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Oral history interview with Stanley Fennell

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1995.A.1285.9 | RG Number: RG-50.149.0009

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    Oral history interview with Stanley Fennell

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Stanley Anthony Fennell describes being a sapper with the Royal Engineers in Great Britain and North Africa in 1943; being called up for military service in 1942; his transfer to the Royal Engineers in Great Britain in 1943; his opinion of German engineering skills; clearing minefields in North Africa in 1943; the youthfulness of some troops; the use of earth moving equipment; his operations as a sapper with the 23rd Field Company, Royal Engineers in Italy from 1943 to 1944; the effect of Salerno experience on Anzio landings; the conditions in Naples and the behavior of Italian civilians; the change in US attitudes towards the British; night fighting techniques; the vulnerability of Sherman tanks; the German assault on Anzio beachhead and the air war over Anzio; action at Caracetto; the bravery of stretcher-bearers; the ill treatment of German POWs; the reticent attitude of regular soldiers; being captured by Germans in Anzio, Italy in 1944 and his experiences as a POW; being sent to Rome and the hostility of Italian civilians towards POWs; being sent to a transit camp at Nola, Italy then PG 82 Camp in Laterina, Italy; being sent to Stalag VII A, Moosburg, and Stalag VIII B, Lamsdorf in Germany; experiencing problems after eating Red Cross parcel food; seeing Dachau concentration camp; physical state of German guards; an example of Nazi repression and the power of the Nazi party; US Air Force raids on an oil refinery; the hostility of Poles towards British; air raids; the reception of news of D-Day; bomb disposal work carried out by Jewish camp inmates; the POW protest at Nazi salute requirement; Company Sergeant Major Charles Coward’s work for POWs; reactions of POW to war news; seeing Auschwitz concentration camp inmates and Germans shooting stragglers; marching west from Stalag VIII B in 1945; the reception for British POWs by Czechs on arrival in Czechoslovakia; receiving medical treatment for his foot injury; signs of the approaching end of war; the contrasts between of RAF and US Air Force bombing techniques; survival during the march; escaping the march and hiding in a barn; being discovered by a German and receiving sustenance; a German deserter; receiving aid from a German family; being liberated by the US Army and returning to Britain in 1945; American troops behavior towards German POWs; the journey home; the reception by the Women’s Voluntary Service; the psychological impact on Germans of POWs receipt of parcels from home; and the lessons learned from the war.
    Interviewee
    Stanley Fennell
    Date
    interview:  1981 June 10

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Extent
    7 sound cassettes (90 min.).

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
    Conditions on Use
    Restrictions on use. Permission to copy and/or use recordings in any production must be granted by the Imperial War Museums.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Personal Name
    Fennell, Stanley.

    Administrative Notes

    Holder of Originals
    Imperial War Museum
    Provenance
    The interview was conducted by the Imperial War Museum as part of their retrospective oral history interview program. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum acquired a copy of the interview with Stanley Fennell from the Imperial War Museum in February 1995.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:17:18
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn510817

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