Description
Object description
British driver served with Royal Army Service Corps in GB, 8/1940-1/1941; served with 9th Light Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps in Middle East and North Africa, 3/1941-6/1942; prisoner of war in Campo PG 116, Benghazi, Libya, Campo PG 70, Monteurano, Italy, Stalag IV-B, Mühlberg and Arbeitskommando E603, Bad Schmeideberg, Germany, 6/1942-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Kirkby Malzeard and Leeds, GB, 1918-1940: family and life in Kirkby Malzeard; education; civilian employment including with sister in Leeds; registration for military service and medical; advice received from father; reaction to Munich Agreement, 9/1938; visit by British Union of Fascists to Kirkby Malzeard. Aspects of period as driver with Royal Army Service Corps in GB, 8/1940-1/1941: reason for joining Royal Army Service Corp; arrival at Sheffield; filling of palliasse; first morning of military service; learning to drive; pattern of training; opinion of rations; discipline; interview with commanding officer; recreational activities; pay; vehicles in unit; weapons training; postings in England; morale.
REEL 2 Continues: digging of air raid shelters; accommodation; story of round trip to Gourock; second journey to Gourock; posting to 9th Light Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps; composition of unit; duties. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Cameronia from Gourock, GB, to Port Tewfik, Egypt, 1/1941-2/1941: details of troopship; shore leave in Durban, South Africa; voyage from Durban, South Africa to and disembarkation at Port Tewfik, Egypt. Recollections of period as driver with 9th Light Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps in Middle East and North Africa, 3/1941-6/1942: journey to Palestine; issue of transport at Karkur, Palestine; routine maintenance; duties; arrival of medical staff and ambulances; exercises; contact with civilians; leave in Beirut, Lebanon; duties collecting wounded including details of ambulance; disposal of petrol cans; evacuation of Italian prisoners of war; opinion of Italian Army troops; contact with German prisoners of war; description of British petrol tins.
REEL 3 Continues: problems with flies; precautions taken against mosquitoes; details of water supply; rations; Axis booby-traps; problems with sunburn; memories of Sergeant-Major Rhodes; standard of turnout; story of punishment received in French Syria; breakdown truck; unit movements around Middle East; problem with truck; duties when driving cookhouse truck; rations tin round-up; story of burned sugar; air activity; taking cover from Axis air attacks; evacuation of wounded during battles; posting in French Syria; cricket match at Mafraq, Transjordan and contact with Commonwealth troops; memories of Captain Joseph Gottlieb; relations with British Indian Army troops; experiences of being under fire and casualties; mail; knowledge of war and withdrawal from Knightsbridge Box to Tobruk, Libya; opinion of German General Erwin Rommel and British senior; opinion of British war effort; opinion of Jerry can; use of British petrol tins; capture of unit members in North Africa.
REEL 4 Continues: driving in desert; story of meeting Long Range Desert Group; responsibilities of officers; contact with Royal Army Medical Corps staff; occasion of almost walking into minefield outside Tobruk, Libya, 6/1942; withdrawal into Tobruk, Libya, 6/1942; period in Knightsbridge Box, Libya, 6/1942; withdrawal from Knightsbridge Box to Tobruk, Libya, 6/1942; later swimming as prisoner of war in Tobruk Harbour, Libya; period in Tobruk, Libya, 6/1942 including rations; fall of Tobruk, Libya, 21/6/1942 and capture; destruction of vehicles; reaction to capture by Deutsches Afrika Korps. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Libya, 6/1942-8/1942: memories of earlier capture of German Deutsches Afrika Korps officer; march out of Tobruk; rations; guards; state of confusion amongst prisoners of war; accommodation; activities; contrast in treatment received from German and Italian guards; period in Campo PG 116 at Benghazi; tickets issued for ships and swapping amongst prisoners of war; torpedoing of SS Nino Bixio carrying prisoners of war in Mediterranean, 17/8/1942. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Campo PG 70, Monteurano, Italy, 9/1942-9/1943: reception on arrival in Brindisi.
