Timeline period - 1925

1927 - 2nd Battalion in Shanghai

After the end of the Great War, 2nd Battalion, the Gloucestershire Regiment were posted once again to India. On 27th January 1927, the battalion set sail from Bombay to Shanghai as part of 9th (Jhansi) Infantry Brigade), the lead element of an expeditionary force gathering to protect the International Settlement from the ravages of the Chinese Civil War that was threatening the city of Shanghai. For seven weeks the Gloucesters stood by to protect the Settlement to the north of the city walls.

The Daily Mail correspondent of the time reported:-

"SHANGHAI STIRRED - - - MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN GREET BRITISH TROOPS - - - (From Sir Percival Phillips) Shanghai, Monday, February 14th. No strangers have ever stirred this cynical cosmopolitan city so deeply and so diversely as did the lads from two English counties, 1,500 of them in the familiar khaki, when they marched this morning with shining bayonets and singing English airs through the heart of the International Settlement, a living pledge for the protection of British life and property.

"From the moment the 2nd Gloucesters and the 2nd Durhams set foot in the squalid dockside quarter of Hongkew at 11 a.m., they felt that though they are on the other side of the world, they are still home; for they seem to find England all the way of their march and the welcome astonished and delighted them."

Their five month stay was at first taken up with the manning of barricades and showing the flag, in order to deter encroachment and infiltration by the rival Northern and Southern Chinese armies, particularly the Communists. The two British battalions and 3/14th Punjabis were greatly exposed should a serious offensive have materialized, but as reinforcements poured in from stations around the British Empire, and other nations began to send their own task forces to protect their interests in Shanghai, the situation stabilized, although not without some outbreaks of heavy fighting.

The British troops were subject to some clumsy propaganda efforts from the Chinese Communists which failed to make any impact upon the soldiers. One such effort by the Shanghai Defence Force Revolutionary Soldiers Committee was directed at the Military Tattoo held in honour of King George V's birthday, itself a propaganda exercise designed to put heart into the British community and impress the locals. Dubbing it the "Devil's Tattoo":-

". . . The Shanghai Tattoo is not intended as a birthday compliment to his B---. Majesty. In reality it is a vulgar, arrogant, provocative display of pride and force on the part of the local authorities and british militarists. In their ignorant fear and rage they hope thereby to intimidate the Chinese into the continued acceptance of british Imperialism. Like a cat hunching its back when confronted by a enemy; trying to make itself look more ferocious and powerfull than it really is; the Shanghai die-hards and british military braves have arranged this Tattoo so as to strike fear and terror, by a display of men and munitions, into the hearts of Chinese workers and nationalists. . . ."

The programme for the "Twilight Tattoo" which commenced at 9.30 p.m. on 3rd June 1927, and which so terrified the Communists, ran as follows:-

1. First Post - by the buglers of 2nd Battalion, Durham Light Infantry
2. Bugle March - ditto
3. Entry of the Massed Drums of All Battalions
4. Entry of the Massed Bands
5. March of the Massed Drums
6 Overture 1812 - (with son et lumiere)
7. Lighted Indian Club Swinging
8. Drill Display
9. Highland Dances
10. Lantern Marching
11. Kuttack Dance
12. Entry of Massed Bands and Drums with Lantern and Torch Bearers.
13. Evening Hymn - Abide With Me
14. Last Post
15. Lights Out
16. God Bless The Prince Of Wales

On 23rd July 2nd Battalion and the rest of the Brigade left Shanghai and returned to India, where the Gloucesters were to remain until December 1928 before returning to England.


Picture: Officers and men at a checkpoint in Shanghai.

1936 - Egypt and Preparation for War

The Abyssinian Crisis of 1935 prompted the dispatch of a British force to Egypt in order to protect any possible threat against British interests there. On 7th January 1936 2nd Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment left Southampton and arrived at Alexandria nine days later. By the 24th January the battalion, which was due to convert to a Machine Gun Battalion at the end of the year, was at Mersa Matruh near the border with Libya, which was part of Fascist Italy's North African empire.

From the British Army's point of view this was a period of very tight budgets. Military hardware, armoured vehicles, transport and ammunition were in short supply, and the training regimes reflected this. Emphasis was placed on physical fitness, toughness, and the development of team spirit by playing robust games.

The posting to Egypt was very unpopular with the battalion, not least because it had interfered with the good prospects of sporting success at home. A series of letters from an officer signing himself "Sixty-First" to the senior officers of the Gloucestershire Regiment outlined his concerns:-

". . . Catterick Camp, 31 Dec. '35. . . . All Regimental and personal arrangements have of course been thoroughly upset. The prospect of success of the Rugby and Boxing Teams appeared so very good. The former would no doubt have gone a long way in the Army Rugby Cup, while the latter would have won the Northern Command Boxing Championship without a doubt, and had they not won the competition, would have done extremely well in the Army Inter-Unit.

"You will hear from us next in the Middle East."

". . . Sidi Bishr Camp, 5 Feb. '36. . . . We are doing our best to get games going, but are severely handicapped. We have a patch of sand as a football ground with the other Units in camp and have ourselves acquired another some distance away. The main grounds of Alexandria are of course many miles away.

"The Rugby team hope to have some matches soon. The Boxing team have issued a challenge to the Middlesex regiment, the winners of the Command Inter Unit, and also to Alexandria Area. . . "

". . . Mersa Matruh, 1 March '36. . . . We have temporarily organised the Battalion as a Machine Gun Unit, and Bill Walton's Company is the only Rifle Company. Sharpe's company has the Anti-Tank guns, while King and Biddulph each have a Machine Gun Company of two platoons. This re-organization is not on account of out new role as a Machine Gun Battalion, but owing to the large number of weapons we have to man with very small numbers. The new Chief of the Imperial General Staff has been visiting our dust heap and though he may have thought much, failed to say anything.

". . . We are managing to get some good games of Rugger with other units, and we are hoping to have a good swimming and water polo team.

"The possibility of trouble with Mussolini or the Egyptian students is nothing compared to probable trouble in the Mess among the Bridge Fiends who have been very active lately."

". . . Western Desert, 31 March '36. . . Life continues much the same in our dust-heap-by-the-sea. It is enlivened from time to time by unfounded rumours of our return to that pleasant little island we left in January.

"The daily dust storms continue and take a great deal of getting used to.

"The monotony of existence was enlivened last week when we took part in a three days exercise in the desert with the Mobile Force, known locally to the irreverent as the Mobile "farce".

"In all, we covered about 200 miles of the most unbelievable "going". The operations were thoroughly naval in aspect. It was an interesting sight to see the Battalion in lorries extended over an area of about one square mile; the Colonel acting as High Admiral, with Walton, Sharpe as his Admirals of the Red and Blue, respectively, well to his left and right, they themselves again followed by King and Biddulph, leading their fleets, on the horizon in the rear.

". . . We play plenty of games in the dust, and our Regimental teams have so far remained undefeated. . . "

The threat of an Italian invasion or an Egyptian uprising having dissipated, the battalion left for England on 22nd December. The question remained, had the posting been a monumental waste of time? Certainly, for 2nd Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment, the return home brought with it the much desired success on the rugby field, as the battalion went on to win the Rugby Army Cup in 1938, for the first time since 1910, and were to be runners-up the following year. The official conversion of 2nd Battalion to a Machine Gun Battalion was carried out on the return home, but they had already reverted to being an infantry battalion before the Second World War broke out. But their desert training was not to be put to any practical use, for no infantry battalion of the Regiment was to serve in North Africa during Second World War.

However, in 1937 the third of the trio of British armoured warfare visionaries who hovered on the fringes of the military establishment between the wars, Major-General Percy Hobart, took over command of the so-called "Immobile Farce" and turned it into the instrument that would destroy Italian ambitions in North Africa in 1940-41, and evolve into the nucleus of the army which would go on to defeat Rommel's Afrika Korps.

Barrie Pitt, in "The Crucible of War Volume I: Wavell's Command" regarded the significance of sport in the British Army of the 1930s thus:-

"Above all, the British Regular Army in the 1930s offered opportunity for sport - football, both soccer and rugger, hockey, cricket, swimming if the station was by the sea, shooting, running, and for the cavalry regiments riding, or perhaps learning to drive a motor vehicle, an accomplishment not, in those days, quite so common as it has since become. Many people have judged that the British Army's dedication to sport was at the expense of professionalism, but any lack of military efficiency in the late 1930s was due as much to lack of equipment as to any other factor. The Army would willingly have trained with tanks and guns had they unavailable; in 1939, the anti-tank guns of at least one regular battalion in England were still represented on exercises by green and white flags.

"In any case, the physical toughness and teamwork engendered by playing rugby football on a sand-covered, rock-hard pitch on the borders of Afghanistan or in the Western Desert were not qualities which would be found useless in the days to come."


