DVD’s of Veteran Interviews

Special Order – Please enquire by email to directorcoastalforces@outlook.com

DVD Price + Mainland UK P&P

• 1 x DVD £12.50 + £2.00 P&P
• 2-5 DVDs £12.00 each + £1.00 P&P per DVD
• 6 + DVDs £11.00 + 50p P&P per DVD
• Complete Set of 36 DVD’s £250.00 – FREE P&P

DVD 1 – John Arkell DSC (Sub Lt RNVR) – 60 mins

Training at King Alfred and Fort William – MGB607 – CF base at Yarmouth – North Sea Ops – Navigational problems – E Boat action 24/5 Oct 43 – experience of plastic surgery.

DVD 2 – Eric Ashton PO (Eng Mech / Eng Lt) – 79 mins

POMEM in MTB 71 (RNN7) – Isotta Engines – Dover : Air/Sea rescue and Channel ops. – MTB 71 damaged at sea & in dock – Casualties – Repairs – Portsmouth Air Raids – MTB 201 ER fire – hospitalisation – Commissioned, Pembroke Dock – Overseeing Vosper MTBs building in Annapolis – Algiers: prop shaft mods – Malta Dockyard: Main engine mods – Base EO Shetlands – Fuel centrifuge invented.

DVD 3 – Sir Walter Blount Bt, DSC** (Lt RNSVR) – 142 mins

King Alfred, Scapa Flow, Fort William – Scott Paine and Du Cane – CO MASB 24:Air Sea Rescue – CO ML 577 – MTB 662 (Tim Bligh) as spare CO – Operations with US MTB s – CO MTB 634 in the Mediterranean – Action against Schooners and I-boats off Cephalonia – Famous action against F-lighters and E Boats – Arsa Channel – Enemy surrender at Tagliamento – Hull / Machinery design – Tim Bligh and Tom Fuller – MTB tactics – Decorations and morale.

DVD 4 – Freddie Bourne DSC (Lt RNVR) – 68 mins

ML101- Minelaying off French Coast – CO MTB 344 – Detail of Operations with the Small Scale Raiding Force – Reconnaissance with Army – Channel Islands and the French Coast – CO MTB 348 (MTBF11) – Ian Trelawny, Peter Magnus – operations off the Dutch Coast – the ‘Four Horsemen’ – Loss of MTBs 347 and 360 – personalities in MTBF 11 – CO MGBs 2003 and 2009 – clandestine ops. on Scandinavian Coast – the base at Aberdeen – the grounding of MGB 2007 – the overall effectiveness of CF Operations.

DVD 5 – Len Bridge (Ldg Stoker) – 105 mins

Training – Malvern, HMS ATTACK- MTB 448 (Power Boat,) operating as a gunboat – Ops off Dutch Coast – Maintenance of MTBs 65 and 67 – April 44, ML 204 (CO: Sub-Lt John Simon Moss) – Aberdeen, Dover, HMS HORNET, Littlehampton for Op. Febious – detailed account of 6 weeks at D Day landings – troop carrier Derrycunihy mined – Aug.‘44, refit in Twickenham – ML 204 to Burma via Suez – Op.’Dracula’ Rangoon Landings – Kenneth Craddock-Hartopp -VE and VJ days. MLs paid off. – HMS JAMAICA – Java task force.

DVD 6 – Vic Clark DSM (Cox’n) – 45 mins

Cox’n MTBs/MGBs, duties and training – MAC2 and MGB18 – MTB 637 Building, voyage to the Med. – Tanker escort – Tunisia, Bizerte, Malta, Yugoslav partisans – Lieutenant Gould’s last action (MTB 639) – ratings pay and conditions.

DVD 7 – Lt Cdr Charles Coles OBE VRD RNR – 130 mins

Early days in the Med., Malta, CO MTB s 17 & 01, MTBF 1, severe storms – passage across France through canals and rivers – home waters, the phoney war, Felixstowe, Op Lucid, Dover and the Channel, Norwegian liaison, casualties – the Med., invasion of Crete, beachmaster at Alexandria, Tobruk, Alamein, loss of MTB 262- experiences as POW.

DVD 8 – Stan (Bob) Cross (Able Seaman) – 145 mins

Joining Routine – MTB 666 (‘the Sixes’- Lt Cdr Don Buller) – life on board, personalities – operations in Norway – Summer 1944: Actions off Egmond, Texel, Walcheren and Ymuiden (taken prisoner) – experiences as POW: German attitudes – interrogation – meeting with ‘Lord Haw-Haw’ – Polish & Jewish camps – release and return home.

