Bn Durham Light Infantry, 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in GB, 10/1941-3/1942: interview with commanding officer at Thetford; regiments requested to join; posting to Durham Light Infantry. REEL 2 Continues: marching training at Regimental Depot, Durham Light Infantry at Brancepeth Castle; reaction to posting; problems with North East accents; reception in unit; fishing with grenades; exercises; posting at Rye, 3/1942. Recollections of operations as liaison officer with Headquarters, 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in GB and North Africa, 4/1942-8/1944: composition of brigade headquarters; duties liaising with 23rd (Hastings) Bn Sussex Home Guard; opinion of Home Guard; story of trench coat; duties in officers mess; relations with other battalions in brigade; use of motorcycle; embarkation leave, 12/1942; voyage aboard HMS Derbyshire from Liverpool, GB to French Algeria, 12/1942-1/1943 including embarkation from Liverpool, 25/12/1942 and conditions on board; initial impressions of French Algeria; German counter-attack; Battle of Sedjenane, Tunisia; memories of Lieutenant-Colonel John Preston. REEL 3 Continues: liaison duties; story of meeting with French Army troops; opinion that GB would win war; mountain training at Blida, Tunisia; relations with civilians; story of apology received from Royal Air Force; exercise at Bizerte, Tunisia; story of conference; journey to Salerno. Aspects of operations as officer with Headquarters, 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in Italy, French Syria, Greece and Austria, 1943-1946: voyage to Salerno, Italy, 9/1943; landing of 128th (Hampshire) Infantry Bde at Salerno, Italy, 9/1943; disembarkation from landing craft; establishment of brigade headquarters; duties at brigade headquarters; memories of Brigadier Allen Block; wounding at Monte Camino, Italy; evacuation to dressing station; story of award of Purple Heart in hospital; posting in Damascus, French Syria; visits to Beirut, Lebanon; impact made by Brigadier Allen Block on brigade. REEL 4 Continues: brigade headquarters mess; opinion of Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) insurgents, Greece, 12/1944; discovery of bodies thrown down wells in Athens, Greece, 12/1944; arrival in Greece, 12/1944; visits from senior officers; degree of knowledge of events in Greece; mess at Patras; events on VE Day in Forli, Italy, 8/5/1945; posting in Austria; relations with Cossacks of former XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps in Austria; opinion of repatriation of Cossacks; demobilisation at Aldershot, GB, 1946; problems settling back into civilian life and employment.