Picture: Gloucesters training in Egypt, 1936

1940 - Cassel and Ledringhem

On 2nd October 1939 2nd Battalion, the Gloucestershire Regiment landed in France with the British Expeditionary Force, as part of 3rd Infantry (Iron) Division commanded by Major-General Bernard Law Montgomery. 5th battalion arrived in France on 15th January 1940 with 144th Brigade, 48th (South Midland) Division. 48th Division was a familiar name from the Great War. In February the Territorial divisions were beefed up with regular troops, and thus in February 2nd Battalion was transferred to 145th Brigade, 48th Division.

The "Phoney War" or "Sitzkrieg" of late 1939 and early 1940 on the Western Front involved occasional actions in which the enemy were engaged in the form of patrols, raids and counter-raids. The second Military Cross awarded during the war went to Lieutenant J.A. Mackenzie for his "skill, judgement and leadership" when his three-man patrol clashed with and drove back a larger German force on 13th/14th January. The first Military Medal of the war to be awarded to a Territorial soldier went to Sergeant G.H. Adlam of 5th Battalion for his gallantry while repelling a German raid on his post on 4th April.

On 10th May 1940 the Germans invaded the Low Countries and both battalions moved forward into Belgium, the lead elements of 48th Division setting off in the afternoon of the 10th. At first all seemed to be going well. Captain H.J. Lovett of "D" Company, 2nd Battalion recalled:-

"We left LANDAS at 1300 hrs and crossed the frontier in our 15cwt [truck] at 1330 hrs. We were among the first flight to cross into Belgium as there was only one staff car in front of us on our route. Our destination was LESSINES and our route took us through TOURNAI and FRASNES. I cannot look back on that drive without being amused --- driving as fast as the bad cobbled roads would allow as if the whole issue of the war depended on us, with the local inhabitants waving encouragement and throwing flowers and kisses at us as we passed."

By 16th May the two Gloucester battalions were in positions near the Waterloo battlefield of 1815, but the French army had already been fatally broken, and 2nd and 5th Battalions received the order to retreat. The retreat was in some danger of turning into a rout. Captain Lovett wrote of 18th May:-

". . . we proceeded by Motor coaches - our destination was Bruyelle. Some coaches went via TOURNAI where the Bn. sustained about 90 casualties from bombing . . . I received a rude awakening when I was having a doze on the journey. I was hauled out of the coach and thrown into a ditch by my Coy. Commander --- we were being dive bombed but nothing came anywhere near us, the attack being on the column about 100 yds behind us. The M/T discipline was extremely bad during this journey as there was a lot of unnecessary passing and racing between coaches of other units."

Captain L.C. Hauting of 5th Battalion recalled of the same day:-

" . . . This withdrawal was difficult owing to the close proximity of enemy advance armoured units; several groups of stragglers became detached from Coys, and one or two coys were forced to cross the canal North of Lessines. Some transport ran short of petrol and vehicles had to be abandoned."

During this period 5th Battalion had marched 95 miles in 83 hours to Tournai before being picked up in a variety of commandeered transport and brought back to the Escaut canal where the British Expeditionary Force were to make their first stand against the Germans. 2nd Battalion had suffered heavy losses from enemy aircraft, 194 members of the battalion being either killed or wounded in one raid on 19th May.

A week later, 2nd and 5th Battalions helped to form the defensive screen around Dunkirk at Cassel and Ledringhem where they held out for 4 days against continual infantry, armoured and air attack. 2nd Battalion arrived in position at Cassel on 25th May and 5th Battalion around Arneke, Wormhoudt and Ledringhem on 26th May. Operation Dynamo, the evacuation from Dunkirk, began on the 26th as the first German patrols began to probe the Cassel defences. The following day, the German attack began in earnest. 2nd Battalion's "D" Company was almost overrun in the grounds of the Chateau and were having great difficulty in dealing with an enemy tank which had penetrated their position. The anti-tank rifles were proving ineffective, and the exact whereabouts of the tank was unknown. Captain H.C. Wilson tried again:-

". . . Went back to my HQ and got Pte. Palmer with one of our anti-tank rifles, Fane, who knew where the tank was, and CSM Robinson (who asked to be allowed to come with me), and the four of us returned to D Coy area to attempt an attack on the tank. We had just reached a point where the tank could be fired on and got the rifle into position when two mortar bombs fell right among us. They were followed by four others in rapid succession. Pte Palmer was severely wounded in the back and the anti-tank rifle was blown goodness knows where.

"We returned and on the way back I found the mortar crew still in the lane, their mortar abandoned. Getting them into position again I returned to my HQ and then back again to see what could be done about the tank. Climbing to an OP in D Coy HQ building, I saw the tank at the end of the grounds, conning tower open and smoke pouring out of it. Apparently in the meantime one of our anti-tank guns had been moved up into position and dealt with it."

5th Battalion were being attacked in their positions at the same time, and at Ledringhem on 27th May one of their two-pounder anti-tank guns accounted for five enemy tanks and four armoured cars. However, their position was in danger of being overrun, and the battalion was ordered back to defend the perimeter of the village and hang on for another twenty-four hours. Two runners arrived from Brigade H.Q. on the evening of the 28th with orders to commence the withdrawal, but the fighting was so intense that any kind of orderly withdrawal would have been impossible. The decision was made to wait for a more opportune moment.

2nd Battalion did not receive the order to withdraw until the afternoon of the 29th May by which time Cassel was under very heavy attack and the Gloucesters in imminent danger of being surrounded. For both battalions, the fighting withdrawal to Dunkirk was to be fraught with danger, and to end rather differently for each one. 5th Battalion's War Diary records the night withdrawal made in the early hours of the 29th, through the burnt out remains of their transport:-

". . . The Battalion crawled out of the village in fairly good order, but as the carrier field (through which the start was made) was fully illuminated by a burning windmill in one corner it was difficult to understand how the Battalion were not seen escaping. A number of men took the wrong turn. . . . By now much of the rest of the village was also lit up by fires as incendiary bullets had been fired. Progress was slow. It was dark and difficult to decide the way and pick up the stragglers. . . ."

By the time 5th Battalion reached the beaches of Dunkirk on 30th May, they had lost from a third to half their strength, the survivors being shipped back to England.

On 31st May Captain Wilson was leading a party of fifteen men, armed with only five rifles and a revolver between them and cut off from any support, and trying to reach Dunkirk. He was to meet the fate of so many of 2nd Battalion, and described his moment of capture:-

". . . A tank on the road now also opened fire on us. By rolling and crawling to our right we reached a dip by a fence. Pushing through the fence we found ourselves fired on by rifles from our right and right front.

"A moment later a lorry drew up in a farm lane just behind us. Troops descended from it. Completely surrounded, with our lack of weapons there was only one thing to do. The men were utterly exhausted from fatigue, lack of sleep and food and seventeen days of continuous fighting or marching. We were prisoners."

Both battalions had fought hard to delay the German onslaught on Dunkirk, and the spirited if ultimately hopeless defence put up by the rearguard troops did buy some precious time for the evacuation. 2nd Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment received the order to retreat rather later than the 5th had done, and Cassel was further from the coast than Ledringhem. Consequently, the toll in prisoners-of war suffered by 2nd Battalion was far heavier than that suffered by 5th Battalion. 485 officers and men of 2nd Battalion and 147 of 5th Battalion went into German captivity.


Picture: Survivors of 5th Battalion, June 1940.

1941 - Operation Crusader

2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars arrived in Egypt on 1st October 1941 as one regiment of 22nd Armoured Brigade which was allocated to reinforce 7th Armoured Division, in preparation for General Sir Claude Auchinleck's planned offensive in November. 7th Armoured Division, whose divisional emblem was the jerboa, or "Desert Rat", included two other armoured brigades, the 4th and the 7th, as well as an infantry support group. In 1st Army Tank Brigade were 44th Royal Tank Regiment which had been converted into an armoured battalion from 6th Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment in 1938. A year later 50th Royal Tank Regiment was created when 44th RTR was split into two battalions, and it too would later see service in the Western Desert.

The opening campaigns of the war in Africa in 1940 had seen enormous gains made by British Commonwealth and Empire forces, with Sir Alan Cunningham' army destroying the Italian forces in Ethiopia and Sir Richard O'Connor's Western Desert Force advancing across Libya. Hundreds of thousands of Italian prisoners had fallen into British hands. But overstretched lines of communication and inadequate resources ensured that when the German Afrika Korps under Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel arrived to shore up the Italians, all the territorial gains made in Libya were lost and the British had been driven back into Egypt. General Wavell was replaced by General Auchinleck as Commander-in-Chief Middle East and Lieutenant-General Cunningham was given the command of the newly formed 8th Army.