DVD 9 – Lt Cdr Sir Kenneth Cradock-Hartopp Bart. MBE DSC RN – 90 mins

MTB 100 (Hornet) – MTB 49 (Dover) – SO MTBF 11 – CFHQ (Highgate) – MGB324 (Dover) – SO MTBF 14 – CO MTB 277 (MTBF 16), standing by in USA – India, experience with indigenous forces – logistics – post-war reunions.

DVD 10 – David Conquest (Sub Lieutenant RNVR) – 90 mins

Time as rating – officer training – Brindisi, Komiza – Partisans – patrols with 645 and 647 – MTB 651 – schooner captures – Tom Fuller’s last patrol – Brian Sturgeon’s funeral – MTB 667, actions with 662, 670 – MTB 651, landings at Kithera, Poros, liberation of Athens and Salonika – Brindisi, Ancona, Zara, Tagliamento – Tim Bligh – Trieste (VE day + 1) – return by train across France – ML 158 Flensburg, Hamburg.

DVD 11 – Robin (Puffin) Coventry (Lieutenant RNR) – 90 mins

1940 Pangbourne – Merchant Navy (Indian Ocean & Far East) 1943 – Transfer to RNR and Coastal Forces – HMS CICALA in Dartmouth – MTBF1 (Tom Cartwright) as ‘spare officer’ (MTBs 412, 416, 418) – Battle of Slapton Sands – armament compared with E-boats – 1944 Actions off Normandy, D day landings – XO MTB 431 (CO Pat Baldwin, SO John Mathias) – Frigate direction and control – CFMU Ostend (Carbon Monoxide poisoning) – 1945 BEEHIVE, spare CO (MTB 415, briefly) – Flotilla 1/2 leader navigator – Return to Channel Islands – General Service – Screening and War Graves Commissions – MTB 416 post war.

DVD 12 – George Curtis DSM (CPO Cox’n) – 54 minutes

Memories of Lt RP Hichens – Felixstowe, MGBs 67 & 77 – home water ops. – actions against E boats and merchant vessels – survivors – ratings conditions of service.

DVD 13 – Bob Drayson MA DSC (Lt RNVR) – 57 mins

15 months as Seaman – commissioned – training at Lancing and Fort William – XO MTB 236 and then CO when appointed CO falls sick – sinking of German Raider (the Komet) – collision with Dutch MTB – CO MTB 236 (MTBF 63 based at Portland) – encounters with German destroyers – D Day landings – VE Day – E Boats – speed and effectiveness – Polish and Dutch MTBs – Peter Scott, Bob Goodfellow.

DVD 14 – Commander Christopher Dreyer DSO DSC RN – 123 mins

1940/1, Felixstowe, CO MTBs 102 & 30 – Dunkirk, Dieppe, Rosyth and the East Coast – 1942, Dover, SO MTBFs 5 & 6 – 1942/3 Newhaven, the Med., Sicily – organisation, comms., armament, radar, domestics – Captain Coastal Forces staff – 1944, the invasion – post war, Java, Scandinavia.

DVD 15 – The Lord Fisher DSC (Lt RNVR) – 143 mins

8/41-7/42 Rating and Officer Training – MTB 624 as NO (CO Ken Gemmell, XO Bill Brown) – 1/43:- MTBF 31 at Great Yarmouth (SOs Giles Gouden and Ken Gemmell) – N Dutch Coast patrols – 3/43 Actions against the ‘4 Horsemen’ and a convoy – 5/43 MTB 687 (XO) standing by (CO Dave Storrie; NO Flash Gordon) – New armament, trials and workup – Lerwick:, Ken Gemmell returns as CO and SO MTBF58 – Norwegian operations – 6/44 Refit in Lowestoft. Z Patrols – Detail of intense actions off the Dutch coast – MTBs 666, 681,723 damaged in action – MTB 687 hit – Flash Gordon killed – 8/44:- CO and SO Jake Wright; textbook torpedo attack destroys 4 enemy ships – 1945, Periods in command of MTBs 704 & 508.

