Interview with Geoffrey Kendall Coombs

British private served with 4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry, 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB, 6/1942-12/1942; served with 5th Bn East Kent Regt (The Buffs), 36th Infantry Bde, 78th Infantry Div in North Africa, 1/1943-5/1943; private and NCO served with 5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in North Africa, Italy, Egypt and Austria, 5/1943-3/1946

REEL 1 Background in Horley, GB, 1914-1942: family; education; employment; knowledge of situation in Europe; war work; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; employment status and attempts to join British Army; deferral of enlistment; further details of war work; air activity; friends and relatives serving in British Army. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with Somerset Light Infantry in GB, 4/1942-6/1942: enlistment in British Army, 4/1942; posting to Gloucester; knowledge of regiment; background of fellow recruits; move of wife and child to Gloucester; initial impressions of regiment; issue of kit; initial training; further details of recruits. Aspects of period as private with 4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry, 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB, 6/1942-12/1942: posting to Frinton-on-Sea and training undertaken; weapons trained with; memories of awkward recruit; details of uniform. REEL 2 Continues: evening activities; contact with Royal Air Force; route marches; details of pay; assault training; exercises with tanks; further details of route marches; embarkation leave; details of pay book; later story of flora witnessed at Sedjenane, Tunisia; knowledge of destination; opinion of training; train journey with draft to Liverpool. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Duchess of Richmond from Liverpool, GB, to Algiers, French Algeria, 12/1942-1/1943: conditions on board troopship; rations; sleeping arrangements; activities during voyage; impressions of new battalion, 5th Bn Buffs (East Kent) Regt; sights passing through Straits of Gibraltar; knowledge of destination; arrival in Algiers; shortages on ship. Aspects of operations as private and NCO with 5th Bn The Buffs (East Kent Regt), 36th Infantry Bde, 78th Infantry Div in North Africa, 1/1943-5/1943: creation of officers' mess; leisure activities in Algiers, French Algeria; memories of platoon members; activities in transit camp; journey to front line at Sedjenane, Tunsia. REEL 3 Continues: in action during Battle of Sedjenane, 2/1943-3/1943; reunion with battalion; joining of battalion medical staff; state of Regimental Aid Post; further reflections on Battle of Sedjenane; examples of self-inflicted wounds; situation prior to Battle of Sedjenane; posting and duties as battalion medical officer's clerk; memories of medical officer Captain Kerringham; sick parades; treatment of malingerers; attitude towards self-inflicted wounds; journey to Algiers, French Algeria and initial posting in hospital. Aspects of period as NCO with 5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in North Africa, 5/1943-9/1943: posting of battalion at Bizerte, Tunisia; invasion training; preference for own regiment; accommodation at Sedjenane, Tunisia; memories of civilians; wait for posting; attending Bob Hope concert; process of evacuation; composition and activities of battalion medical staff. REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of operations as NCO with 5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in Italy and Egypt, 9/1943-5/1945: voyage to and disembarkation at Salerno; weapon carried and discarded; location of Regimental Aid Post and narrow escape from being captured; story of collecting a casualty; soldier committing suicide prior to action at Monte Cassino; German method of destroying railway lines; story of chaplain's bath; instance of self-inflicted wound; treatment of shell shocked troops; contact with German prisoners of war; aerial activity; proximity of Regimental Aid Post to front line; details of chess set made; contact with Italian civilians; prior recollection of problems receiving mail and equipment in French Algeria; rations; compassionate leave in GB; further details of mail problems; terrain and morale in Italy; evacuation of casualties; return to battalion after compassionate leave. REEL 5 Continues: period spent in Egypt, 1944; German artillery fire at Monte Cassino; nature of Regimental Aid Post including memories of casualties; medical aid given; process of obtaining compassionate leave; compassionate leave in GB; return journey to battalion; activities in Cairo, Egypt; VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945. Aspects of period as NCO with 5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in Austria, 5/1945-3/1946: promotion to corporal; concerts; relations with civilians; disbandment of battalion; duties on 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div's training farm; surviving friends in unit. Aspects of post-war life and employment: demobilisation at Aldershot, 3/1946; civilian employment; reflections on military service; involvement with regimental associations; reading of reference given after work on farm; prior recollection of service with Local Defence Volunteers in GB, 5/1940-7/1940.