Cyril Brain
British trooper and NCO served with Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry in GB, 1936-1940; officer served with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt, 129th Infantry Bde, 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Div in GB, 7/1940-7/1942; served with West Dorset Scout Section, Home Guard in GB, 7/1942-3/1943; served with GHQ Liaison Regt (Phantom) in GB and North West Europe, 3/1943-5/1945
Imperial War Museum Oral History
4 reels including memoirs of his time as officer with GHQ Liaison Regt (Phantom): orders to report to Boodle's Club, 3/1943; course at Richmond, 4/1943; sources of intelligence for unit; posting as patrol officer to A Sqdn at Chiddingfold, 1943. merging of A and B Sqdns; preparations for move to Normandy, France; sight of first V1 Flying Bomb over Redhill, 6/1944. Recollections of operations as officer with B Sqdn GHQ Liaison Regt (Phantom) in Normandy, France, 7/1944-8/1944: effect of HMS Warspite firing broadside; landing at Courselles, 8/7/1944; mosquito threat in Orne Valley; involvement in Operation Totalize, 8/8/1944-13/8/1944; squadron attachment to 1st Polish Armoured Div; accidental bombing of 1st Polish Armoured Div by US Army Air Force; opinion of German resistance at Falaise Gap; accidental bombing of Poles and Canadians by RAF, 14/8/1944; shooting up of ambulance by Supermarine Spitfire; extreme fatigue experienced; reasons for being relieved of command, 8/1944. REEL 3 Continues: reconnaissance sortie to locate German railway gun at St Andre d'Hebertot. Recollections of operations as officer with B Sqdn GHQ Liaison Regt (Phantom) in North West Europe, 9/1944-5/1945: reception received from liberated populace; liberation of Ghent, Belgium, 6/9/1944; V2 Rocket attacks on Antwerp, Belgium, 10/1944; rapid move to Givet in Ardennes, Belgium 16/12/1944; relief in Brussels at failure of German Ardennes Offensive, Belgium, 12/1944; encounter with Field Marshal Montgomery at Spa, Belgium, 12/1944; harassment received from Messerschmitt Me 109 at Spa, Belgium, 25/12/1944; V2 Rocket attack at Spa, Belgium, 25/12/1944; crossing River Rhine with 3rd Canadian Infantry Div, 3/1945; sight of inmates of Aschendorf Labour Camp and execution of some of guards, 20/4/1945. REEL 4 Continues: news of end of war and final artillery exchange at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, 5/1945; scene at Wilhelmshaven Dockyard, Germany, 5/5/1945; occupation of Frisian Islands, Germany, 5/1945; overturning of order by Polish officers that Germans girls in labour should lie on lawn so wounded could occupy beds; discipline in Polish Army and execution of NCO for war crime; attitude of Poles towards Germans.