DVD 16 – Commander RG (Bob) Gaunt DSC RN (Lt SANF(V) – 140 mins

Childhood in South Africa – RNVR SA – Seaman gunner Winchester Castle – UK Officer training – MTBs 36, then 222, 223 (ferry crew) – MTB 237 (Guy Fison) – Night action with 232, 241 against 11 German ships (SO Peter Dickens) – MTB 237 sunk – MTB 231, (9th MTBF) Dartmouth – actions off Channel Isles – brief period as XO MTB 640 (Stuart Gould) – India, CO MTB 283 (17th MTBF) – contribution of South African Forces – grounding of MTB 243 – hospital in South Africa – return to UK – 14th MTBF (SO David Shaw) – temporary CO MTB 254 – convoy action off Le Havre – XO Grey Fox – sweeping oyster mines off French coast – SOO to Capt M/s, Portsmouth – subsequent RN career, culminating as CO HMS Leopard.

DVD 17 – Guy Hamilton DSC (Lt RNVR) – 117 mins

Dec 40:- Rating in HMS ESKIMO ( Russian Convoys and the Med.) – NO in MTB 673 (CO John Barker) – Western Approaches, patrols and minelaying – damaged in collision – MTB 718 (CO Ronnie Seddon) as XO and Boats officer – 15th MGBF (SO Peter Williams) – Clandestine ops.out of Dartmouth, Aberdeen and Lerwick – Surf Boats operations – left behind at Bonaparte Beach – escape from France – the Resistance – Norway, severe storm damage – loss of MTB 502 (2002) – Camaraderie in MGBF 15.

DVD 18 – Harry Harrington DSC (Lt RNVR) – 122 mins

1940: Rating in HMS Brilliant – Atlantic Convoy – 1942: commissioned, Falmouth ML Flotilla – St Christopher – Dover, MTBF 5 (SO Chris Dreyer) – MTB 44 (CO Frank Clarkson) – Sunk during intense action against German convoy.- Lowestoft, MTB 222 (MTBF 22 – SO Dennis Long) – Cdr Barnard, Peter Knowles – 1943: XO in MTB 238 (SO Jake Wright) – ‘Cucumber’ and ‘Banger’ patrols – The 4 Horsemen – CO MTBs 238,88,25 – mine laying pre D Day – Collision with MTB 347 – MTBF 22 personalities – MTBF 25 damage during action against – M class minesweeper – Lowestoft – Apr ‘45, action including loss of 717, 494 and at least 2 E boats. Casualties and survivors – Post war liaison with survivors of E 716.

DVD 19 – Sir Derrick Holden-Brown (Lt RNVR) – 110 mins

CF training – Gordon Surtees, Len Reynolds / NO MGB 663 (CO Tommy Ladner RCNVR) – Algiers, Bone, Bougie & Malta – Sicily landings – Liberation of Capri. – XO MGB 663. Bastia – MGBs 657, 658, 663, 659, MTB 655 form the ‘Canadian’ Flotilla ( MGBF 56 – SO Doug Maitland) – Elba Landing – Vis, Dalmation Islands, Mljet channel – 10/44: 663 (CO Bill Darracot) sunk by mine near Venice – 12/44: CO MTB 655 – Zara & the Arsa channel – 3/45: 655 mined – Casualties, invalided to UK – The Canadian Influence.

DVD 20 – Claude Holloway DSC (Lt RNVR) – 89 mins

1941:- XO ML222 – CO MTB 54 (Weymouth) – CO MTB 242, 24th MTBF: SOs Chris Dreyer, David Scott, Brian Sturgeon – June 43 onwards, MTBF 24 in the Med – Ops off Sicily, Italy & Vis – The disastrous German raid on Bari 2/12/43 – mustard gas burns – ashore in Malta, Alex., Luxor – CO MTB 409 (MTBF 28) – Action with Royal Jugoslav Navy 4/44 (DSC) – SO MTBF 28.

DVD 21 – John Humphreys DSC (Lt RNVR) – 65 mins

Early Days as Signalman -Trg. at Royal Arthur and King Alfred. – Service in Trawlers – ML 230 (1st Lt) & ML 193 (CO) – Convoy Escort – Dieppe Raid – CO MTB 724 (11th Flotilla) East Coast Operations – (With MTB 728) Sinking of three E Boats off Dunkerque, 14 /9/44 – German survivors and morale.

DVD 22 – Douglas Hunt DSC* (Lt RNVR) – 98 mins

Entry training at Raleigh – QD Rating HMS RENOWN – Felixstowe, Spare Officer, XO in MLs – CO MTB 245 (22nd MTB Flotilla – SOs: Dennis Long, Jake Wright, Ebby Ebburah) – Numerous escapades ashore and afloat – North Sea/Dutch Coast operations – US Aircrew rescue – E-boats: Capture and Assessment – Action damage and tow to Felixstowe -CO MTB 392 ( as SO MTBF 31) – ‘Showing the flag’ in South Coast resorts – Oerlikon effectiveness – Radar development, torpedo misfires – Derek Leaf (MGB CO).