Operation Crusader began on 18th November 1941. 22nd Armoured Brigade's advance was slower than had been hoped for because their crews and their new Crusader tanks had not had sufficient time to work up to full operational efficiency for desert warfare. The unreliability of the new tanks was to be a constant thorn in the side during the coming months. On 19th November the brigade ran into the Italian "Ariete" Armoured Division well dug-in at Bir el Gubi. Second-Lieutenant Gordon-Creed had a track shot off his tank. Stuart Pitman, in his book "Second Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, Libya-Egypt 1914-1942", wrote of Gordon-Creed:-

". . . He continued, however, to circle on the other track and knocked out two Italian tanks at point blank range. His own tank was then hit again through the turret, and his gunner and wireless operator wounded. When the action died down he and his driver, Trooper Parker, got out the injured men and dressed their wounds, staying with them until the Medical officer picked them up. They then returned to the tank and began repairing it under heavy fire. By working all through the night, in close proximity to the enemy, and with every chance of being captured, they were ready by dawn and brought the tank back to the Regiment; 2nd Lieutenant Gordon-Creed was awarded the M.C."

Trooper Eric Johnson's Crusader was called upon to rescue the crew of another Crusader belonging to 4th County of London Yeomanry, which had been knocked on Gubi ridge. No sooner had they got there, when their own tank was knocked out, and both crews hid behind their burning tanks while being sprayed by enemy machine gun fire. Suddenly, someone saw another Crusader approaching at speed. Eric Johnson recalled:-

". . . There it was, moving flat out over good going. It came onto the ridge trailing its long sausage of dust behind. In the lurid glow of the great fireball on the horizon it caught the enemy's concentrated fire, turning sharp left and came to a halt in the lee of our two burning hulks. It was Ken Greaves of "F" Sqdn. He said, "right then you lot, take your time, there's no hurry, two men up on the engine covers, the rest of you pass the wounded up. Easy now, we've all the time in the world." In a few minutes that seemed like hours we were on the back of Ken's tank, sheltering the wounded and hanging onto each other as though our lives depended on it, as indeed they probably did. All the while Ken sat calmly on the turret watching the enemy and our escape route. At last we were able to tap his arm to let him know we were ready. Through his microphone he checked with each of his crew, gunner, operator, driver, then he turned to us and said, "Right then you lot, hold your hats on." We came off that ridge faster than any Crusader had travelled before or since. Behind us the burning hulks spewed their exploding ammo into the sky in a farewell salute. Then, at a gentler pace, we found elements of the R.G.H. some 6 miles away forming leaguer in the gathering gloom. We trundled to a halt looking like a bunch of diddicoys on the back of a farm cart."

22nd Armoured Brigade's initial successes were very short lived. With no infantry support to consolidate any of the gains they had made, they were forced to withdraw, leaving the powerful "Ariete" Division still dug in. The battle ebbed and flowed with astonishing speed over the coming weeks, with first one side gaining the upper hand, then the other. Command and control at the most senior levels of the opposing armies were slipping. The focus of the battle switched to Sidi Rezegh, as the occupation of this key position would determine the fate of the British garrison holding Tobruk. Corporal Ron Dallas of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars called it "the absolute chaos of Sidi Rezegh."

". . . I think chaos is the only word that applies to the ten days or so that it lasted and for the German and Italian troops as well. We lost a number of men, had a number taken prisoner and wounded and found out to our bitter cost that our 2 pounders were useless against the German tanks.

". . . On top of that we had the November Handicap, when Gerry broke through and half the 8th Army seemed to be streaming backwards. We managed to get a quick word with some South African Units and they said "half the German army is behind you now.""

Nevertheless, by 7th December, Rommel's losses in tanks had vastly outstripped the rate at which they could be replaced, and the 8th Army had gained the upper hand. Rommel was forced to abandon the siege of Tobruk, and gave the order to retreat, a delicate operation which was undertaken with great skill as his pursuers closed with their foes. The Crusader tanks of 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars had taken a hammering and on 5th December the battalion been re-equipped with American M3 Stuarts, known to the British as "Honeys" because of their reliability. They weren't entirely popular with their crews though - their 37mm guns were not quite as powerful as the weak 2 pounders of the Crusaders, and unlike the sleek British cruisers, they had a high profile, making them difficult to conceal in the open terrain of the desert. In fact, the first batch of fifty-two Honeys had been taken over from the 8th Hussars, and they were already close to being worn out themselves.

During the pursuit 2nd RGH was temporarily attached to 7th Armoured Division's Support Group, and then to 4th Armoured Brigade, before returning to 22nd Armoured Brigade. As the battalion swept west across the desert, air attacks became increasingly frequent and eventually German and Italian resistance began to stiffen as their supply lines shortened and those of the British lengthened. On 28th December, the new realities became apparent, as Stuart Pitman indicates:-

". . . By afternoon, the German tanks had increased in number and some fifty attacked, but at long last we had a good hull down position and their advantage in the range of their guns was largely offset, though their thicker armour still made it difficult to knock them out. But we were forced to withdraw to the ridge behind us . . . and the enemy column to the west began to move round our right rear. Late in the afternoon the shelling increased still more and the German tanks advanced . . . finally we were all forced to withdraw in a hurry through the fast narrowing gap. The enemy guns lengthened their range and kept on shelling us with accurate violence for some time. The tanks were now very nearly out of petrol and in danger of coming to a standstill within easy reach of the enemy, so an urgent message was sent for a refill . . . and just as we halted to fill up . . . we were heavily bombed by Stukas sent over for the express purpose of catching us in that vulnerable situation."

Operation Crusader petered out in early January 1942, and 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars were withdrawn into Reserve. Rommel's counter-stroke, which began on 21st January, would be devastating.


Picture: Trooper of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars beside his knocked out Crusader tank.

1942 - Rearguard in Burma

7th December 1941 found 1st Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment based at Rangoon, one of only two British battalions in Burma employed in internal security duties. When the Japanese invaded Burma at the beginning of the 1942 1st Battalion was guarding the approaches to the capital, road, riverine and at Mingaladon airfield. After British defeats at Sittang and Pegu, the road to Rangoon lay open and the decision was made to evacuate the city in February 1942. Under the leadership of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Bagot, the Gloucesters patrolled the streets, guarding against looting and preparing the demolition of the oil refinery at Syriam, which was blown up on 7th March. Their first action against the Japanese was at Taukkyan on the 7th/8th March. It was here that the main force of the understrength Battalion took part in the successful breaking of a Japanese roadblock to the north of Rangoon which had cut off 17th Indian Division, the Rangoon garrison and General Sir Harold Alexander, commander of the Burma Army, with Army Headquarters from their line of retreat.

After this action, the Battalion transferred from Burma Army Command to become became the Reconnaissance Regiment of 17th Indian Division, covering its retreat. A fortnight later D Company, 1st Battalion set an ambush at Letpadan, which was very successful, and drove the advancing Japanese back in great disorder.

Lieutenant-Colonel Bagot recalled:-

". . . The success of the 28th at Letpadan depended in large measure on the manner in which Lieutenant Sibley's platoon carried out the dangerous task assigned to them. . . . Amongst the numerous gallant actions fought by small sub-units during the campaign, this one stands out, both for the determination with which they fought against superior numbers of the enemy, in order to achieve their object, as well as for the very important results that followed. . . . Although our further withdrawal was set for 20th March, we maintained patrols in Letpadan for a further week. Thus the enemy advance was considerably delayed and, in fact, we were never again pressed by their advance guard for the remainder of the campaign."

Both Alexander and Major-General Cowan commanding 17th Indian Division warmly approved-

"Alexander to Bagot - Heartiest congratulations on splendid operation at Letpadan. Congratulate Company Commander from me personally."

"Cowan to Bagot - My heartiest congratulations to you and all ranks. A splendid show and just what I wanted. You have set a fine example of enterprise and proved that we can defeat the Jap at his own game. Chief was delighted."

Nevertheless, 1st Battalion was in action again at the end of the month, beating off enemy pursuers at Paungde and fighting its way through Japanese forces which had cut the line of retreat at Shwedaung. Sergeant Dunkley remembered an incident at Paungde:-

"An enemy aircraft flew over our positions and dropped a couple of bombs - anti-personnel we thought they might have been. Cpl George Candle had a go at it with the Bren and it just flew away. The platoon received no casualties but a few minutes later a few shots came our way Unfortunately Cpl Candle was badly wounded in the upper part of the left arm; he was given medical attention and shortly after this was put on a carrier and taken back to R.A.P. [Regimental Aid Post]. We said cheerio and his last words to us were "I'll keep one on ice for you at Calcutta.""

