Driver, Maurice (Oral history)

British officer served as observer with 812 Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm based at RAF North Coates, GB and operating over North West Europe, 1940. Shot down over Netherlands, 31/8/1940. POW in Germany, 1940-1945

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Besthorpe and Attleborough, 1920-1936: family background; social circumstances and effects of father's war wounds; education; work as laboratory assistant in chemical factories in London, 1936-1938; background to enlistment as observer into Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy, 10/1938. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine as midshipman aboard HMS Hermes at Devonport, 1/1939-3/1939: first impressions and kitting out; messdeck and hammocks; role of officers' servants; organisation of observers' courses; origins of midshipmen; morning routine; rowing whalers; PT; gunroom mess, food rations and formal meals; Morse code, semaphore and signals training; seamanship training and sailing cutters. REEL 2 Continues: question of drill; navigation; seamanship training; opinion of instructors; examinations. Recollections of period at HMS Excellent Gunnery School, Whale Island, 4/1939-8/1939: drill and rifle training; training in naval gun control; prior sea trip aboard HMS Hermes; drill. Recollections of training as observer at HMS Peregrine, Ford, 8/1939-2/1940: organisation of courses; theoretical lectures; problems in returning to moving aircraft carrier after missions; method of assessing wind strengths from aircraft; bomb sights; method of dropping torpedoes; opinion of Lewis and Browning guns; navigation training exercise flights in Blackburn Shark aircraft. REEL 3 Continues: firing range; reaction to outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; attack of pneumonia; asseement exercise. Period assisting as observer in training of pilots at HMS Merlin, Donibristle, 4/1940. Period as midshipman observer with 812 Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Glorious, Home Fleet, 4/1940: first impressions; shared cabin; question of watchkeeping role; duties in charge of motorboat in harbour; composition of unit; background to leaving ship prior to Norwegian operations, 4/1940. Period at Hadston airfield, 4/1940. Recollections of period as midshipman with 812 Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm at North Coates airfield, 4/1940-5/1940: anti-submarine patrols carrying 250lb bombs; opinion of Swordfish aircraft including suitability for dropping torpedoes, loss of third crew member for extra fuel tank and equipment carried. REEL 4 Continues: night missions laying magnetic mines in German, Dutch and Belgian coastal waters; coastal anti-aircraft fire; nature of raids bombing German oil installations and dockyards including bomb payload carried, briefing, formation, navigation, target selection, German AA fire, navigation on return flight, landing, debriefing and meal; question of casualties and morale; search for ditched aircraft; opinion of Sub-Lieutenants Rupert Davies and Peter Butterworth; patrols of airfield as duty officer; low-level strafing attacks by German aircraft; question of anti-tank role for Swordfish in event of German invasion; accident during dive bombing exercise; officers' mess and drinking habits; visits to pub. REEL 5 Continues: Story of being shot down during raid on Rotterdam, Netherlands, 31/8/1940: attempt to locate target; German anti-aircraft fire; avoiding action; hits from shell fragment and damage to fuel tank; loss of contact with pilot; preparing parachute; opening ineffective fire on searchlights; baling out; landing in cornfield; facial and hand burns; treatment on capture by German soldiers. Period in Southern Hospital, Rotterdam, 9/1940-10/1940: German newspaper account of being shot down; treatment for burns; periods of unconsciousness. Recollections of period in hospital at Oberursal, 10/1940-11/1940. Period at Dulag Luft, Oberusal, 11/1940-12/1940: interview with commandant; issue of Polish uniform; hut accommodation; opinion of Flight Lieutenant Anthony Pengelly; state of health. REEL 6 Continues: circumstances of capture of various POW. Recollections of conditions, lifestyle and daily routine during period at Stalag Luft I, Barth, c12/1940-4/1942: hut accommodation; roll call taken by Hauptman Pieber; German food ration and Red Cross parcels; cooking arrangements; question of adequacy of food and loss of weight; personal morale and opinion of German guards; walking round camp perimeter; sporting activities including skating rink; educational activities and classes; question of concert party activities; relationship with prisoners and question of overcrowding. REEL 7 Continues: role of Senior British Officer and absence of organised hierarchy; absence of escape committee and independent nature of escape plans; attitude to escape and handicap of burn injuries; various escape attempts including suicidal attempt over barbed wire; treatment of unsanitary prisoner; sanitation; opinion of Flight Lieutenant Ffrench-Mullen; opinion of Senior British Officer Wing Commander Harry Day; method of producing and distilling alcohol from dried fruit; drinking habits; failed experiments to produce photographic film for escape documents; subsequent bribery of German guards to secure film. REEL 8 Continues: question of use of chemistry knowledge; coded message system employed in letters to GB; activities of German security 'ferrets'; opinion of German guards; question of learning German; German wireless broadcasts; prisoners