Description
Object description
British private served with 4th Bn East Lancashire Regt, 127th Infantry Bde, 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Div in GB, 6/1940-12/1941; served with East Lancashire Regiment at Squire's Gate Camp, Blackpool in GB, 12/1941-5/1942; served as driver with 1st Bn East Lancashire Regt, 71st Infantry Bde, 42nd Armoured Div in GB, 6/1942-10/1943; served with 1st Bn East Lancashire Regt, 71st Infantry Bde, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in GB and Normandy, France, 10/1943-8/1944; served with 1st Bn East Lancashire Regt, 158th Infantry Bde, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Blackburn, GB, 1920-1940: father's military service; family; education; effects of father's wounding in First World War; family circumstances, 1930s; degree of knowledge of growth of Nazism in Germany; employment; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of period as private with East Lancashire Regiment at Squire's Gate Camp, Blackpool, GB, 1940: call-up to East Lancashire Regiment at Squire's Gate Camp and desire to join Derbyshire Yeomanry; presence of former convict; issue of uniform.
REEL 2 Continues: adjusting to military life; pattern of basic training including weapons training; selection for cadre course. Aspects of period as private with 4th Bn East Lancashire Regt, 127th Infantry Bde, 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Div in GB, 6/1940-12/1941: posting to battalion at Great Ayton, 6/1940; techniques for firing rifle and Bren Gun; numbering in threes; attending snipers course; technique for finding firing positions; telescopic sights on Lee-Enfield Rifle; incident of missing targets on snipers course; move to Thetford; orders to return to Squire's Gate Camp; question of role of snipers.
REEL 3 Continues: character of battalion on return from Dunkirk Evacuation, 6/1940. Aspects of period as private and NCO with Holding Bn, East Lancashire Regt at Squire's Gate Camp, Blackpool, GB, 12/1941-5/1942: return to Squire's Gate Camp, 12/1941; attending driving course; army nicknames; driving instruction at Blackpool; attending Universal Carrier driving course at Formby; driving Universal Carrier; loss of lance corporal's stripes; return to Squire's Gate Camp; effects of loss of track on Universal Carrier. Recollections of period as driver with Anti-Tank Platoon, Support Coy, 1st Bn East Lancashire Regt, 71st Infantry Bde, 42nd Armoured Div and 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in GB, 5/1942-6/1944: transfer to unit at Malton, 5/1942.
REEL 4 Continues: casualties during crossing of River Derwent at Malton, 10/1942; commanding officer's talk in cinema after incident; move to Burford; officer's demonstration of airborne landing; move to Sittingbourne; story of dealing with arm infection; story of marriage to wife at Sittingbourne.
REEL 5 Continues: living with wife outside camp at Sittingbourne; embarkation on train for London, 6/1944; embarkation aboard SS Ocean Vigil at Tilbury; waterproofing vehicles. Recollections of operations as driver with Anti-Tank Platoon, Support Coy, 1st Bn East Lancashire Regt, 71st Infantry Bde, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: crossing English Channel and sight of Mulberry Harbour; effects of naval gunfire; climbing into landing craft from ship; driving over bodies in water during landing on beach; discovery of scalp in dewaterproofing area.
REEL 6 Continues: raid by lone German Air Force bomber; orders to have two men per slit trench; driving officer to 'O' group in chateau; under German artillery fire; orders to move into front line; under German Army machine gun fire at night; question of instinct in action; sight of dummy German Army troops in trees; visiting wreck of Churchill Tank, near Hill 112; hearing movement of signal party at night; narrow escape from artillery shell; order in which support company moved during advance to Évrecy.
REEL 7 Continues: amusing story of Corporal Rubin Wharmby losing pin from hand grenade at Évrecy; mortaring of unit on arrival at chateau; comrade who suffered from battle fatigue at Évrecy; question of battle fatigue amongst troops; circumstances of loss of Lieutenant Keri Harding during advance to Bois Halbout, 8/1944; effects of detonator accident in farmyard.
REEL 8 Continues: aftermath of accident; advance through Falaise Gap, 8/1944; use of yellow scarves. Recollections of operations as driver with Anti-Tank Platoon, Support Coy, 1st Bn East Lancashire Regt, 158th Infantry Bde, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1945: entry into Antwerp, Belgium and meeting with Belgian Resistance, 9/1944; injury to finger; question of infiltration by Waffen-SS soldier disguised as British soldier; experiences in Arnhem Corridor, Netherlands, 9/1944 including close encounter with German forces; advance into s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, 10/1944.
REEL 9 Continues: deploying anti-tank gun and loss of gun crew in s'Hertogenbosch, 10/1944; move to Ardennes, Belgium, 12/1944; discovery of grenades; reallocation to driving 15 cwt truck carrying divisional funds; incident of driving carrier off road; loss of comrade to German Army machine gun fire; suspicion of civilian preparing meatballs for troops at Helmond, Netherlands.
REEL 10 Continues: story of delivering rum ration in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; reaction to encounter with German prisoners of war in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; amusing story of NCO losing boots in mud in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945; evacuation of wounded comrade in Reichswald Forest, 2/1945; gift of ring from German prisoner of war in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1945.
REEL 11 Continues: driving troops on leave to Brussels, Belgium; incident of losing motorcycle outriders on route to Brussels, Belgium; further details of driving 15 cwt truck carrying divisional funds with A Echelon; hearing news of end of Second World War in Europe from drunken soldier, 8/5/1945; sight of senior German Army officers driving along road to surrender outside Hamburg, Germany, 5/1945; entry into Hamburg, Germany, 5/1945; billeting in police headquarters; reaction to end of Second World War in Europe, 8/5/1945; discovery of whiskey in merchant vessel in docks at Hamburg, Germany; visit to concentration camp; curfew in Hamburg, Germany; standing guard on VE Day, 8/5/1945.
REEL 12 Continues: Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn East Lancashire Regt, 158th Infantry Bde, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Div in Germany, 1945-1946: move to Oberhausen; billeting at riding school; treatment by German doctor for injured wrist; story of consequences of having car; incident of dealing with German civilians who gave him wrong directions; demobilisation, 1946; parting conversation with commanding officer; demobilisation process including changing money.
REEL 13 Continues: prior recollection of taking leave without pass during time at Squire's Gate Camp, Blackpool, GB; items carried by troops on arrival at Dover, GB; details of marriage.