The British retreat continued northward towards Mandalay which the Gloucesters reached on 23rd April, now down to one hundred and seventy-seven officers and men. Lieutenant-Colonel Bagot, who had been wounded at Paungde, returned to the battalion, together with a draft of a hundred reinforcements. It was near here that with transport being in such short supply it was decided that the Regimental silver, pictures, band instruments and other property were to be buried in Shwebo cemetery in a false grave named for "Private Bragg". However, this plan was abandoned and the silver taken further up country to be buried in the jungle, with the exception of a few small pieces that could be carried in pockets.

The much weakened Burma Army continued its retreat towards India, first crossing the River Irrawaddy and falling back on 10th May to the River Chindwin which marked the border. At Monya, the Gloucesters fought their last rearguard action of the campaign, and were the last unit to cross the Chindwin into India. Their destination was Imphal. Private Coppard recalled the final miles:-

"Well, we plodded on our way and finally we came to a road marked 'Imphal 20 miles'. On this road going to Imphal were lines of lorries. We tried to get a lift but the drivers, who looked like English troops and Officers, took no notice. We must have looked a queer sight, three ragged, rough-looking louts with rifles and Tommy gun, covered in mud and sand.

"We walked the 20 miles into Imphal and as we entered we found it deserted except for the lorries passing us - it looked like a ghost town we used to see in the movies in the time of Tom Mix & Company.

"As we walked through we came to a crossroad and standing there was a Military Police corporal with nice white stripes on his arm, we wondered what was going to happen next as by this time we were angry and fed up with the whole of the army.

"As we got down to him he looked at us and said "Where do you think you are going?" so I said "Calcutta, if we can make it, and then home." He smiled and asked us if we had just come out of Burma, we said "Yes", so he said that there was a rest camp 13 miles down the road, so we said "Well, I suppose 13 miles won't hurt us." He said "You are not walking, I will get you a lift." Just then an Army tree-tonner hove in sight, he put his hand up and the truck stopped. He asked the driver, who I knew by sight, if he would give us a lift to the rest camp. The driver replied that he had no room. The police corporal pointed his gun at him and said "You will give them a lift, Sgt." He said "Alright, get in the back." We did and found he had only six men in there."

1st Battalion was brought up to strength and remained with 17th Indian Division near Kohima and Imphal until July 1943 when it was sent to Calcutta. They spent the rest of the war in policing duties in India.

In January 1945 some officers went back into Burma to recover the buried Regimental silver. It had all gone, probably dug up by local Burmese, and was never to be seen again by the Regiment except for one George IV soup tureen and one candelabra.



Picture: Transport column of 1st Battalion, Burma, January 1942.

1942 - Gazala to Alam el Halfa

By the spring of 1942 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars were in Egypt near Cairo where they received new equipment. G and H Squadrons got new Crusaders and F Squadron was equipped with M3 Grants, a compromise American design which at last gave British tank crews a 75mm gun, enabling them to engage the enemy on more than equal terms. The Grant retained the high profile of the Honey, as well as a 37 mm gun in the turret, the 75mm being in a side sponson with a very limited traverse.

On 16th May 2nd RGH moved up the front, their tanks disguised as trucks, as part of 22nd Armoured Brigade and now under the command of 1st Armoured Division. The Gazala line, about forty miles to the west of Tobruk stretched south in a series of large defensive "Boxes", intended to maximize armour and infantry co-operation, and extensive minefields. On 27th May Rommel's forces attacked, outflanking the British position to the south. 22nd Armoured Brigade advanced to engage the enemy and 2nd RGH were hit hard, with the Grants of F Squadron being wiped out in half an hour, although not without many of 21st Panzer Division's own tanks being destroyed or disabled. During the battle of the Cauldron, Trooper Bridle's Grant tank took four hits in quick succession:-

" . . . The first shattered a track and I felt it go, almost instantaneously. Another came in through the final drives, wounded the 75mm gunner and must have just missed me; the third came clean I through the side door, just missing the high explosive box and killing Buxton, the loader, and Corporal Chamberlain. It must have been a powerful shot, for it was a very neat hole and wasn't even burred. The fourth shot must have gone straight into the engine, for almost immediately the flames roared through on both sides of the turret and Mr. Ades shouted to bale out. I asked Solovitch if Buxton was dead, though I saw him drop myself, and he said he was definitely killed, so I told him to get out the far side. I went out last and took a quick glance at Johnnie Chamberlain; there was no doubt whatsoever, he was definitely killed. I went out the side door, and Mr. Ades was waiting there. He was very confident, and said, "Don't worry, lad, we'll get out of this yet.""

Lieutenant Ades, Trooper Bridle and other scattered groups of survivors from the burning Grants tried to escape back to their own lines while caught in the crossfire of an intense firefight. Ades was killed as he was running for cover, and Bridle wounded and taken prisoner.

22nd Armoured Brigade continued to see action against both German and Italian armoured formations, especially in the Knightsbridge "Box", with the Crusaders of 2nd RGH suffering particularly from the deadly German "eighty-eights" supporting the Italian Ariete Armoured Division. Between 2nd and 4th June 2nd RGH received more Grants and Honeys, but the battalion was still seriously understrength and even their replacement tanks were often not in the best of condition. The Gloucestershire men were thrown back into action on 4th June, and once more were soon taking heavy casualties. Major Jeremy Taylor, who was in a Honey of H Squadron Headquarters, recalled:-

". . . I saw the Colonel's tank stationary and by itself under Bir Beliefa. I saw a figure waving on the ground and went alongside them with my tank. Here I found Col. Birley who, despite both legs being practically shot off at the knee, had got himself out of the tank to wave for assistance for himself and his driver, Cpl. Dickinson, being badly wounded and concussed. Our Adjutant, Mike Muir, who had been acting as gunner in the Colonel's tank, had been killed as had the operator, Cpl. Froggart. We put the Colonel and Dickinson into a gunner's 15 cwt truck and they promised to take them back to a dressing station straight away. Col. Birley died on the way back but Dickinson survived, though with a badly broken jaw, shoulders wounded and concussion."

This was to be the last occasion that the squadrons of 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars fought together as a regiment. The battle of Gazala ended in defeat, with individual squadrons of the battalion either being withdrawn into reserve or fighting while attached to other units. Tobruk fell, and the British withdrew to the El Alamein line. Rommel was stopped at the first battle of El Alamein in July and, at Alam el Halfa at the end of August, F and H Squadrons fought with 5th Royal Tank Regiment, the last time any squadrons of the RGH would see action in the war. After the battle the remaining personnel were split up and assigned to other regiments. Major Taylor recalled the issue of the new Crusader Mk IIIs with 6 pounder guns after the Alam el Halfa:-

". . . We remained with the 5th Tanks in El Agran and it was here that the first of the Cruisers with 6 pounder guns were issued to us. A pity they did not arrive a fortnight earlier as they would have proved a much more effective match for the new German 75 mm which proved so disastrous against Cruisers. . . . Towards the end of September F Squadron and ourselves were ordered back to Sidi Bishr to join up with the rest of the Regiment. Here we had a not unwelcome and very pleasant holiday to be marred only by the fact that we were not subsequently taken by our new Commander to take our proper place in 22nd Armoured Brigade. Instead . . . we received the unwelcome news that we were to be broken up to supply reinforcements for other Regiments then engaged in the battle. "

Thus, 2nd RGH were denied the opportunity to take part as a Regiment in the great Second Battle of El Alamein.

Picture: Grant tank of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars shortly before the battle of Alam el Halfa.

1944 - Invasion & Liberation

After 2nd Battalion and 5th Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment returned to England from France in 1940 they were brought up to strength, retrained and re-equipped for the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe in 1944. 2nd Battalion remained an infantry Battalion but 5th Battalion was converted to 43rd Reconnaissance Regiment which, equipped with armoured cars would act as the eyes and ears of 43rd (Wessex) Division in 1944-45.

2nd Battalion came ashore at Gold Beach on 6th June, D-Day, as part of 56th Brigade, which was the first allied formation to enter Bayeux the following day. During the build-up of the Normandy bridgehead 56th Brigade was an independent formation used to bolster up other Divisions where required, and began the invasion attached to 59th Division. Besides 2nd Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, 56th Brigade contained 2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers and 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment. Its formation sign was a yellow sphinx on a black half circle, chosen because all three regiments had taken part in the Egyptian campaign of 1801.

Lieutenant Frank Clarke's platoon flushed some Germans out of a cellar in a house in Bayeux:-

". . . I ordered the bren-gunner to methodically 'test' the likelihood of occupation, and very quickly after a few bursts, commotion was the order of the day from down below. Up they came, twelve all told. I lined them up against the outside wall, and quickly searched them. But not quickly enough. By this time a sizeable audience of mostly women and girls had gathered, plus a dozen or so men. Two of these men seemed to have had a score to settle, as they rushed forward, fists and boots flailing, attacking the hapless Germans, and it was not until I threatened to shoot them, that they backed off. No doubt they could well have been justified in their actions. I was not to know. Quickly I dispatched them, under guard, back to the beaches. Then the girls let their hair down. The whole platoon was swamped with heaving female bodies. Phew! What a way to start an invasion."

