Interview with James Thomas Benedictus Notley

British officer cadet at Royal Military College, Sandhurst, GB, 1937; officer served with 2nd Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in GB, 1937; served with 1st Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in India, 1937-1941; served with 4th Bn Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry in GB, 4/1941-10/1941; served as liaison officer with XI Corps in GB, 10/1941-8/1942; served as instructor with Combined Operations in Egypt, 1942-1943; served with 2nd Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 10th Infantry Bde, 4th Indian Div in North Africa and Italy, 9/1943-10/1944; prisoner of war in Italy and Reserve Lazarett Konigswartha, Stalag VII-B, Memmingen and Stalag VII-A, Moosburg in Germany, 11/1944-4/1945; served as staff officer with Essex Sub District at Colchester, GB, 8/1945-6/1946; student at Staff College, Camberley, GB, 6/1946-12/1946; served as staff officer with Headquarters, 1st Infantry Div in Palestine, 12/1946-7/1947; served as staff officer with British Military Mission to Greece in Greece, 8/1947-5/1950; served with 1st Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in GB, 6/1950-2/1952; served as staff officer with Headquarters, 18th Infantry Bde in Federation of Malaya, 3/1952-2/1954; served with 1st Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in Jamaica, 3/1954-7/1957; served as staff officer with 126th Infantry Bde in GB, 1957-1959

REEL 1 Background in GB, 1917-1937: family; membership of Officer Training Corps at Stowe School; interview for Royal Navy. Aspects of period as officer cadet at Royal Military College Sandhurst, Camberley, GB, 1937: entry into Royal Military College Sandhurst; syllabus; riding activities; physical training; weapons training; opinion of Lewis Machine Gun; range firing; military history; social life; bicycle drill; degree of political awareness; amusing story of mechanical engineering. Recollections of period as officer with 2nd Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in GB, 1937: use of own car to represent light tank during Experimental Mechanised Force exercise; composition of platoon; inspection by Major-General Bernard Montgomery; unit vehicles; character of exercise in East Anglia. REEL 2 Continues: role of second battalion; possibility of buying out of service in India; strength of platoon at Blackdown Camp, Aldershot; need for enbusing and debusing drills; further details of exercise. Recollections of period as officer with 1st Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in India, 1937-1941: voyage from GB to India, 1937; arrival in Bombay; move to Dinapore; duties as orderly officer; threat of theft in barracks; impressions of Dinapore; use of night watchman; contracting high fever; role of battalion at Dinapore; components of headquarters company; move to Lahore via Lucknow; uniform worn; troops stationed in Lahore. REEL 3 Continues: Proclamation Day Parade; social life in Lahore; move to hill station at Dagshai; technique for marching on steep slope; weapons training; internal security duties; relations with Indian civilians; learning Urdu language; accommodation in Napier Barracks in Lahore Cantonment; rations; story of attending tiger shoot in which friend was mauled by tiger; death of friend from effects of tiger attack; detached duty as cipher officer at Northern Command; situation on North West Frontier; behaviour of Khassadars; working in hotel room. REEL 4 Continues: activities of Fakir of Ipi; visiting Governor of North West Frontier; headquarters at Murree; problems of gas training; role as platoon commander in B Coy; attitude of adjutant towards 2nd Battalion; character of Sergeant Grant; difference between 1st and 2nd battalions; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 9/1939; internment of Axis civilians in Napier Barracks; changes in training and use of dummy mortars; return to GB. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Capetown Castle from India to GB, 1941: amusing story of weapons training; shooting at Short Sunderland Flying Boat. Aspects of period as officer with 4th Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in GB, 4/1941-10/1941: initial impressions of GB; fire fighting course; posting to unit at St Albans; composition of battalion. Aspects of period as liaison officer with XI Corps in GB, 10/1941-8/1942: posting to unit; duties. REEL 5 Continues: character of anti-invasion exercises, 1941. Aspects of period as officer with 4th Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in GB, 4/1941-10/1941: character of recruits; degree of experience amongst recruits; coastal defence duties. Aspects of voyage from GB to Egypt via Durban, South Africa, 9/1942-10/1942: convoy to Durban, South Africa; ashore in Durban, South Africa; story of impact of Australian Army personnel on Durban, South Africa; relations with South Africans. Aspects of period as instructor with Combined Operations in Egypt, 10/1942-9/1943: impression of Egyptians; instructing in Combined Operations on Great Bitter Lake; scale of amphibious training at Kabrit; loading and unloading; time required to deploy from Landing Craft Assault (LCA); off duty hours; story of burning down of Shafto's Open Air Cinema by Australian Army troops at Kabrit; visit to French Syria. REEL 6 Continues: Aspects of period as officer with 2nd Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 10th infantry Bde, 4th Infantry Div in North Africa, 9/1943-2/1944: journey to rejoin unit at Bougie, French Algeria; character of commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Musson; duties with unit; incorporation of drafts; Combined Operations training; role as adjutant including court martials. Recollections of operations as officer with 2nd Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 10th Infantry Bde, 4th Infantry Div in Italy, 2/1944-10/1944: arrival in Italy; British and German mortaring; in sangar positions at Monte Ornito; deployment of unit; effects of poor weather; patrolling; casualties; location of forward observation officer; move to Tivoli; relations with Italians in Rome; loss of sergeant-major on advance northwards; German use of machine guns and dug in tank turrets; British armour and self-propelled guns. REEL 7 Continues: character of Incontro Monastery, south of Florence; briefing for operation to attack Incontro Monastery; orders to control attack; deployment of companies; assaulting breach in wall with Germans throwing grenades; German strength; patrol across River Arno that took German prisoner of war; reception in Florence; content of briefing prior to attack; use of air photographs; identification of German corpse; use of breach in wall to attack monastery; lack of German counter-attack on monastery; siting of German positions; reasons for carrying stick during attack; comparison between rifles and machine guns; move to eastern coast of Italy; staying with Italian peasants; night attack. REEL 8 Continues: navigation during night attacks; dealing with static German dug in tanks; procedure for obtaining air support; artillery support and use of forward observation officers; support from 15th Field Regt, Royal Artillery; night attack across River Ronco and capture by Germans, 10/1944. