BONNER, ROBERT (Oral history)

British officer served with 1st Bn, Manchester Regt in Germany, GB and Malaya, 1948-1953

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Perth, 1928-1946: family background; Boy Scouts activities; education; athletics activities; outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; following progress of war; Boy Scouts role in distribution of gasmasks and reception of evacuated children; presence of Polish troop; celebration on end of war, 1945; background to volunteering to join Black Watch, 12/1945. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine with 29th Junior Leader Training Bn, Blackdown Camp, 2/1946-8/1946: role of unit; reception and hut accommodation; kitting out; food rations; drill; PT including assault course, route marches and cross country runs; weapons training including rifle, Bren gun, 2" mortar, grenades and bayonet. REEL 2 Continues: education; selection process; tactical training; preparation for room and kit inspections; relationship with recruits and instructors; question of homesickness; selection of potential officers; canteens and visits to Deepcut. Period at 127 Officer Cadet Training Unit, Trentham Park, 8/1946-9/1946. Attending War Office Selection Board, Westbury, 9/1946: command tests; discussion groups. Period with Royal Army Education Corps, Salisbury Plain, ca 10/1946-12/1946: effects of severe winter. REEL 3 Continues: lectures from officers of Army Bureau of Current Affairs and question of their socialist bias. Recollections of period as cadet at Inkerman Coy, Old College, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, 1/1947-8/1948: role as first post-war intake; initial accommodation in New College; military history lectures including stories of lectures given by Montgomery; German lessons; mathematics courses; learning to drive; opinion of Regimental Sergeant Major Brandt; sand table models; TEWTS; nature of 3 day tactical exercises; liaison visits to Royal Navy and RAF; exchange visits with French and US cadets; photography hobby; relationship with instructors; visit with tutor to visit senior German officer POWs; training in behaviour as officer. REEL 4 Continues: role of college servants; relationship with cadets; assessment process and final examinations; social life and recreations; passing out parade and ball; necessity for private means to be commissioned in Black Watch; selection and acceptance for commission in Manchester Regt; kitting out as officer at regimental tailor. Reporting to Regimental Depot, Dunham Park, Altringham, 9/1948-9/1948. Recollections of period with 1st Bn, Manchester Regt, Wupperthal, Germany, 9/1948-4/1950: journey out; first impression on posting to 4 Platoon, C Coy; nature of officers' mess; platoon training. REEL 5 Continues: platoon training and exercise in Wupperthal area; relationship with NCOs and ORs; divisional exercises at Sennelaager; composition of Support Coy; internal security role; deployment to cover French dismantling of coal-oil installation as part of war reparations in Oberhausen; internal security training; story of collecting regimental silver from Hamburg; nature of officers' mess guest nights including mess games and drinking habits. REEL 6 Continues: attending 3" mortar course at School of Infantry, Warminster including importance of speed in deployment and learning to drive Bren carrier; posting to command 3" Mortar Platoon, Support Coy; relationship with NCOs; opinion of Major Jake Newton, Colonel Charles Archdale and Colonel George Frampton; reputation of unit; field firing 3" mortar at Sennelaager. Period at Wavell Barracks, Spandau, Berlin, 4/1950-4/1951: nature of barracks; exercises to counter possible Soviet invasion of Berlin; move up to take up positions near Brandenburg Gate during period of tension, 5/1950; question of street fighting training; question of evacuation of British families; relationship with German civilian camp workers. REEL 7 Continues: relationship with German civilians and learning German; sporting activities and role as athletics officer; recreations; administration and guard arrangements for Spandau Prison; story of officer exercising horse arrested by East Germans; question of relationship with US and French authorities; question of overseas posting; preparations for handover. Period at Dale Barracks, Chester, ca 5/1951: hut accommodation; reception of National Service drafts; opinion of Colonel Tommy Woolsey; reception on exercising right to march through Manchester, 11/5/1951. REEL 8 Continues: question of deployment to Korea or Malaya; reception and training of NS. Voyage aboard Halladale to Singapore, 5/1951-6/1951: shipboard training; conditions and captain's inspection; visits ashore; reception by advance party. Period at Selerang Barracks, Singapore, 6/1951-7/1951: nature of barracks; role of Indian contractor providing char wallahs; acclimatisation and jungle training; state of Mortar Platoon and question of role in jungle; social life and recreations. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine during internal security operations in Kedah and Perak States, Malaya, 7/1951-5/1953: conditions during voyage aboard Landing Ship Tank to Prai; posting as second in command of C Coy; precaution necessary on lorry journey to Kroh near Thai frontier; role of British District Officer and Police Officer, Malaya Police. REEL 9 Continues: nature of camp compound and tent accommodation; mosquito and malaria precautions; food rations; water supply; latrines; relieving Gurkha unit; daily intelligence meetings at Malay Police headquarters and subsequent briefings of platoon commanders; administrative role as 2iC; opinion of NS officers; nature of typical jungle patrols including avoidance of routine, story of setting abortive ambush for Malayan insurgent, size and armament of patrol, single file formation, nature of jungle vegetation, leech problem and use of Borneo guides. REEL 10 Continues: nature of typical jungle patrols including overnight bivouacs, discovery of former insurgent camps and bivouacs, question of contacts with insurgents, length of patrol and debriefings; importance of cooperation with Malaya Police; role on detachment as military liaison officer to Headquarters, Malaya Police, Alor Star, North Kedah; nature of intelligence sources including photographs of known insurgents and briefing army; state internal security meetings; enjoyment of liaison role and social life; accompanying Malaya Police patrols; replacement of unit with Malay Regt; posting back to Mortar Platoon, Support Coy; situation and dispositions on move to Terap, Perak, 4/1952. REEL 11 Continues: replacement of time-expired NS drafts and consequent necessity for retraining; background to ambush of patrol of D Coy based in Cameron Highlands, 19/6/1952; role of Mortar Platoon in support of large scale operations against identified Malay insurgent camps; story of contact with insurgents whilst accompanying Malaya Police patrol; story of ambush of patrol and their successful reaction; success of internal security operations; move to Panang Island; period of retraining in basic military skills; background to posting back to GB, ca 6/1953. Review of subsequent military career: role as adjutant of MR Depot, Ashton under Lyne, ca 1954-1955; period with B Coy, 1st Bn, MR, Minden, Germany, ca 1956-1958, including question of Soviet threat, dispute between unit and brigadier and reactions to amalgamation of MR and King's Liverpool Regt; success of amalgamation to form King's Regt. REEL 12 Continues: decision to leave army, 1958; successful role as chairman of Regimental Museum of Manchester Regt at Ashton under Lyne, 1986-2007,