Description
Object description
British worked as tea planter with in Assam, India, 1938-1939; served with Assam Valley Light Horse, 1938-1939; served with 3/58 Bty, 28th Field Regt, Royal Artillery in India, Sudan and Eritrea, 1940
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Rangoon, Burma, Broughty Ferry and London, 1917-1935: family background and social circumstances; education; move to Broughty Ferry, 1919; education including sporting activities, OTC training and summer camps; work management apprentice at department store in London, 1935-1938. Recollections of training with 14th Bn, London Regt, London, 1936-1938: background to recruitment; drill nights; kilted uniform; weapons training; summer camps; question of approach to war; relationship with ORs, NCOs and officers. Period as tea planter with Assam Frontier Tea Company, Dum Duma, Dibrugarh, in Assam, India, 1938-1939: background to taking job; voyage out; meeting friends at Gymkhana Club, Bombay; train journey via Calcutta to Assam.
REEL 2 Continues: organisation of estate including British and Indian personnel; annual routine and method of tea plucking; supervisory duties; relationship with Indian staff; bungalow and Indian servants; climate, cycling and clothing; daily routine; social life and Dum Duma club. Recollections of training with Assam Valley Light Horse, 1938-1939: unit role supporting police; organisation of unit; use of cars; monthly drill night; uniform; reactions to outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; volunteering to join army and attending interview in Calcutta, 9/1939; call up, 1939; period training as officer at Belgaum.
REEL 3 Period of artillery training with Officers Cadet Training Unit, Royal Artillery, Abbottobad, 1939-1940: tent accommodation; use of car; gun drill on 18pdr and 4.5 howitzer; firing on ranges including lack of ear protection and presence of Indian civilians picking up shrapnel fragments; training as gun position officer; observation post team; use of heliograph. Recollections of period with 3/58 Bty, 28th Field Regt, Royal Artillery, Mhow, India, 1940: reception and initial status as potential officer training; opinion of 4.5 howitzer; commission as officer. Voyage to Port Sudan, Sudan, 1940. Recollections of operations in Sudan and Eritrea, 1940: first impressions; train journey to Gedaref on Eritrean border; situation and night movements; nature of multiple gun positions established; firing at Italian fort at Gallabat; failed attack by 1st Bn, Essex Regt on Galabat; Italian air attacks including use of incendiaries, burns and hospitalisation in Khartoum; advance into Eritrea; relationship with NCOs, ORs and officers; food rations; gun towers; use of 'tookle' to store water; hot climate.
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