Description
Object description
British civilian involved in construction of radar masts in GB and France, 1937-1942; trooper served with 6th (Training) Regt Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 1943; served with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Armoured Div in GB and North West Europe, 3/1943-5/1945; sapper served with Royal Engineers in German and Gibraltar, 1945-1947
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1920-1937: family's military and farming background; leaving farming for construction work; early plans to enlist in Royal Air Force. Aspects of period as civilian involved in construction of radar masts in GB and France, 1937-1942: prior knowledge of work; first mast climbs at Staxton, GB; return for 60th anniversary of radar station; company worked for; height of masts and turnover of staff; materials used; details of construction including stories of fatal accidents; climbing of mast; size of work force at Staxton, GB including details of mast panels and fatal accident; problems with static electricity; method of leaving mast during storms; management of radar mast sites; background of workforce; difficulties with names of colleagues from Wales; accommodation; need to report to police on return visits home and identity cards held; delivery of a radar screen; knowledge of what sites were used for including making repairs made at Dunkirk site, GB; period of time taken to construct a mast and bonus received if on time; problems with creosote; details of pay; preparations for journey to France, 9/1939; awareness of events in Europe; knowledge of First World War; reaction to later death of friend in Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe, France, 19/8/1942; reaction to appointment to work in France; details of journey to Southern France including problems experienced at Cannes, France.
REEL 2 Continues: accommodation in Grasse, France; clearance of site and digging of foundations; problems with receiving materials; return to GB, 2/1940; evacuation of those left behind; impressions of French Army; relations with French civilians; pro-Germans in area; story of French Army officers; state of masts on return to GB; further details of evacuation of those left behind; problems after change in construction of masts; stories of three fatal accidents in consecutive weeks; locations of masts built including turnover of staff and promotion to foreman; smaller masts built; return visits to sites including Grasse, France. Aspects of enlistment and training with Lincolnshire Regiment in GB, 1942: background to enlistment in British Army; posting to Lincolnshire Regiment Regimental Depot, Sobraon Barracks, Lincoln 1942; duties; details of trade tests; problems with infantry training; details of trenches dug; discipline; opinion of infantry training. Aspects of period as trooper with 60th Training Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps in GB, 1/1943-3/1943: personal weapons; details of training at Catterick Camp including learning to ride motorcycle; selection of wireless operators; characteristics of and driving Valentine Tank.
REEL 3 Continues: details of M3 Grant Tank and M4 Sherman Tank. Aspects of period as driver with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Armoured Div in GB, 3/1943-6/1944: posting to 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry; origins of unit personnel; reception from squadron leader; settling into unit; impression of Scottish troopers; continuing contact with comrades; duties on posting to Headquarters Squadron; memories of troop commander; details of motorcycle ridden; visiting aunt during an exercise; discipline in unit; relations with NCOs; details of exercises including own role; posting to M4 Sherman Tank crew at Aldershot Garrison. Recollections of operations as trooper with 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, 29th Armoured Bde, 11th Armoured Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: details of Battle of Cheux in Normandy, 6/1944; voyage from GB to Normandy; scenes on landing including air activity; details of larger at Cully; knowledge of wider events; activities and scenes at Cully; advance to Cheux, 27/6/1944; attempt to deliver supplies to C Sqdn including description of German multi-barrelled mortar fire; withdrawal back to Cully.
REEL 4 Continues: loss of water truck; period at Bretteville; situation at Cheux; latrines; discovery of German Army soldier's corpse in cornfield; period in orchard near Cheux; view from M4 Sherman Tank driver's position; receiving directions given from tank commander; story of looking into a knocked-out German tank; case of officer who lost his nerve; prior recollection of collecting ice whilst in Bridlington, GB; story of friend killed in scout car; contact with friend from Pickering, GB; rations obtained from French civilians; cooking meals; accommodation; German Air Force raid; posting at Ardenne Abbey; Allied bombing of Caen; crossing of Bénouville Bridge; description of artillery bombardment and reaction to it; details of advance; destruction of M4 Sherman Tanks in cornfield; withdrawal on foot to Ranville; role during advance; air activity and taking cover in latrine trench; casualties; formation adopted during advance; problems digging in; reiteration of story of taking cover in latrine trench.
REEL 5 Continues: problems created by rain; returning over Bénouville Bridge; of advance through Falaise and across River Seine to Amiens, France, 8/1944-9/1944; capture of German Army general in Amiens, France; contact with United States Army troops; scenes of devastation; duties; encounter with General Miles Dempsey; story of hitting dead horse; later story of delivering message to German prisoner of war's family in Hamburg, Germany; position and duties in column during advance after Falaise Gap, France, 8/1944-9/1944; duties during tank actions; story of crossing the River Seine and repairing motorcycle; advance at start of Operation Market Garden, Netherlands, 9/1944; deployment of regiment between Deurne and Ysselsteyn, Netherlands; journey from Ysselsteyn to Deurne, Netherlands; examples of Dutch hostility to Allied forces; sight of NCO in disguise in a café; story of collaborator in Valkenswaard, Netherlands.
REEL 6 Continues: story about Dutch Resistance member; earlier contact with French Resistance; action outside Antwerp, Belgium, 9/1944; nature of fighting in Antwerp, Belgium; degree of contact with senior officers including General Miles Dempsey; move to Ypres, Belgium; journey via Brussels to Ardennes, Belgium; in action during German Ardennes Offensive including wounding near Namur, Belgium; hospitalisation at De Haan, Belgium; return to regiment; advance to Einfeld, Germany, 5/1945; accommodation. Aspects of period as sapper with Royal Engineers in Germany and Gibraltar, 1945-1947: period at Hamburg Docks, Germany; details of unit and security around Hamburg Docks, Germany; leave in GB; warning for potential posting in Far East; preparations for posting to Gibraltar; duties; opinion of unit; rations; relations with civilians in Germany; prior recollections of Comet Tank; demobilisation in GB, 1947; story of welcome received in café in Hamburg, Germany. Aspects of post-war civilian life and employment: story of passing through HM Customs and Excise at Liverpool; adjusting to civilian life; obtaining employment and accommodation; period working in Saudi Arabia. Reflections on military service in Second World War: continuing relations with German civilians; reason for not joining British Army as regular; marriage and contact with wife whilst serving in British Army; opinion of censorship.
REEL 7 Continues: reason for taking letters to chaplain to censor; work of chaplain burying battle casualties; reaction to possibility of posting to Far East, 1945; later fifteen day return to British Army as reservist; reaction to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; capture of German Army near Falaise, France, 8/1944; story of young German Army soldier abandoned in Antwerp, Belgium, 9/1944; story of of German-American boy stranded in Hamburg, Germany, 5/1945.