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Italy and Germany, 10/1944-11/1944: interview by German general; nature of wound in shoulder; treatment in German casualty stations; hospitalisation for wounds and jaundice in Battaglia Terme; opinion of German staff; plan to escape with Italian barber; nature of wounds; foiling of escape attempt on train journey to Germany. REEL 9 Continues: Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Reserve Lazarett Konigswartha, Stalag VII-B, Memmingen and Stalag VII-A, Moosburg, Germany, 11/1944-4/1945: hospitalisation in Reserve Lazarett Konigswartha run by Australian prisoners of war; use of secret toaster; visits to French dentist in Bautzen; move to Stalag VII-B, Memmingen; sight of German Army troops at Dresden Railway Station; mood of German civilians; interrogation by prisoner of war intelligence officer; reasons for not escaping; use of 'ghosting' in camp; effects of lack of rations; use of illicit radio; order to form squad to break out if Schutzstaffel (SS) attempted to massacre prisoners of war; prisoner of war pursuits; orders to evacuate camp; casualties during strafing of prisoner of war column by United States Army Air Force aircraft; conditions in Stalag VII-A, Moosburg; liberation by General S Patton; flight from Germany to GB via Rheims, France; physical condition on return to GB. Aspects of period as officer with Holding Bn, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in Clacton-on-Sea, GB, 7/1945-8/1945: posting to battalion after selection board; character of troops in battalion. REEL 10 Continues: quality of conscripts; reaction to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; opinion of Projector Infantry Anti-Tank (PIAT); restrictions on training. Aspects of period as GSO II with Essex Sub District in Colchester, GB, 8/1945-6/1946: appointment as staff officer; memories of Brigadier Frederick Clarke; applying for staff college; clearance of minefields. Aspects of period as student at Staff College, Camberley, GB, 6/1946-12/1946: character of syllabus and instruction; use of Tactical Exercises Without Troops (TEWTs); written work. Aspects of period as GSO III, Operations with Headquarters, 1st Infantry Div in Palestine, 12/1946-7/1947: posting to division; duties; insurgent activity and role of division; role of division in stopping illegal immigration; use of curfew. Aspects of period as staff officer with British Military Mission to Greece in Greece, 8/1947-5/1950: posting to mission; story of meeting future wife; re-organising filing system of Greek General Staff. REEL 11 Continues: memories of Captain Otto Thwaites; American mission's wish to see Communist insurgents; character of Greek Army; duties as liaison officer at Patras; organising party for Royal Navy; training British infantry tactics; opinion of Greek Army recruits and officers, Greek Communists and operating in mountains; Greek customs. Aspects of period as officer with 1st Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 1st Infantry Div in GB, 6/1950-2/1952: posting to unit after period as instructor at Infantry Training Centre at Aldershot, 1/1950- 6/1950; problems adjusting to role as lorried infantry; training at Bulford Camp; co-operation with tanks in battle groups. REEL 12 Continues: prior recollections of patrolling in vicinity of Monte Cassino, Italy, 1944. Recollections of period as staff officer with Headquarters, 18th Infantry Bde in Federation of Malaya, 3/1952-2/1954: flights from GB to Kuala Lumpar; personalities at brigade headquarters; injections for rabies; attitude to serving in Federation of Malaya; opinion of success of 1st Bn Suffolk Regt; joining 1st Bn Somerset Light Infantry on patrol; ordering of Indian char-wallahs back to India; composition of brigade; location of headquarters; state of health; staff duties; character of police officers of Federation of Malaya Police; a scandal; responsibilities of ordnance warrant officer; role of 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) and 13/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own); arranging rations for brigade. REEL 13 Continues: different components of brigade; visits by Very Important Persons (VIPs); impact of arrival of General Gerald Templar; effect of security measures on families; reunion with batman from Italian Campaign; recreational activities; use of Dayak trackers; brigade personalities; level of Malayan National Liberation Army insurgent activity; amusing story of linguistic error by brigadier; attending Chinese feasts; domestic staff. Recollections of period as officer with 1st Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in Jamaica, 3/1954-7/1957: flight to Jamaica. REEL 14 Continues: problems with deployment in West Indies; character of commanding officer; effect of dishonest sergeant on his career; question of best method of advancing career; living arrangements; orders of how to deal with thieves; commanding company including exercises; visit to Errol Flynn's parents; attitude of troops to serving in Jamaica. Recollections of period as brigade major with Headquarters, 126th Infantry Bde in GB, 1957-1959: attitude to posting to Territorial Army brigade; units in brigade; regular staff; training; quarters in Lancaster; varied quality of battalions. REEL 15 Continues: mobilisation scheme; leading raid on Ordnance depot to test security; character of battalions in brigade; nature of exercises; short of mobilisation stores; pressure to cut costs; decision to leave British Army and obtaining civilian employment; role as retired officer with Light Infantry Training Depot, Shrewsbury from 1966; employment selling life assurance; benefits of military career.