Description
Object description
British officer served with 8th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 148th Infantry Bde, 49th (West Riding) Infantry Div in GB and Northern Ireland, 4/1940-12/1942; served with 1st Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt) in GB, 12/1942-10/1943; served with 5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in Italy, Greece and Austria, 10/1943-4/1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Derby, GB, 1919-1939: family; father's military service in First World War; daily life and living conditions; education; training with Officer Training Corps; sporting activities; employment with industrial pipe makers; religious beliefs; recreational and sporting activities; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; volunteering for Territorial Army, 9/1939; amusing story of medical examination. Aspects of training as sapper with 2nd Training Bn Royal Engineers in GB, 9/1939-12/1939: posting to battalion at Ripon Camp, 9/1939.
REEL 2 Continues: description of Ripon Camp; accommodation; uniform; singing in Navy, Army and Air Forces Institute (NAAFI); relations with other recruits; background to applying for commission; drill practice. Aspects of period as officer cadet with Officer Cadet Training Unit at Farnborough, GB, 12/1939-3/1940: accommodation and messing arrangements; opinion of instructors; daily routine; opinion of rations; parades; weapons training and bayonet practice; cleaning weapons; route marches and equipment carried; description of weapons; rate of march.
REEL 3 Continues: officer training; Christmas, 25/12/1939. Recollections of period as officer with 8th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 148th Infantry Bde, 49th (West Riding) Infantry Div in GB and Northern Ireland, 4/1940-12/1942: question of buying uniform; pay; posting to battalion at Hawick, then Johnstone, GB, 4/1940-5/1941; messing arrangements and traditions; amusing story of distemper; role of batman; duties as intelligence officer; map reading and field exercises; move to Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, 5/1941-5/1942.
REEL 4 Continues: gas training; description of battalion formation; lines of communications; role of adjutant; opinion of officers; further details of training; question of religious differences in Northern Ireland; reaction to news of Dunkirk Evacuation, 5/1940-6/1940; communication with home and question of censorship; insignia; opinion of company commanders; qualities required for a good officer; relations with Other Ranks.
REEL 5 Continues: role with A Coy; story of theft of company funds; story of night operation; opinion of training; sporting activities; attending various officer training courses; memories of eating pemmican. Aspects of period as officer with 1st Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt) in Great Yarmouth, GB, 12/1942-10/1943: posting to reforming battalion, 12/1942; story of German Air Force attack and death of Auxiliary Territorial Service personnel, 11/5/1943; prior recollection of service in Northern Ireland; question of supplies of weapons and ammunition; postings and duties in GB; preparations for overseas service, 10/1943.
REEL 6 continues: Aspects of period on draft from GB to Italy, 10/1943: attitude to being posted overseas; journey with draft of sixty men from GB to Italy via North Africa, 10/1943; arrival in camp and contracting meningitis; posting to transit camp in Naples, Italy. Recollections of operations as officer with 5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th Infantry Div in Italy, 11/1943-3/1944: role commanding A Coy; description of defensive positions; casualties; question of battalion morale; burying corpses; location of companies; rations; sanitary and washing facilities; German tactics; lines of communications; organisation of Headquarters, A Coy.
REEL 7 Continues: composition of 139th Infantry Bde; stand to; daily routine; rations and cooking; platoon inspections; posting sentries; story of German prisoners of war; opinion of German weapons; description of terrain and operations in Monte Camino area; method of attacking German positions; relations with Italian civilians; presence of German armour in area; question of personal morale.
REEL 8 Continues: attitude to being under fire and question of shell shock cases; memories of Christmas, 25/12/1943; weather conditions. Aspects of period as officer with 5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in Egypt and Palestine, 3/1944-6/1944: conditions and battalion role; relations with Arabs. Recollections of operations with 5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in Italy, Greece and Austria, 7/1944-5/1945: location of battalion on Gothic Line; opinion of American troops; problem of minefields; question of artillery and air support; medical services; role with battle patrol.
REEL 9 Continues: weather conditions and terrain; transport and use of mules; memories of Italian Co-Belligerent Army troops; eating German rations; opinion of German Army troops; description of role in night attack at Cesena, Italy, 11/1944; nature of terrain; establishing bridgehead over river; organisation of companies; casualties; reaction to award of Military Cross; question of artillery and armour support; use of weapons including Bren Gun and German MP 40 Submachine Gun; reason for wearing American battledress; German use of mine mortar.
REEL 10 Continues: reaction to move to Greece, 12/1944; accommodation in Salonika, Greece; role of battalion; relations with Greek civilians; story of accident with grenade; memories of Christmas 25/12/1944; tobacco and alcohol rations; communications with home and censorship; move to Athens, Greece; recreational and sporting activities; story of being issued with Military Cross; return to Italy, 4/1945; story of hearing news of German surrender in Italy and subsequent celebrations, 2/5/1945; move to Klein Sankt Paul, Austria; rounding up Cossacks of XV (SS) Cossack Cavalry Corps, Waffen-SS; move to Ehrenhausen, Austria; question of presence of Waffen-SS troops in Austria.
REEL 11 Continues: Aspects of period as officer with 5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in Austria, 5/1945-4/1946: relations with Austrian civilians and social activities; nature of duties at border posts; messing arrangements; recreational and sporting activities; demobilisation in GB, 4/1946; reflections on period of military service.