Smith, Roy (Oral history)

228050047
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Description

Object description

British soldier served with 1st Bn, Hertfordshire Regt in GB, Gibraltar, Italy, Palestine and Syria, 1938-1946

Content description

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Fritwell, 1918-1939: family background and social circumstances as farm smallholders; education; work on farm and as stable boy, 1932-1934; work in stables at Royston, 1934-1939. Aspects of periods with 4 Coy, 1st Bn, Hertfordshire Regt at Royston Drill Hall, Hitchin, Henlow, Dovercourt, Calally Castle and Boulmer, 1938-1943: volunteering to avoid conscription; kitting out; rifle and bayonet training; drill; route marches and story of 40 mile forced march; relationship with ORs, NCOs and officers; summer camp, 1939; weapons training including Boys anti-tank rifle, Bren gun and 2" mortar; tactical exercises; mobilisation, 1/9/1939; initial billets at Hitchin; outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; move to guard Henlow RAF station; radio controlled 'Queen Bee' aircraft. REEL 2 Continues: role guarding airfield; story of practical joke in turning out guard; story of officer attempting to surprise sentry; move to Dovercourt Camp, 10/1939; view of German seaplane laying mine and subsequent mining of HMS Gypsy off Harwich; tent accommodation; use of Lewis gun in anti-aircraft role on railway ferry Channel crossings including story of firing tracer ammunition, Stuka dive bomb attacks and personal morale; drinking in Calais bars; situation, 5/1940; evacuation of wounded back to GB; move to Callally Castle, 6/1940; stable billets; digging slit trenches; role as anti-parachutist flying column carried in buses; story of meeting future wife; move to Boulmer; construction of anti-tank defences; guard duty; Bren gun posts in Boumler harbour. Voyage aboard Donotter Castle to Gibraltar, 4/1943: prior issue of tropical kit; seasickness; conditions. Period at Gibraltar, 4/1943-7/1944: diving training and role checking ships in harbour for limpet mines. REEL 3 Continues: detachment to Oran for active service training; crash of aircraft carrying General Sikorsky, 4/7/1943; tunnel and pier defences at Gibraltar; story charge of insubordination following censorship of letter. Various aspects of operations in Italy, 7/1944-1/1945: voyage to Naples; eruption of Vesuvius; move to Florence area, 8/1944; nature of fighting; booby traps; food rations; relationship with Italian civilians; German shell fire; attachment to US Fifth Army; reaction to US troops and black soldiers; story of ineffective smoke screen; use of mule transport and evacuation of wounded; opinion of various NCOs and officers; poor wireless communications; story of shooting wounded mules in No Man's Land; story of bayoneting German sniper. REEL 4 Continues: cold conditions and problems burying corpses; story of medical NCOs temporary nervous breakdown; story illustrating role of artillery forward observation officer; story of attack on Fiesole; conduct of Sikh and Indian muleteers; story of wounded quartermaster sergeant nearly freezing to death; burials; sentry duty; letter contact with GB; cigarette and rum rations; rest periods including mobile baths; dysentery; latrines; typhus precautions; situation on Monte Castallore, 11/1944-12/1944; reconnaissance patrols. Recollections of period in Palestine and Syria, 1/1945-1/1946: train journey with advance party to Taranto; voyage to Haifa; situation; erecting tents at Sarafand; leave in Cairo, Egypt; Bren carrier patrols to guard oil pipeline; story of assisting injured Arab civilians; VE Day celebrations during training in Syria, 8/5/1945; arrival of 6th Airborne Div; role protecting Jewish immigrants landing at Tel Aviv; hospitalisation with attack of sandfly fever and mumps. REEL 5 Continues: rejoining unit in Beirut; question of movements; story of meeting airmen friends. Return to GB, and demobilisation, 1/1946: story of railway carriage catching fire; jettisoning souvenirs. Post-war career: reception on return home; work as stud groom and story of marriage, 7/1947; move to Castle Farm, Whittingham; effects of war experiences; contacts with old comrades; attitude to Germans.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1990 to the present day (production)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Hart, Peter M (Recorder)
Smith, Roy (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 2008
Dimensions: whole: Duration 150, Number Of Items 5
Catalogue number: 31438

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