DVD 23 – Jimmy James (Lieutenant RNVR) – 80 mins

1942 (as rating), Arctic convoys in HMS MIDDLETON – Officer Trg – MTB 227 (CO Tom Neil) – MTBF 21 (SO Peter Dickens) – Minelaying, Dutch Coast – 1944, Mediterranean, MTBs 57, 78, 378 (CO Nick Ilett) – SO Radar, Mk VIII torpedoes – US v. UK – Nov. 44, CO MTB 378 – Tony Blomfield, Steve Moore – Actions ex Bastia and Leghorn – five (possibly 6) targets sunk – Americans and Canadians – Action with US MTB against F lighter – Landings in Elba and France -‘Taffrail’ – Minesweeping – the Kreigsmarine ‘R’ boat flotilla.

DVD 24 – Capt Denis Jermain DSC* RN – 102 mins

Preparations for war, Elco New Jersey, Felixstowe, MTBF 1 – Channel & North Sea, Boulogne, Scheldt Estuary – Med, MTBF 15, Tobruk, Gulf of Bomba, Alexandria, Rhodes, Sicily, Strait of Messina – the Invasion – minelaying, comms., maintenance, survivors, conditions of service.

DVD 25 – Capt HL (Harpy) Lloyd CBE DSC RN – 126 mins

CO MTB 06 MTBF 01, early days in Med., passage to Oran & Ajaccio, storms in the Gulf of Lion, loss of MTB 06 – return across France – design of early MTBs – CO MTB 04, Felixstowe, shore facilities, trials, personalities, North Sea ops. – Dunkirk ferrying – Dover and Dartmouth, Vosper 70’ and 73’ MTB s – minelaying, agent landings, Op. Lucid, East Coast convoys – SO MTBF 4 – tactics, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, MTB groundings on Dover cliffs, CF camaraderie.

DVD 26 – Commander Dennis Long OBE RN – 71 mins

Jan 41:-Joined Coastal Forces – CO MTB 87 and SO MTBF 22 – Dutch Coast patrols, holed below waterline – Scharnhorst & Gneisnau. – Mysterious loss of MTB 87, Board of Enquiry – CO MTB 205 – New Boats: Improvements and shortcomings – Peter Dickens and other CF characters – Lowestoft: HMS MANTIS (Lt Cdr Barnan). Jake Wright – Abortive patrols – Capt. CF Staff, D-day preparations- Chris Dryer, Peter Scott – Thoughts on the RNVR – KGV and the War in the Pacific – The Japanese surrender.

DVD 27 – Charles Milner DSM (Ldg Tel) – 132 mins

1942:- Training as a Telegraphist – MLs 215 and 164 – The Story of MTB 718 -: Ronnie Seddon, Guy Hamilton, John Townend – 15th MGB Flotilla (SO Peter Williams) – 4/44 to 5/45: Details of Clandestine Ops in Northern Europe and Norway, many involving landing and recovery of agents of varying nationalities – Damage during Operations ‘Knockout’ and ‘Lola’ – The tragic loss of MTB 2002 (28 deaths, 2 survivors).

DVD 28 – Rear Admiral Morgan Giles DSO OBE GM DL – 105 mins

Early Naval career – the Balkans – SO Vis – Yugoslav partisans – Marshall Tito – ops. in Adriatic – inter-service liaison – personalities at sea and on shore – the cemetery at Vis harbour.

DVD 29 – Patrick O’Hare DSM (Cox’n) – 65 mins

Duties of Cox’n – early days as boy seaman – 1942, training at Fort William – MTB 663, standing by – MTB 648, passage to Gib., Bone and Bizerta, bombed and beached – MTB 642, Malta – MTB 659, Anzio, Bastia, Vis, Ancona – ops. with Canadians, Lt Bligh, partisans – destruction of destroyer T7 – the German surrender.

DVD 30 – JP (Polly) Perkins DSC* (Lt RNVR) – 87 mins

1941, 1st Lt ML212 – 1941/2, ML193, East Coast convoys – effectiveness of Vosper MTB s – 1942, CO MTB 234 (MTBF 21), Dutch coast ops. – 1942/3, CO MTB 230 (MTBF 22) – Fairmile D ‘Dogboats’ – CO MTB 683 (MTBF 58), winter ops. in Shetlands, Aberdeen, Norwegian waters – 1994/5, CO MTB 766 (MTBF 64), D Day, disaster in Ostend 14th Feb 1945.

