Description
Object description
British officer served with 2nd Bn Scots Guards and Special Air Service in North Africa, 1941-1943; served with Special Operations Executive in France and Italy, 1944-1945
Content description
REEL 1: Background in London, 1921-1939: family; education at Eton and Sandhurst; attitude to outbreak of war; opinion of Sandhurst; reason for joining Scots Guards and commission, 1939. Aspects of period of training with Scots Guards in GB, 1939-1940: enlisted in training battalion, Purbright; description of training; transferred to Guards Depot, Chelsea, 1940; opinion of training; background of recruits; posted to Tower of London and amusing story of ceremony of keys; posted to 2nd Bn and description of journey to Egypt. Aspects of operations with 2nd Bn Scots Guards in North Africa, 1941-1943: arrival in Suez; route marches and desert training; move to Western Desert; opinion of Italian troops; attitude to desert fighting; story of Rommel and field hospital; opinion of Germans; role with motor infantry and opinion of British armour and equipment; description of dawn attacks on German positions; move to El Darba and role as patrol instructor with Transvaal Scottish Bn; memory of David Stirling and Special Air Service.
REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of operations with Special Air Service in North Africa, 1942-1943: reason for joining Special Air Service in Cairo, 1942; parachute training; problem of illness; description of Special Air Service night raid led by David Stirling on German airfield; use of jeeps; pre-raid practise; firing from jeeps; formation; landing lights on airfield; method of attack and firing from jeeps; assessment of destruction of planes; casualties; problem of finding rendezvous point; opinion of success of raid; amusing story of Italian prisoner; memory of leave in Beirut including attending races, 1942; role in attack on Benghazi and opinion of planning; role in capturing town; use of intelligence; nature of Italian opposition; illness. Aspects of operations with Special Operations Executive in France, 1944: recruitment and posted to Paris to assist Maquis, 1944; memory of meeting Ernest Hemingway's wife.
REEL 3 Continues: further comments on daily life in Cairo, 1943; amusing story of Mountbatten; memory of Fitzroy MacLean; further comments on period in France and work with Maquis; opinion of treatment of collaborators. Aspects of operations with No 1 Special Force (Special Operations Executive) in Italy, 1944: opinion of Italians; accommodation with Italian family; description of flight into mountains to join Italian partisans; reception committee and problem of recognition; description of mission to assemble partisan groups in 13th zone near Piacenza; opinion of partisans.
REEL 4 Continues: memory of using German staff car; story of meeting American troops; description of attack on Piacenza; amusing story of meeting General Gubbins; story of liberating Portofino and setting up civilian administration; memory of reunion with partisans in 1996; opinion of contribution of Italian partisans to war effort Various aspects of post-war life and employment: duties with Control Commission in Austria including role as ski instructor and control of captured cars and horses, 1945-1948; various posts with Foreign Office. Comparison of characters of David Stirling and Paddy Maine.