Description
Object description
British NCO served with 6th Field Regt, Royal Artillery in North West Europe, Egypt and Palestine, 1944-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Warkworth, Guyzance and Lesbury, 1923-1942: family background and social circumstances; education; football and netball activities; work on farm, 1938; work as apprentice painter and decorator, 1938-1941; outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; painting windows to reduce shattering effect; repairs to bomb damage; German bomb dropped on Alnmouth; decorating billets of Polish officers; service with Lesbury Home Guard, 1940-1942; work as engine cleaner and fireman at Alnmouth Railway Depot, 1941-1942; question of exemption and call up, 8/1942.
REEL 2 Period of initial training at Raglan Barracks, Devonport, 8/1942-10/1942: train journey and reception; food rations; drill; rifle and bayonet training; PT; exercises; relationship with recruits and instructors; pay; canteens; visits to Plymouth; vaccinations; dental treatment. Period training with Coastal Artillery, Plymouth, 10/1942-12/1942: initial accommodation at Citadel, Plymouth Ho; practice in handling shells; intelligence tests; initial training as gunnery specialist; hand grenade training; leave. Recollections of period as command post assistant with Headquarters Bty, 520 Regt, CA at Dover, ca 1/1943-1/1944: reception; operation of range and bearings dials at CP table; nature of CP in tunnels under cliffs; anti-aircraft 8" gun.
REEL 3 Continues: acting as prisoners' escort; preparing for kit inspection; German cross-Channel bombardment of Dover; 8" naval guns; training attack on unit by infantry; football activities; relationship with NCOs; recreational visits to Dover; cross-country runs and assault courses; rifle shooting competition and cleaning rifle; disbandment of unit. Posting to join Royal Field Artillery unit at Bexhill and Lewes, 1944: attending specialist gunnery course; move to Bexhill; firing camp; disbandment of unit. Period with Traffic Control, Royal Military Police in Surrey, 1944: role directing road convoys to Southampton; V1 raids.
REEL 4 Continues: V1 raids. Confusion over leave during period with Holding Unit at Maidstone, 1944. Recollections of period as CPA with Headquarters, 74 Bty, 6th Field Regt, RA in Belgium, Netherlands and Germany, 9/1944-5/1945: journey out to join unit; reception; nature of CP and plotting table map controlled by senior NCO; diarrhoea attack; billets; food rations; move to Venlo area firing across River Maas; German counter-battery fire; movements; birthday celebrations; move to Ardennes, 25/12/1944; situation; arrival of 6th Airborne Div; winter conditions and tent accommodation; reserve role of unit; move to Nijmagen; rocket battery attached to unit; attitude to Germans; claiming cottage as CP on banks of Rhine, 3/1945.
REEL 5 Continues: preparations for Rhine crossing; problems with smoke screen during Rhine crossing; role supporting 6th Airborne Div; crossing Rhine; advance to River Elbe; reception from German civilians; story of close escape from German air-burst shell; crossing River Elbe; story of being surprised by surrendering German soldier; German refugees; VE Day. 8/5/1945; story illustrating German civilians' fear of Soviet troops; visit to German concentration camp at Wiesmar; attitude to Soviet troops; barrack accommodation at Harbourg; minimal duties; presence of Italian POWs; question of non-fraternisation with German civilians; effects of Allied bombing on Hamburg. Period in Brussels area, Belgium, 5/1945-8/1945: billets; guard duties; promotion to lance bombardier; duties as clerk in battery office; move into barracks; VJ Day, 8/1945; movements; cancellation of planned air lift via USA to Far East; rumour of posting to Egypt. Recollections of periods in Egypt and Palestine, 8/1945-1/1946: journey out to Bitter Lake Camp.
REEL 6 Continues: attending gunnery course in Heliopolis; recreational visits to Pyramids and Cairo; relationship with Egyptian civilians; football activities; swimming in Bitter Lake; pay books; story of prior leave in Brussels; move to Haifa, 10/1945; posting onto searchlight watching for Jewish refugees; question of Jewish-Arab situation; question of remaining in army with enhanced promotion prospects; return to GB, 1/1946. Demobilisation at Woolwich Royal Artillery Depot, 1/1946: sanctity of parade ground; demob suit. Post-war career: return to wok as fireman and work as engine driver; work as works foreman for local government council; attitude to war service.