REEL 5 Continues: processing of prisoners of war on arrival at camp; initial conditions experienced in camp; description of beds; organisation of prisoners of war and rations; cleaning of utensils; cooking of food; roll calls; discipline and stealing amongst prisoners of war; problems with lice; mail sent home; parents' knowledge of his capture; daytime activities; later story of clothing situation in Germany; lessons and talks given by prisoners of war; origins of prisoners of war; illicit camp radio; number of prisoners of war in camp; celebrating good news; bartering with guards; arrival and regularity of Red Cross parcels; issue of Red Cross parcels and complaints made by Sergeant-Major Rhodes; hospitalisation with jaundice; medical treatment available; provenance and contents of Red Cross parcels and swapping of items; memories of Eric Dickinson and Alfie Granger; storage of Red Cross parcels; story of prisoner of war caught stealing and punishment given; gambling; memories of chaplain; Christmas 25/12/1942; presence of Italian chaplain; work in camp; photographs taken in camp.
REEL 6 Continues: Totopoly; health; sporting activities; arrival of German forces, 9/1943; opinion of German takeover, 9/1943; journey to Germany. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag IV-B, Mühlberg and Arbeitskommando E603, Bad Schmeideberg, Germany, 10/1943-4/1945: problems encountered during time at Stalag IV-B, Mühlberg; journey to Bad Schmiedeberg; arrival at Arbeitskommando E603; nature of work undertaken; story of chocolate given to boss and extra rations obtained in return; relations with German civilians; relations from fellow prisoners of war; latrines; pay and Red Cross parcels; memories of guard; freedom of movement; presence of Soviet prisoners of war; nature of work undertaken by prisoners of war in Bad Schmiedeberg; memories of fellow prisoners of war; German reaction to Allied air raids; story of being strafed by United States Army Air Force aircraft; working day; rations.
REEL 7 Continues: playing football; relationship with guard; visits from officers; degree of contact with Gestapo; location of Bad Schmiedeberg; collection of rations; further details of pay; memories of Lance Corporal Richard 'Dickie' Dunster; arguments among prisoners of war; photograph taken in Arbeitskommando E603, Bad Schmiedeberg and memories of prisoners of war in it; relations with German boss; learning of German language.
REEL 8 Continues: clothing situation; presence of French prisoners of war in village; escape attempts in Italy; escape talk amongst prisoners of war; morale; receiving news of D-Day landings, 6/6/1944; war banter with Germans; change in attitude of Germans as war progressed; prior recollection of conditions in Italy; news gleaned from German newspapers; entertainment with accordion; gambling; dartboard made; nature of prisoner of war talk; contact with German civilians; nature of work, working week and Sunday activities; story of being strafed by United States Army Air Force aircraft and Allied air raids; medical facilities; cigarettes sent from Leeds, GB; smokers among prisoners of war; relationship with German employers; mail including censorship; story of trip to cinema.
REEL 9 Continues: German fear of Soviet forces; packing up and departure from camp, 4/1945; prisoners of war left behind; nature of prisoner of war trek. Aspects of liberation in Germany and return to GB, 1945: meeting with United States Army troops and obtaining rations; crossing of river; flights to Louvain, Belgium and RAF Northolt, GB; reception on arrival; issue of pay and rations; home leave; separation from fellow former prisoners of war; posting in Yeovil, GB; physical state; reception on arrival home. Aspects of period as driver with Royal Army Service Corps in GB, 1945-1946: brief reunion with Alfie Granger; medical; duties after posting to Darlington; accommodation; posting in Newcastle upon Tyne; story of refusing telephone duties; demobilisation in York; civilian attempts to buy demobilisation suits; reaction to end of military service, 1946; memories of Alfie Granger.
REEL 10 Continues: reason for remaining in British Army; attitude towards military life; problems settling into civilian life and fellow former prisoners of war seen since war. Reflections on military service and period as prisoner of war: memories of German employer; issue of prisoner of war identity disc; details of camp mug; further memories of Alfie Granger; story of escorting an interpreter to Haifa, Palestine; reason for preference for driving military ambulances over lorries; nature of military ambulances; story of off-loading petrol on tank crews; story of meeting a German prisoner of war in parents' house; opinion of Germans.