On 9th June 56th Brigade came under the command of 7th Armoured Division and 2nd Battalion was soon involved in the ferocious fighting for Tilly-sur-Seulles, coming up against the elite and powerful Panzer Lehr Division. Captain Holgate recalled the confused fighting in the village on the evening of 11th June:-

"Corporal Braid, of No. 13 platoon, hearing amidst the din a heavy rumbling on the road outside, looked out of a window ready to welcome a 7th Armoured tank. Instead, he saw, and they saw him, a German Mk IV with a section on it armed with Schmeissers. The Boches piled off the tank in quick time and No. 13 platoon left the house equally quickly, leaving behind their small packs and shovels which they had discarded during the house searching. They had no answer to the pounding this tank shortly gave the houses in which they had been.

"The AVREs which should have supported the two leading companies had found the country too difficult for them. Only one managed to get up with "B" Company and with "C" Company. They did some useful work with their block-busters but all eventually became stuck or lost their tracks, leaving no alternative to the crews but to fire them and join the rifle companies."

Tilly finally fell to the British on 19th June, and Panzer Lehr was all but destroyed.

By 12th August, 56th Brigade was back with 59th Division, and 2nd Battalion was to take part in its hardest fight of the Normandy campaign at Thury-Harcourt. With not enough time for an adequate reconnaissance of the enemy positions, the Gloucesters soon found their plan of attack in difficulties and were forced to withdraw, after leaving the town in flames. Captain Nash concluded his recollection of the day's battle:-

". . . Thury-Harcourt, for sheer noise and stonking, was one of the worst battle we had throughout the campaign. . . After the battle the squadron commander of the 34th Armoured Brigade summed up the efforts of the 61st [2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment] by saying that never before had he seen men fight with such bravery and determination against such fearful odds.

"We were all very depressed after this battle, and our morale was not improved by hearing on the B.B.C. an eye-witness account of how our troops captured Thury-Harcourt. That really was the last straw."

However, the Germans had withdrawn at the same time, having suffered severely themselves, and left the village unoccupied when the Gloucesters entered it the following day.

On 19th August, 56th Brigade was transferred to 49th (Polar Bear) Division and 1st British Corps in Canadian 1st Army. Between 23rd and 28th August 2nd Battalion was involved in some fierce fighting with the rearguard of the retreating German Army, until they arrived on the outskirts of the port of Le Havre. Le Havre had been well prepared for a prolonged defence by the Germans, but the British assault was efficiently planned and conducted, and the town was taken in three days, falling on 13th September. Major Chalmers recalled the plans for the final storm to be carried out by the Gloucesters:-

" . . . "D" Company with its tanks was to lead the way on the main axis and their first task was to take the fort. In the meanwhile, "A" Company, supported by tanks, was to find out the "form" on the right.

"A plan was made. The tanks were to shell the fort, the 3-in. mortars were also to bombard it, and so accurate that their bombs were dropping in the centre. One platoon was to advance down the road to cover the mine-clearing party and one platoon loaded up with P.I.A.T. ammunition was to move round the right flank and create as much diversion as possible. The third platoon would pass through the covering platoon and break into the main entrance - in fact, the only entrance (the walls were quite unscalable). The shelling sufficed. The white flag was hoisted. The leading platoon then made its way into the fort, lined up the Germans in their hundreds, who were well armed with baggage, having obviously prepared for a surrender! In the fort were also found four R.A.F. personnel overjoyed at their liberation, thirty Algerians, who, as one of them said, expected to be taken away as slaves, and a few French girls, who stated that they had been looking after the comfort of the Germans, and thirty Italians. C.Q.M.S Burnett was very quickly on the spot with "D" company's three-tonner to take advantage of a very well stocked cellar. He was hotly pursued by all the other C.Q.MS.s."

For the rest of 1944, 2nd Battalion advanced with the Canadian Army through Belgium and into the Netherlands, fighting numerous minor engagements along the way, and ended the year at Elst, between Utrecht and Arnhem.

On 24th June 1944 43rd Reconnaissance Regiment were aboard MT 41, the troopship DERRY CUNIHY, just off the Normandy coast when a mine exploded against the hull. Major Desmond Scarr recalled:-

"The troops were still below and most of us in bed when a violent shudder shook the ship. I saw the wash-basin on the wall of my cabin fly off its brackets and end up on the floor. I had no idea what had happened but presumed we had had a direct hit from one of the coastal guns. As I started to throw on my clothes my cabin mate, the sailor, who had been on duty, rushed in and out shouting "Quick - you have no time to dress - get out!" However, I completed dressing which took a few seconds and went out on to the deck. I quickly came to a yawning gap of several yards and in front of me was a scene from Dante's Inferno which I simply could not grasp. The stern part of the ship had fallen away and was low in the water. On the as yet unsubmerged deck, part of which was in flames, lay several bodies. An ammunition truck near mew was on fire and feeling rather useless in that there was no way one could reach the stricken part of the ship, I turned a water hose onto the vehicle. Soon small arms ammunition started to explode, adding to the general mayhem. Shortly after that we were told to get aboard a small craft which had come alongside."

The regiment lost 180 dead and 150 wounded in the disaster but, with reinforcements and replacements, was operational by the end of the month. 43rd Division had already been sent into action in the Normandy bocage, with 43rd Reconnaissance Regiment joining them to act to front and flanks at Mont Pincon, the Rivers Ornes and Noireau, and crossing the Seine on 26th/27th August. To reach the Seine the regiment had raced 120 miles in 20 hours but, once across the Bailey bridge erected by the Royal Engineers, 43rd Recce had a worrying few hours. The Regimental chaplain, the Reverend J.E. Gethyn-Jones (who would be awarded an MBE for his bravery during the sinking of the DERRY CUNIHY) recalled:-

"Soon after crossing R.H.Q. and part of 'A' Squadron and some attached arms (A/A and A/Tk) received marked attention from Boche mortars and there were 12 casualties. During this "stonking" the bridge was hit and temporarily put out of action and the counter attack was on. Prisoners reported that some Boche reserves had been rushed up by cycle from Beauvais. A few Cromwell tanks, four I think, were ferried over that afternoon - what a heartening sight they were - and slowly but surely the bridgehead (the first British bridgehead over the Seine) was widened as the Infantry followed up and occupied the villages and positions that the Squadrons had cleared in ands around the Forest."

43rd Recce continued to perform its allotted task during the liberation of France, Belgium and the Netherlands, including the Market-Garden campaign in September, and ended 1944 at Heerlen in the Netherlands.


Picture: Soldiers advancing inland from the Normandy beaches. Thought to be "B" Company, 2nd Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment.

1944 - Front Line Frankie & Vinegar Joe

In February 1944 10th Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment arrived from India on the Arakan Peninsula in Burma. The battalion had been formed in 1940, and in April 1942 had been converted to 159 Regiment Royal Armoured Corps. The new tank regiment had arrived in India in December 1942 and joined 32nd Indian Armoured Division, but in March 1943, it was converted back to infantry and the 10th Gloucesters were reborn. The battalion was part of 72nd Brigade together with 6th South Wales Borderers and 9th Royal Sussex, and 72nd Brigade came under the command of 36th Division, led by Major General F.W. Festing, who later became affectionately known to the troops as "Front Line Frankie".

36th Division found itself under XV Corps, Fourteenth Army and, during the initial phase of the Arakan offensive in February 1944, was held in reserve. They took part in the successful relief effort during the battle of the Admin Box, and in March and April 10th Battalion took part in the resumed offensive before the monsoon set in. This part of the fighting involved the capture of two railway tunnels which had been occupied as fortresses by the Japanese, and the capture of Hambone Hill, near Point 551. Lieutenant Gardner recalled a few months later several incidents that took place during the Battle for Hambone Hill:-

"I went up into the centre of the position and was soon chatting to the Platoon commander. His story, briefly, was that they had reached the North Feature without trouble and on the arrival of the second platoon - commanded by a Sergeant - the Patrol Commander had sent them through to see what was on the South Feature. They approached down the west side and reached the summit without seeing anything. Then the leading Scout (a Pte.Venn who received the M.M. for his part in this battle) looked over the top and saw two Japs, stark naked, sitting on the edge of a trench. He coolly walked over the top and shot them both, and then advanced towards a bunker position beyond. Grenades started to rain on him, but miraculously did him no harm. He in turn threw his grenades at the slits in the bunker but unfortunately failed to hit them. The rest of his section came up and fired a bit, but owing to the proximity of darkness they decided to withdraw as the position was a very strong one. This they did, and in such good order that there were no casualties and no one was even lost.

