Description
Object description
British gunner served with 220 Bty, 85th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery in GB and North West Europe, 1938-1943; served as driver with Royal Corps of Signals in GB and North West Europe, 1943-1948
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Hartlepool, 1920-1939: family background, death of father, 1936 and social circumstances; education; work as rivet catcher in shipyard, 1934-1936; drinking underage in pubs; work as rivet catcher and apprentice in shipyard, 1934-1939; death of father, 1936; home discipline; work as rivet catcher and apprentice in shipyard, 1934-1939. Recollections of service with 220 Bty, 85th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, West Hartlepool, 3/1938-9/1939: background to recruitment.
REEL 2 Continues: background to recruitment; kitting out; officers and composition of unit; equipment and drill night training in various crew roles with 3.7" anti-aircraft gun, predictor and rangefinder; firing at drogues at weekend and annual camps; mobile role and mechanisation; fatal accident during mobilisation during Munich crisis to Brambles Farm, Middlesbrough, 9/1938. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine during periods at Brambles Farm, Middlesbrough, Stillington and Thirsk, 8/1939-2/1940: mobilisation to Brambles Farm, 8/1939; reaction to outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; gun pits and ammunition supply; setting fuses.
REEL 3 Continues: tent accommodation and gunpits; story of accidental discharge of 3.7mm AA gun; detachments to man 3" AA guns in shipyard and at Stillington; cooking arrangements and food rations; latrines; guard duties; winter conditions; guard duties; routine duties; PT; cleaning gun; stand to; recreations and leave passes; inspections; church parades; relationship with ORs and prevalence of stealing; stories of disciplinary offences and punishments; officers; changes in personnel and new drafts prior to posting overseas; question of ATS personnel.
REEL 4 Continues: unit dispositions; pre-war firing practices; questions of German air raids, cooperation with RAF and introduction of radar; use of predictor; role as gun layer; winter conditions; role of medical officer and padre; embarkation leave. Recollections of operations in France and Belgium, 2/1940-5/1940: train journey and Channel crossing to Le Havre, 2/1940; view of Isle de France; relationship with French civilians; move to Lille area; setting up gun positions on farm; various stories of successes in firing at German aircraft, being staffed and casualty.
REEL 5 Continues: recreational visits to Lille and relationship with French civilians; advance to Brussels area, 5/1940; retreat to Lille area; destroying guns on approach of German troops; walking independently to Dunkirk including abandoned equipment, refugees, strafing attacks from German aircraft, foraging for food, question of looting; situation on beaches at Bray Dunes; queuing to get aboard boats, abortive attempts prior to evacuation, 1/6/1940; voyage back to GB; situation on beaches; reception at Harwich. Initial period on return to GB, 6/1940: accommodation in hangar at Daventry; leave; difficulty in locating unit before joining them at Aberystwyth; question of contacting family; state of morale; reformation of unit.
REEL 6 Continues: situation and personal morale on beaches at Bray Dunes. Various aspects of service in GB, 6/1940-: review of movements; German air raid on Plymouth including question of radar warnings, communications, box barrage technique, automatic fuse setting and necessity of barrel changes; question of promotion; German air raid on Coventry including cooperation with searchlights and danger from falling shrapnel; move to Leicester; suspension of German raids; disbandment of unit 1943. Various aspects of period as driver with Royal Corps of Signals in GB and North West Europe, 1943-1948: training; movements; role as driver to unit repairing telephone lines; state of roads; situation in Germany; duties and conditions of service during period on detachment at Magdeburg in Soviet Sector; volunteering for extension of service.