DVD 31 – Leonard C Reynolds OBE DSC (Lt RNVR) – 127 mins

Training at King Alfred – Lasting Friendships – MGB 658 (20th MGB Flotilla NO – Corny Burke) – North Africa and Bone – Malta & Sicily (Op. Husky) – Ops on West Coast of Italy (Action 13/14 Oct 43) – 56th MTB /MGB Flotilla in Bastia. Canadian COs – actions, Spezia to Anzio – The January ‘Hat Trick’ – The Adriatic,Vis and the Partisans – Battle of the Mljet Channel – Komiza, Ancona – Mines: the loss of 657 & 663 – CO MGB 658 – Sinking of destroyer in the Planinski Channel – Loss of 655, 705, 710, 697 – VE Day. E Boats surrender – Tagliamento and Trieste – Personalities.

DVD 32 – Commander David Scott DSC RN – 60 mins

CO MASB and an MGB in Home Waters – Alexandria, E. Mediterranean ops. – SO MTBF 24 – patrols in the Messina Straits, strategic value – MTB 89 (CO S/LT Archer) – raid on Valona Bay (with MTBs 85, 287, 290, 295) – establishing a base at Vis – Ops, Intelligence, Logistics – Canadians and New Zealanders – actions in MTBs 651 (Lt Horlock) and 85 (Lt Hyslop) – GS in the Pacific.

DVD 33 – James Shadbolt MBE (Lt RNVR) – 80 mins

“Y” scheme – Time as GS rating – King Alfred, Greenwich, St Christopher – Beehive (spare officer) – MTB 111(XO) – MGBF 8 (RP Hichens) – MTB 430 (CO: John Mathias) – Hook of Holland – Noordwijk – ‘Hitch’ killed – effect on morale – MGBF 8 to Dartmouth. (MTBF1) – Ops. amongst Channel Islands – Ramsgate – Dutch coast ops – Dartmouth., Op. with Free French – QH navigation system – CO MTB 483 – Schelde, Walcheren, Zeebrugge – Ostende – action against 5 E boats – loss of 2 MTBs – the Ostende disaster.

DVD 34 – Robert Varvill DSC (LT RNVSR) – 110 mins

XO MTBs 04 & 34 (CO Harpy Lloyd) – 4th MTBF at Felixstowe – RP Hichens, Peter Howes, Bobby Allan – CO MTB 30, Channel Ops – CO MTB 78 – mechanical problems – MTBF8 (Tony Blomfield) – Invasion of Sicily – Augusta, La Maddalena, Bastia – CO MTB 421 (MTBFs 7 & 8) – ‘The Hotshots’ – successes in the Ligurian Sea – Quality of Higgins boats, Radar, Mk VIII torpedoes, magnetic pistols -:SO combined flotillas in Alexandria – SBS Liaison (Major Andy Lassen VC) – Hellcats strike – ‘The Smoke of Battle’.

DVD 35 – Peter Williams DSC Chevalier de Legion d’Honneur (Lt Cdr RNVR) – 88 mins

Scapa Flow and Invergordon – MASB 10 ‘The last ship to leave Dunkirk’ – CO ML118, channel convoys – CO MGB 325 (Fairmile C) at Looe, Great Yarmouth and Felixstowe – Clandestine operations off the Dutch Coast – CO MGB 612 (Fairmile D) at Brixham, Great Yarmouth. – Expedition to Gothenburg aborted in severe weather – CO MGB 502 & SO MGBF15 training at Dartmouth – clandestine ops, landing agents in Northern France – letter from agent Sussane Chacreise.

DVD 36 – DGH (Jake) Wright DSC** (Cdr RNVR) – 90 mins

Dunkirk (in tug) – MTB 32 (River Scheldt) – CO MTB 238 – SO MTBF 4, Felixstowe, Yarmouth etc. – navigation, radar, wireless, base support – the Threat, E boats, aircraft, mines – tactics, crew training, casualties – actions off Dutch coast – SO MTB s HMS HORNET, Fairmile D Dogboats – German surrender and aftermath.

DVD Price + Mainland UK P&P

Special Order – Please enquire by email to directorcoastalforces@outlook.com

• 1 x DVD £12.50 + £2.00 P&P
• 2-5 DVDs £12.00 each + £1.00 P&P per DVD
• 6 + DVDs £11.00 + 50p P&P per DVD
• Complete Set of 36 DVD’s £250.00 – FREE P&P