Description
Object description
British officer served with 2nd Bn Scots Guards and Free French Forces in North Africa and Italy, 1940-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Dartmouth, 1912-1940: family; education at Malborough College, Oxford and Sandhurst; reason for joining Scots Guards and mobilisation, 1940. Recollections of operations as officer with 2nd Bn Scots Guards in North Africa, 1940-1941: story of French naval POW camp; description of journey to Cairo, 6/1940; training and recreational activities; move to Libyan/Egyptian border and opinion of Italian troops; transferred to Western Desert, 1/1941; climate; training; problem of marching in sand and heat; description of fellow officers; duties as Liaison Officer; amusing story of Lieutenant-General Gott. Recollection of operations with Free French Forces in North Africa, 1941-1942: reason for being assigned to Free French Forces; role with Spiers Mission and role as Liaison Officer; description of involvement at Battle of El Alamein, 10/1942; opinion of Spiers.
REEL 2 Continues: story of Syrian princess; daily life in Cairo, 1941; recreational activities; friends and associates; conclusion of story of princess including arrest and death after war.
REEL 3 Continues: assessment of relationship between Spiers and De Gaulle; story of defection of French Paymaster; opinion of De Gaulle; question of Vichy and Free French troops after war; story of Governor of Damascus; further comments on involvement at El Alamein, 10/1942; amusing story of French troops and wine; description of accident in armoured car and arm injury. Aspects of period working with Egyptian Agricultural Department in Cairo. Aspects of operations with 2nd Bn Scots Guards in Italy, 1944-1945: description of duties as staff officer in Naples.
REEL 4 Continues: memory of visiting opera house in Naples; memory of arrival in Rome and role as Liaison Officer, 6/1944; memory of Stephen Hastings; reason for joining Allied Screening Commission and nature of duties; story of meeting future wife; amusing story of Pope; demobilisation, 1945. Various aspects of post-war life and employment in Ethiopia, Kenya and Paris.
REEL 5 Continues: Further aspects of post-war life and employment.