"They then consolidated the North Feature and waited for darkness. The Japs' first effort was a bold advance down the saddle between the features, throwing grenades which proved to be comparatively harmless, being used more for the noise effect apparently. . . . The attack was easily beaten off as were all the rest of the attacks which were put in, on and off, all night. Thanks to their thorough consolidation, no casualties at all were received. Although daylight showed no Jap bodies, they knew that several had been shot at point blank range and a good deal of groaning etc. had been heard. The Japs must have removed all their casualties as they went back."

In May 36th Division was moved into Reserve at Shillong, and in July the Division was transferred to the American General "Vinegar" Joe Stilwell's Northern Combat Command, operating out of China into northern Burma. The entire 36th Division was flown from Ledo to Myitkyina in a five day airlift. The Japanese held city of Myitkyina had long been under siege but the capture of its airfield by Merrill's Marauders allowed reinforcements to be sent to the Stilwell's army. Major Richard Butler of 10th Battalion described the Gloucesters' flight in and their first meeting with their new American general:-

"As the Japanese held absolute air superiority over Myitkyina, I felt I ought to ask what protection we had whilst flying in. There was a long silence on this, and then the suggestion was made that we stuck the Bren gun through one of the Dakota's windows ands shot down the fighters. I thought I had better not tell the advanced party about this until we got into the aircraft.

"Next day we had a pleasant quiet flight over thick jungle country until, eventually, we saw two high plumes of blackish smoke ascending into the sky. This turned out to be Myitkyina airfield and the smoke was arising from two aircraft blazing on the runway. As soon as we landed we were met by a very excited party, who said the Jap fighters had just left, after shooting up the two planes. As they were expected back any minute we were hurried off the airfield and put behind a large stack of something for our protection."

After a short but strenuous march the advance party of 10th Battalion arrived at their camp later in the day:-

". . . We had all settled down and I had just marked out the area for each company when three jeeps arrived. Out of the first one got the famous General Stilwell, "Vinegar Joe", who had come to "Greet the British." The general was a small thin man dressed in American combat uniform with a rifle slung over his shoulder. We fell in on parade and he asked me the name of my Regiment. When I said it was The GLOSTERS he said "He was mighty pleased," and then gave us a most comprehensive talk on the County of Gloucestershire in general, and about Broadway down to the last detail. We were all dumbfounded. He then said to me, "Say, how many of your Boys come from Gloucestershire?" Now, this was a very awkward question to be asked suddenly as my party was composed of five members from each company, it was a wartime battalion, and I had only seen the other companies' representatives the night before. I did not wish to tell the General that I did not know, so I said "50% Sir." With that the old devil turned towards my party and said "All those boys that come from Gloucestershire, put up their hands." I hardly dared look up to see the result, but when I did I was very glad to see exactly 50% with their hands up. Vinegar Joe then went round and counted them himself. This guess really impressed the General and he could not have given us a more cordial farewell. After he had gone I complimented my advanced party on getting the percentage exactly right. I had a feeling that they must have overheard the General’s conversation."

The task that fell to 36th Division was to establish a road link to the south, all the way back to Ledo, from where they had flown. The first objective given to General Festing by Stilwell was Taungni which, after a long march by the division through difficult country following the line of the jeep railway line and some opposition, fell on 19th August. 10th Battalion lost many more men to sickness than combat, although numbers were restored somewhat after a period of rest. The British were soon to come up against the veteran Japanese 18th Imperial Division, which had taken Singapore in 1942. At Pinwe, 10th Battalion was to have a hard fight against these troops during November.

In the morning of 22nd November 72nd Brigade with 10th Battalion began its assault after the enemy positions had been softened up by artillery and air attack. Progress was slow, through difficult bamboo country. The Japanese launched several counter-attacks, and for a time the Gloucesters were isolated. Some of the fighting is described by Major Butler:-

"The company repulsed two counter-attacks from the left; luckily the enemy gave away the direction of his attack by shouting "Banzai" before coming in. "B" Company suffered many casualties from snipers in the trees whilst digging in on the near bank of the chaung [stream]. The trees in this area were ideal for snipers. Twenty feet above the ground the trunk divided into arms; this formed a natural bowl in the middle and the bowl area was overgrown with ferns. A sniper could rest in safety in the bowl, and so get excellent concealment from the ferns whilst firing. The company commander, Major Steadman, and his two subalterns were killed during this period. Major Steadman had commanded "B" company for three years and his death was a great loss to the battalion. The only remaining officer in "B" Company provided some comic relief to the battle. After consolidating his Company, he reported at Battalion Headquarters fully armed and equipped, but minus his trousers. These had been ripped off when struggling through the bamboo during the advance. He explained that he felt very vulnerable without his trousers, and could someone lend him a pair."

The Gloucesters were relieved on 26th November, and Pinwe fell two days later. By the end of the year 10th Battalion were across the Irrawaddy and concentrated at Kunchaung.

Picture: The Jeep Railway, Northern Burma, 1944.

1945 - Holland & Germany

As the war in Europe entered its final phase, both 2nd Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment and 43rd Reconnaissance Regiment (ex 5th Gloucesters) stood poised to complete the liberation of the Netherlands and to invade Germany. In the Far East, 10th Battalion were fighting in Burma and 1st Battalion were on internal security duties in Italy.

44th Royal Tank Regiment (ex 6th Gloucesters) were at Zomeren in the Netherlands, and 50th Royal Tank Regiment (also ex 6th Gloucesters) were in Greece, recently arrived from the Italian Front. 66th Searchlight Regiment (ex 4th Gloucesters) were in Essex, helping to defend London against the V.1. offensive, and 7th Battalion were engaged in home security duties in Norfolk. 8th, 9th and 70th (Young Soldiers) Battalions had all been disbanded earlier in the war without ever having gone overseas, and 118th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment (ex 11th Gloucesters) had been disbanded in India in 1943. The nineteen battalions of the Gloucestershire Home Guard had been stood down in November 1944.

During the Battle of the Reichswald in February and March 1945 the armoured cars of 43rd Recce with 43rd (Wessex) Division were under the command of Canadian First Army, probing and engaging enemy positions along the Dutch-German border from Cleve to Xanten. Cole Packer and J. Groves recorded one such engagement in their "Record of a Reconnaissance Regiment", which took place during a patrol on the edge of the Reichswald:-

". . .6 Troop [B Squadron] was in the lead, commanded by Lieut Joslin, and supported by three tanks. Approaching Niederdam, everything appeared to be quiet, but when the cars were well in among the houses Lt Joslin suddenly saw a German officer with a plate of breakfast in his hand. Then things began to happen. Bazookas [Panzerfausts or Panzerschrecks] opened up, and three cars were knocked out, leaving Lt Joslin's car and the leading car undamaged. Among those missing as a result of this action were Sgt Renvoize, Tprs Hayward and Hodes. As Lieut Joslin withdrew he saw a German half-track appear along a side track, and he brewed it up with a shot from his 37mm. Strangely enough the leading car, turning round, and picking up some of the crew of the cars which had been knocked out, succeeded in withdrawing to safety.

"Meanwhile the supporting tanks had fared worse, and an S.P. gun had knocked out all three of them. It was evident that the enemy was holding the area strongly, and B Squadron was withdrawn."

43rd Recce crossed the Rhine into Germany on 27th March and ended the war just short of Bremerhaven.

2nd Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment with 49th Division spent most of the miserable winter of 1944/45 on the "Island" among the flooded fields of Holland, at Elst between Nijmegen and Arnhem. The liberation of the Netherlands after the failure of Operation Market Garden was long and difficult, attracting little of the resources or publicity afforded to other sectors of the Western Front. If 49th Division had acquired the sobriquet "The Polar Bear Butchers" from the German propaganda machine during 1944, then they had acquired from a different source the sobriquet of "The Lost Sheep" in 1945. The Bristol Evening World of 10th April 1945, paraphrased the words of Captain Hedley Holgate of 2nd Battalion who:-

". . . attributed the title to other divisions which passed through the area several times and always found "The Lost Sheep" sitting around Nijmegen and besieging Arnhem. The battalion itself had had a static but tough winter in and around Nijmegen "island" and had had several short and sharp engagements with the Germans."

