Description
Object description
British seaman served aboard HMS Belfast in GB coastal waters and Arctic, 1943-1944; officer served with Coastal Forces off Normandy, in North West Europe and Far East, 1944-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Derbyshire, GB, 1925-1942: family; education. Aspects of enlistment and training with HMS Ganges in GB, 1942-1943: attitude to war service with Royal Navy; background to volunteering for Royal Navy; pattern of training; importance of discipline; lack of recreational time; weapons training. Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMS Belfast in GB coastal water and Arctic, 1943-1944: drafting to ship; arrival on board ship; messing arrangements; problems of moving through ship during heavy gale; address by Admiral Burnett before service in Arctic; nature of first Arctic convoy to Kola Inlet; ashore in Russia; work on board; cruising and action stations on board.
REEL 2 Continues: action station duties in shellroom of B Turret; attitude to being battened down; lack of recreational activities; opinion of officers and petty officers; contrast to discipline in army and navy; weather conditions during Battle of North Cape, 12/1943; importance of radar during first encounter with Scharnhorst; description of Battle of North Cape, 12/1943; duties with hospital party and reaction to burial at sea; role of Royal Marines; aftermath of action; attitude towards Germans and Japanese; treatment of German POWs after action; conditions in shell room during action; fate of reindeer given to ship by Russians; leaving ship in Rosyth.
REEL 3 Continues: parent's concern about his being in action. Aspects of training as officer cadet at HMS King Alfred in GB, 1944: pattern of training; value of training. Recollections of period as officer with Coastal Forces in English Channel, 1944-1945: move to Normandy; threats off beachhead; move to Antwerp to aid navigation of Schliedt; sight of V2 being fired; duties on board motor torpedo boat off Normandy beachhead; conditions on board smaller vessels and contrast with larger ships; handling motor torpedo boats; attitude of Germans in Cuxhaven area, 1945. Recollections of period as officer aboard mine-sweeper in Far East, 1945-1946: mine-sweeper duties; character of mine-sweeper; taking command; relations with US Navy.
REEL 4 Continues: state of Singapore on arrival, 1945; reaction to sight of former internees in Singapore; ashore in Borneo; effects of service in tropics; question of staying on in Royal Navy. Reflections on service with Royal Navy in Second World War: question of gradual post war decline in standard of managers who lacked wartime service; attitude to service in Second World War; attitude towards Japanese; opinion of present state of armed forces and society; question of presence of bromide in tea.