wireless set and reactions to news digest produced; warning of move to Sagan. Recollections of conditions, lifestyle and daily routine during period at Stalag Luft III, Sagan, ca 4/19421/1945: temporary accommodation; layout of East Compound; latrines and improvements instigated by Colonel Clark; hut accommodation; opinion of Wing Commander Douglas Bader, Group Captain H M Massey and Squadron Leader Roger Bushell. REEL 9 Continues: hut accommodation and relationship with room mates Flight Lieutenants Broderick, Gaynel McCaw, Philip Warcup and George Guest; clearance of tree stumps; gardening activities including question of gentlemen's agreement between SBO not to use tools supplied by Germans for escape attempts; relationship with German 'ferrets'; relationship with German guards and roll calls; story of pretending to be another naval officer to cover escape attempt; relationship with Hauptman Pieber; prison pay and purchases; camp shop and food bartering system; levy from camp pay for RAF NCOs. REEL 10 Continues: role of NCO hut orderlies; question of sports activities; survey to determine blind spots in German wire; diversionary activities during attempt to tunnel out from close to wire; question of drafts to other POW camps; move into Hut 104, North Compound, 1943; relationship with Flight lieutenant Gavin McCay and his activities with KLIM tins and his metal work including model steam boat and tunnel ventilation system; relationship with Flight Lieutenant Peter Allan; walking camp perimeter circuit; state of health; arrival of large numbers of US flying crews shot down in daytime operations over Germany; relationship with US officers; question of awareness of escape activities; reputation of Squadron leader Roger Bushell; awareness of 'Harry' tunnel emanating from Hut 104; method of acting as 'penguin' disposing of soil from tunnel. REEL 11 Continues: method of acting as 'penguin' disposing of soil from tunnel; nature of soil; question of looking out for activities of German 'ferrets'; German discovery of 'Tom' tunnel; awareness of preparation of disguises and forged documents; selection of escapers and allotment of escape number, c180; question of role of Flight Lieutenant Tony Pengelly in Escape Committee; opinion of Flight Lieutenant Tim Waylen; question of forged escape documents and role of later escapers; decision not to attempt escape; events of night of 'Great Escape', 23/3/1944, including move out of Hut 104 into another hut, being locked in, RAF air raid and German discovery of tunnel exit; arrival of German troops, security forces and Gestapo; question of announcements of recapture and executions; reactions of prisoners and German camp personnel; continuation of escape attempts. REEL 12 Continues: question of continuation of overall camp lifestyle after 'Great Escape'; activities of camp theatre company including Flight Lieutenants John Asson, Rupert Davies, Peter Butterworth and Kenneth McIntosh; role of female impersonators and lack of contact with females; effect of news of Soviet front and D Day landings; question of manufacture of wirelesses and sources of parts in parcels from relatives; parcels from GB; awareness of imminent evacuation from camp, 1/1945; building of sledge by Flight Lieutenant Gavin McCay; stockpiling and concealing food supply. Account of march and train journey to Tarmstaedt, 1/1945: minimal warning; clothes worn; prisoners abandonment of unnecessary possessions; food and clothing carried on sledge; marching through blizzard; reception from German civilians at Freiwaldau; resumption of march; makeshift overnight bivouac; frozen boots. REEL 13 Continues: resumption of march; overnight stops; food; state of morale; crossing River Oder; conditions during train journey; resumption of march. Period at Marlag and Milag Nord Camp, Tarmstaedt, 1/1945-4/1945: situation; lack of Red Cross parcels; food and fuel shortages; awareness of imminent end of war; question of escape; use of sledge to carry equipment of German guards during march. Recollections of march to Lubbeck area, 4/1945-5/1945: weather conditions; securing pram and hay wagon to carry possessions; reception from German civilians; crossing Elbe; reduction in control exerted by German guards; bartering for food with German civilians; Allied aerial dominance, accidental attack on column and laying out ground message; story of threats from German guard for foraging potatoes; nature of German guards; refusal of SBO to enter Lubbeck due to typhus epidemic; move into farm; building turf house. REEL 14 Continues: arrival of first British troops; German deserters; reaction to fresh bread; journey by lorry to Luneberg Heath. Flight back to GB, 5/1945. Period of leave in Attelborough, 5//1945-6/1945: prior debriefing and kitting out; relationship with parents; question of posting to Far East. Period at Arbroath Airfield, 6/1945-8/1945: refresher course flying in Barracudas and Avengers; introduction to radar and wireless telegraphy; reaction to VJ Day, 8/1945. Extended leave prior to demobilisation, 3/1946: background to decision to leave Royal Navy to pursue medical career. Post-war career: period of annual reserve training; securing required biology qualification; studying medicine in London. REEL 15 Continues: complications in qualification as doctor due to attack of tuberculosis; review of medical career; question of failure of Gosport tube communication with pilot Lieutenant George Villiers and his subsequent death as Swordfish was shot down, 31/8/1940; question of mental and physical effects of war service; contacts with RAF POW Association.