Nevertheless, it was 2nd Battalion with the rest of 56th Brigade who, with a range of air, artillery and specialized armour and engineer support, finally captured Arnhem in a well-planned amphibious operation between 12th/13th April. The preparatory moves were described by Lieutenant Burkart:-

"During the day of the 12th April, Typhoon attacks were made by the R.A.F. on various targets connected with the operation, including the area of the fort, which was shot-up with rockets. At 8.40 p.m. - H hour minus two - the timed artillery programme began, reaching a crescendo during the last hour. The artillery support itself was provided on a reasonably heavy scale - not as great as during some previous operations - but two especial features were the use of "mattresses" and the "pepper-pot". The "mattress" was a land based version of the multiple rockets fired from naval craft during the Normandy invasion, and one "mattress" had a very much greater effect than a normal shoot by a regiment of artillery. The "pepper-pot" was the use of all spare weapons under divisional command - in this case including heavy mortars, machine guns, A/tank, tank, and A.A. artillery - in a harassing role on the back areas of Arnhem. The purpose was to frustrate any movement or concentration of reinforcements, ammunition or supplies and was aimed at likely targets, rather than confirmed centres of enemy defence. In this way too it was possible to bluff the enemy as to the direction of the attack, without at any time sparing any of the targets essential to its prosecution."

2nd Battalion were still in the Netherlands at the end of the war in May, having seen further actions against the Dutch S.S., and only entered Germany on 25th May nearly three weeks after the German surrender. Here they were based firstly at Soest, and then Berlin until they returned home in October 1946.

The prisoners of war who had been captured in 1940 and who had managed to survive their period of incarceration, were already home. Conditions for the prisoners, which had been good in the early stages of the war, were appalling by 1945. One survivor was Private H.R. Tarrant of 2nd Battalion, who had an extraordinary journey home after his German captors abandoned him in his sick-bed with frostbite on 22nd January. After much travelling, considerable hardship, and various adventures, and but little help from the Russians, he met at Krosno (after leaving a Polish friend sick in hospital there) another Pole who spoke perfect English and who wanted to go to Britain. (Private Tarrant's spelling of place names is often quirky and they are sometimes unidentifiable):-

". . . We hitch-hiked by lorry back to Kracow to get him registered as a British soldier and myself as his cousin (who only spoke French and Polish) at the Church Mission. I registered myself as George Smith, Gloucester Regt., Home Address: 21 St Paul's Road, Salisbury, Wilts. I cannot remember what name I gave him to tell them. We stopped at a Resistance House in Kracow two days. We then went by goods train back to Crosnoi. We waited a week for my friend to come out of hospital. He had T.B. - we did not tell him. We left. I was in charge (taking all risks with their papers on me) and hitch-hiked across the border into a little village in Czechoslovakia and stopped the night. We left by train, and arrived at Kosetta where the civilian population would not have anything to do with us. We could not go on because of curfew hours. So we had to approach the Russian Embassy for a night's sleep and food, trusting it would not be found out that among us were two Poles. I had learnt a little Russian and spoke German very well. The English-speaking Pole acted as interpreter. We were taken to a cafe and the Russian with us demanded a meal for us. We were then taken to a house where the people spoke English, but I did all the answering and covered us all; my [Russian] friend was worried to death. I told him not to worry; if anything happened I would say he did not know they were Poles but thought they were Angleechan, that is Russian for English. We were fetched in the morning and given tobacco and paper money and then told we were being given an escort. We thought it was to cross the corner nearest Yugoslavia, crossing both Hungary and Czechoslovakian borders.

"No fear, we were being taken to Moscow; we left on horse and sleigh and travelled daily until arriving at Norcsans.

"In the morning we were on a lorry. We stopped at different places en route, the only one I can remember was Sannok. We went through one place that hardly had a brick left standing. I think it was Jazelow, that was, before we reached Sannok. We arrived at Lemberg (Lwow) at 4 p.m.; the lorry was dumped. We were left on the station by the guard to await the 5.30 p.m. train to Moscow. A stationmaster came up and I was informed by the interpreter that when the guard returned he was to see him as we were not to board the train. . . . [The] Following morning we were taken before the British Military Mission Security who had arrived at Lemberg two days before. I was told I was taking a great risk with my two Polish patriots but was told what to do on being interrogated by Russians. . . . We left here by train for Odessa but went via Kiev so as our escort could have a day at home. We arrived at Odessa and were put in barracks with a few hundred P.O.W's (dated approx March 29th 1945). We were interrogated and I got these Poles through without quaking in my shoes. We were given our boat ticket and left Odessa on April 15th.

"We stopped at Naples, picking up wounded soldiers and an escort and convoy. We stopped at Gibraltar, eventually landing in Glasgow about 28th April. I left these two Poles on board the S.S. Nieu Holland and have never heard from them since. I should like to know how they are getting on.

"I went with several other British soldiers to 110 Clearance Camp, Haslemere, Surrey. I went on leave from there arriving home in May (V.E. Day)."



Picture: Field Marshal Montgomery inspecting 2nd Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment, Soest, 1945.

1945 - The End of the War in South-East Asia

36th Division with its two British Brigades, the 29th and the 72nd, renewed their advance south towards Mandalay on the left bank of the Irrawaddy in January 1945, after a short delay imposed by unseasonal monsoon conditions. Their first target was Mongmit, almost a hundred miles away. 10th Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment was, as ever, with 72nd Brigade and advancing through the teak forests of the Shan, becoming engaged in a series of short, sharp fights with the Japanese around Mabein. 36th Division was now reinforced with the addition of the newly arrived troops of 26th Indian Brigade, and was soon to become the target of Japanese forces operating out of Mongmit. The Japanese intended to destroy 36th Division at Myitson, on a bend in the Shweli River.

That February, 26th Indian Brigade and the much weakened 10th Battalion, which was now down to little over 250 men, were to become involved in the severe fighting that was the battle of Myitson. The strong, but untried, 26th Brigade led the attack on Myitson on 1st February, which failed, trying again on the 8th. This time they were successful and established a defensive perimeter which was subjected to a violent series of Japanese counter-attacks. From 11th February the Gloucesters were fed in over the next two days to the support of the beleaguered 26th Brigade. The jungle fighting was fierce and confused, troop movements hampered by tall elephant grass. At one time "D" Company was separated from the rest of the Battalion and both were cut off. In their account Majors Wills and Collier recalled:-

"15th February. 26 Bde HQ withdrew early in the morning and the battalion, less "D" Company, concentrated in the battalion headquarters area, salvaging as much food and ammunition as possible from the Bde dump. ["A" and] "C" Company were in contact with the enemy during the withdrawal and suffered 3 wounded.

"The battalion, less "D" Company, had been cut off from the River by Japanese snipers, and it was decided to withdraw some 400 yds to the North and form a perimeter on the river bank preparatory to a further advance the next day. As much rations and ammunition as possible were carried and the remainder buried or destroyed. The battalion dug in on the bank of the SHWELI and spent an uneventful night.

"During the 15th February, "D" Company were shelled intermittently and repulsed several small harassing attacks without suffering any casualties.

"16th February. At first light the battalion moved off down a narrow track through thick and tall elephant grass. "A" Company were leading and after a series of "leap-frog" moves, "A" Company contacted "D" Company at 0930 hrs, no opposition having been met.

"D" Company held the NAMMEIK CHAUNG crossing for 4 days, and the feelings of the men, when relieved, can well be imagined. The only supplies received by "D" Company during this period were brought across the Chaung on the night of 15th/16th February.

"D" Company claimed 40 enemy casualties - 20 killed, including 3 officers, and 20 wounded."

The battle of Myitson came to a climax on the 17th February, before the Japanese melted away, defeated. 10th Battalion, already weak at the start of the action had lost 2 officers and 117 men. 26th Brigade's casualties had been of a proportionately similar order of magnitude. Lance-Corporal Ronald Spreadbury noted in his diary on 18th February:-

"Good news this morning, about 250 Japs killed in yesterday's attack. Supplies are flown in, food and ammo were very short, all O.K. now. Plenty of aircraft about. Gunners blow up food and ammo dump at old position."

It had been a magnificent feat of arms by the soldiers on the ground, but the conduct of the battle led to some savage recriminations at the top, and the colonel of 10th Battalion was sacked. Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Butler, who had long been with the battalion, had only recently been promoted and taken over from Lieutenant-Colonel Hose. He wrote a long and detailed analysis of the battle and its aftermath, explaining and justifying his own actions while being highly critical in particular of the commander of 26th Indian Brigade, Brigadier Jennings. According to Butler, Jennings "was a gunner who knew little about Infantry tactics. He was brand new and a great talker."

Both Butler and Jennings wrote their own reports after the battle, which were passed up to General Festing. Lieutenant-Colonel Butler bitterly concluded his analysis with the "Finale":-

". . . The Brigadier [Jennings] read my report. He said it was untrue; he was always a blusterer when he got rattled. He was very worried when he read my story. He then took away his original report and re-wrote it to correspond a little with mine.

