Interview with Francis Norman Goode

British gunner and officer cadet trained with Royal Artillery in GB, 1942-1943; officer served with 4th (Durham) Survey Regt, Royal Artillery, XXX Corps in GB and North West Europe, 1944-1945

REEL 1 Background in York, GB, 1924-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as schoolchild at Oundle School, GB, 1939-1941: farm work, summer 1940; anticipation of war and outbreak of Second World War, 3/9/1939; membership of Air Training Corps and 3rd (Oundle) Bn Northamptonshire Home Guard at Oundle School; fire watching duties; role as messenger with Home Guard; activities with Air Training Corps. Recollections of enlistment and training as gunner and officer cadet with Royal Artillery in GB, 1942-1943: enlistment; attending four month university course at University of Edinburgh; drill; gun drill on Ordnance QF 18 Pounder Field Gun; characteristics of Ordnance QF 25 Pounder Gun including sighting; role of survey officer. REEL 2 Continues: further roles of gun crew; firing gun; nature of basic survey training; maps used; accommodation in Edinburgh; uniform worn; attending pre-Officer Cadet Training Unit course; drilling; accommodation; level of fitness during training period; opinion of instructors; story of opening padlocks in barrack rooms and watch repairs; effects of being back-squadded at Officer Cadet Training Unit. REEL 3 Continues: practice firing of guns in Wales including use of sand table; opinion of training; work of observation post; description of creeping barrage; sighting of guns; use of gun towing Quads; deployment of guns in a position; method of allocating location and deployment of guns; commissioning, 6/1943. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Artillery, 52nd (Lowland) Div in GB, 1943: posting to regiment near Aberdeen; arrival whilst regiment on exercise. REEL 4 Continues: training recruits; attending inquest after witnessing a motorcycle accident; prior recollection of learning to drive and ride motorcycle. Aspects of period as student on Long Survey Course with Royal Artillery at Larkhill Camp, GB, 1943: background to attending Long Survey Course; reasons for reintroduction of survey and personal interest in it; description of course including establishing co-ordinates; description of sound ranging using microphones; emphasis on accuracy; use of photographs; method of flash spotting; vehicles used in survey sections; opinion of training received. REEL 5 Continues: Aspects of period as officer with 10th Survey Regt, Royal Artillery in GB, 1944: joining regiment at Hessle; attending New Year's party; attending waterproofing course in Wales; method of waterproofing vehicles. Aspects of period as officer with 4th (Durham) Survey Regt, Royal Artillery, XXX Corps in GB, 1944: posting to regiment; attending party and obtaining nickname; composition of survey regiment; character of regiment; size of regiment; roles of troop members; troop vehicles; awareness of coming invasion; role as corps troops with XXX Corps and responsibilities for 43rd (Wessex) Div and 5th Army Group Royal Artillery move of regiment prior to going to Normandy, France; embarkation at Tilbury. Recollections of operations as officer with 4th Survey Regt, Royal Artillery, 5th Army Group Royal Artillery, XXX Corps in Normandy, France, 7/1944-8/1944: disembarkation at Arromanches-les-Bains, 7/1944; removal of waterproofing; first night in Normandy. REEL 6 Continues: under artillery fire whilst surveying points; nature of bocage; description of method of surveying, including use of maps; setting up of beacons to establish survey points; incident of NCO refusing to collect beacon in close proximity to minefield; threat of mines; isolated nature of survey work; living conditions in the field; use of jerry cans; incidents of mistakes in surveying work and inaccuracy of maps. Recollections of operations as officer with 4th (Durham) Survey Regt, Royal Artillery 5th Army Group Royal Artillery XXX Corps in North West Europe, 9/1944-5/1945: move to Flash Spotting Troop; use of motorcycle to deliver documents in traffic jam. REEL 7 Continues: arrival in Antwerp, Belgium, 9/1944; move up Arnhem Corridor during Operation Market Garden, Netherlands; setting up observation post at Elst, Netherlands, 9/1944; sight of airborne troops returning from Operation Market Garden, Netherlands, 9/1944; taking up positions on The Island, Netherlands; under shellfire from German railway gun; modification of Willys Jeeps to cope with winter conditions; disruption of Christmas celebrations, 24/12/1944; move to Ardennes, Belgium, 12/1944; taking up positions in first area captured in Germany, 12/1944; problems with vehicles bogging down; receiving Christmas card suggesting move to Pacific in 1945; crossing River Rhine, Germany, 3/1945. REEL 8 Continues: shelling of troop's accommodation whilst he was absent; story of death of NCO on mine, 17/4/1945; atmosphere on VE Day, 8/5/1945. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Artillery in Germany, 1945-1947: leave shorty after VE Day, 5/1945; loss of personal collection of maps from campaign; duties in camp holding former Soviet prisoners of war and forced labourers in Cuxhaven, Germany; work supervising camps for Displaced Persons in Germany, summer 1945; attitude towards dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; allocation duties calibrating guns at Münster, Germany; discovery of underground gas factory at Münster, 1947; demobilisation, 1947; attitude towards service with Royal Artillery in Second World War.