"After reading my story he made a much better effort at twisting the facts to suit himself. However, if I could have talked to the General [Festing], I knew that I could point out all the discrepancies between the two reports, and my witnesses would prove me right. What I did not know, was the Comd. 26 Bde had told a wonderful story of how he skilfully got out of his perimeter with a perfectly worked out rearguard scheme. He had handed over to me, without hurry, fuss, casualties or loss.

"My coy. commander of "A" Coy had also told the Brig. how I withdrew "B" Coy about 50 yards to hold the rear shoulders of 26 Bde perimeter on the higher ground, and how he and "C" Coy had to fight their way back unaided. The brigadier, not knowing the ground or what happened, had invented his story of :- "Retiring to the Shweli river perimeter and leaving "A" & "C" Coys fighting" from this story of the Coy comd of "A" Coy. The brigadier's story had no grain of truth in it, as O.C. "A" Coy would have told him if asked. He had gone on leave before I was recalled.

"The parting words of the Brigadier to me were: "Either you or I have got to go, and it is you in this case." I thought, if I get a fair hearing, it will be YOU.

"At Divisional H.Q. -

"The divisional commander [Festing] wrote his report, chucked the papers on the floor, and told his D.A.A.G. that that was finished. He said the brigadier has made comments on my story in a second report (I had not seen) and said, "if he wants to read it and comment on it give him some paper and a pen."

"The General was usually a very fair man and I was flabbergasted. I knew him; I was one of his C.O.s, and he had been most friendly four days before. Now I was treated like a small office boy, thrown out without being allowed a word in my defence."

10th Gloucesters, who had trained as an armoured regiment in India, and who had then trained instead for combined operations, had been sent into the fighting in Burma with 72nd Brigade completely untrained for infantry jungle fighting. What the battalion had learned had been learned on campaign and on the field of battle, at great human cost in sick, wounded and killed.

After Myitson, 36th Division continued its march south - Mongmit, the ruby mines of Mogok, and finally, Mandalay, to which 72nd Brigade were carried by air ahead of the rest of the Division in April. For a brief while, 36th Division came under the command of Lieutenant-General Bill Slim's Fourteenth Army but in May returned to India, where 10th Battalion was to remain for the rest of the war.

Following the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered on 15th August 1945. Lance-Corporal Spreadbury's diary laconically records:-

"Japs ask for peace. What news. We celebrate with the next three days off."


Picture: Private Hale, Corporal Foreman, Private Crossley, Corporal Bent and Lance-Corporal Lawrence at Poona, 1945, with the Japanese flag captured at Taungye in 1944 by Corporal Bent.

1946 - The Badminton Blue Danube

Unlike its sister 2nd Battalion, 1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars had not seen service overseas during the Second World War, but had been used for home defence and as an armoured training regiment. With the end of the war in Europe they began training for the war against Japan but, to their disappointment, their services were not required after the dropping of the atomic bombs. 2nd Lieutenant George Brown had joined the regiment in the summer of 1945 at Bury St Edmunds:-

"The regiment was equipped with Churchill tanks, many of them with flamethrowers fixed at the front of the tank, next to the driver. There were also two troops of light Stuart tanks for reconnaissance, one troop commanded by Ralph Carr-Ellison and one by myself. Intensive battle training culminated in live ammunition exercises on Thetford Battle range.

"We had reached a high state of training and expectation when we heard that the atom bomb had been dropped and peace was declared. We were heartbroken!"

Instead, in December 1945 they were sent to Austria as part of the British Army of Occupation, with Shermans replacing their Churchills and Churchill Crocodiles, and assigned as the Divisional Cavalry Regiment of 46th Division. The long journey took them through Italy through to Graz from where the squadrons were dispersed over a wide area. The winter months were spent in felling and delivering large amounts of lumber to fuel Vienna; ski-ing (being trained by former German army ski instructors); and various other more frivolous activities. The cavalry traditions of the Regiment were not forgotten either, as the Regimental Newsletter of January 1946 described:-

"A small establishment of 20 horses has been allowed, partially for recreational purposes, partially as they may be useful for patrolling the more inaccessible places when the weather is again open.

"These horses we took over from the 10th Hussars and, since then, have another 15, some useful animals amongst them, which the Colonel obtained from the North Irish Horse. If there is racing in the summer we should have some useful entries.

"We are planning a regimental horse Show to select our entries for the Divisional events, which will be followed by an international show in Vienna in late July. At the moment, the horses are all kept as a troop at Piber, three miles from R.H.Q. Novices' riding courses are being organized, and already 40 men who have hardly ever ridden before have reached a stage when they are jumping and can ride with fair confidence. We are lucky in having the large covered riding school where the Grey Lipizanas [sic] used to be trained, Piber being the original stud farm for the Vienna Spanish High School."

British soldiers wandered far and wide over the countryside, sightseeing as well as being engaged in more serious work. One group of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars got as far as Prague, and received a rapturous welcome from all whom they met there, the citizens of Prague being fearful of the prospect of Communist rule, and expressing their heartfelt conviction that Czechoslovakia belonged to the democratic West. But the focus of everyone's attention was upon war-torn Vienna, with Russian, American, British and French soldiers everywhere, and was described by a hussar of the RGH Recce Troop:-

"Though the war has left a never to be erased mark on Austria's capital, though the Viennese see Allied flags flying all over their great buildings, one feels and I think hopes that some day Vienna will be gay again. During their leisure time members of the detachment found their entertainment well catered for, and there were several excellent canteens. It was strange to stand before the rather unimposing exterior of the Theater an der Wien and realize that the first performance of Beethoven's "Fidelio" was given there.

"We visited the Danube and found it, in winter, desolate, and belying its description, a grey brown in colour.

"As might be imagined, Strauss is heard everywhere, but also are sung typically Viennese suburban folk songs. These (Wienerlied) have no counterpart in England at all, and at times are light hearted and sad, but always pleasing to hear."

British Headquarters was at the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, and several military displays were held there during the British Occupation, the monetary proceeds going towards the children of Vienna, providing them with holidays. At the July Tattoo of 1946 the mounted detachment of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, in full dress and equipped with lances from which pennons fluttered, performed the intricacies of their Musical Ride to an appreciative audience.

The sight of foreign hussars in full dress as part of an occupying army was something that had not been seen at the heart of the old Habsburg Empire since Napoleon's troops had passed though in 1809. Then, the citizens of Vienna had turned their backs upon the showy parades of their conquerors, but this time it was different. The fashion for hussars that had begun in the Holy Roman Empire of Austria and Hungary, that had been taken up throughout Europe in the 18th century, and that had been hesitantly adopted in the United Kingdom during the Napoleonic Wars, had come full circle.


Picture: Captain Charles Risby at the head of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars in front of Schonbrunn Palace.

1948 - Amalgamation

1st Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment returned to England from India in 1947 and, reduced to cadre strength, was put into a state of "suspended animation". The Gloucesters had been the last British regiment to march through the streets of Delhi in the Victory Parade of 7th March 1946, prior to the independence the following year of India and Pakistan.

2nd Battalion had returned from Germany in October 1946, but within a few months were again overseas, stationed in Bermuda and Jamaica.

The pre-war and wartime Territorial and Service battalions had all been disbanded or still existed in other guises, except for one. 43rd Reconnaissance Regiment had been disbanded but on 1st March 1947 5th (Territorial) Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment was resurrected.

In 1948, as a result of the post war reduction in size of the army, and with the introduction of National Service, the decision was made that 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Gloucestershire Regiment were to be reorganised to form one battalion. All regiments of infantry of the line had been offered the choice of either amalgamating their two regular battalions or disbanding one of them. The amalgamation of the two Gloucester battalions took place in a ceremony on 21st September in Jamaica that was to create 1st Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment (28th/61st).

The formal parade took place with 2nd Battalion paraded at full strength and their Colours carried by Captains M.C. Dennison and T.S.W. Reeve-Tucker. The escort was commanded by Major A.J.A. Arengo-Jones. 1st Battalion's Colours, carried by Captain T.A.K. Dillon and Captain W.A. Wood, with the escort led by Major A.H. Knight, were then marched on parade and formed up opposite.

Both Colour Parties and escorts were inspected by His Excellency the Governor and Captain-General of Jamaica, Sir John Huggins KCMG MC, and in slow time both Colour Parties advanced to the centre of the Square where the Colour Bearers were changed over. This completed, both Colour Parties rejoined their escorts. 2nd Battalion's Colours were then marched off parade and the Amalgamation was complete.

Finally, before the new 1st Battalion was dismissed the old Colours of the old 1st Battalion were trooped. A large number of spectators witnessed this magnificent ceremony, which will be long remembered.


Picture: Colours and Trophies of 1st and 2nd Battalions in Jamaica, prior to amalgamation.