4th Hussars
Thought the members may be interested in his site I stumbled across. It's about somebody's uncle who served with the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars and 4th Queens Own Hussars during World War 2. Some pics of people who were killed on Coriano Ridge in 1944 which Tom should find interesting to say the least.
The site is http://www.tartanpixel.com/hussars/chums.asp/
Click on the photos link for even more photos.
The site is http://www.tartanpixel.com/hussars/chums.asp/
Click on the photos link for even more photos.
posted by Ronmac at 2:44 am
7 Comments:
Ronmac -
Those elusive 2nd RGH - I had a case recently where someone's uncle was buried outside of Algiers way after all the fighting had ceased and both Peter and I have researched this case and can find no record of the 2nd RGH being in the desert - but here we have photographic proof albeit early desert days indicating 1st Armoured Div. with Matilda's and Grant's.
4th hussars - Ron Goldstein's mob were also in 1st Armoured and are recognised as such when they joined us at Coriano in around the 3rd september when the Canadian Corps was running short of steam - and Gen Leese finally gave us reinforcements, it still took another three weeks - it would appear their first casualty was on the 5th september.
The 1st Armoured was broken up for spares at the end of October, after the Winter line was being set up on the Senio - Ron's mob of 4th Hussars was spared the axe as they were Churchill's mob from the BOWER WAWWER and they finally joined a real fighting outfit in 6th Armoured in Osterreich as can be seen from their lolling about at Lakeside and swanning around on boats at Trieste as the photo of Ron proves ! ..... and the next comment will be from.... ?
Which Cdm ubits did the 4th Hussars provide support for? Reading the war diaries of the 4th Hussars they seemed to be in close contact with the Cdns around 4/5 Sept 44. The Cdn 1st Inf Brigade seemded to have a loy of casualties during these two days.
Also did you see the page dedicated to Trooper Creswell who died on Sept 5/44?
Tom
We unfortunately seem to have got our wires crossed. You say that you and I can find no record of 2 RGH being in Africa. I have checked back on all my emails and find that you asked me, in a series of emails, about "2nd Batt Gloucesters" [sic]. The 2nd Gloucesters are an infantry battalion and they were not in North Africa. It was the infantry battalion that I looked up for you. :(
As for the 2nd Royal Gloucester Hussars, they were in 22nd Armoured Brigade from 3 September 1939 to 16 September 1942.
2 RGH along with the rest of the brigade went to Egypt 15 August 1941, arriving there on 2 October. From 8 November 1941 to 22 January 1942 they were in Lybia, then back and forth between Egypt and Lybia as the line ebbed and flowed.
The brigade was in the following battles:
18 November - 10 December 1941 Tobruk.
Then in 1942:
26 May - 21 June Gazala
26 June - 30 June Mersa Matruh
1 July - 27 July Defence of Alamein Line
30 August - 7 September Alam el Halfa
As I said above, 2RGH left the 22nd Armoured Brigade a week later and were then under the direct command of HQ Eighth Army for the Battle of El Alamein (23 October - 4 November). They remained with HQ 8th Army until 9 December when they joined 24th Armoured Brigade in Egypt, remaining with them until 15 January 1943.
I am very impressed with the link Ronmac has posted and I have added it and their photo album direct link to our permanent links.
Gents
The Tartanpixel is well known to me, in fact if you scan down the pics you will see a couple of my pics that should be old hat to you :)
The squadron photo, in particular, has already been spotted by a few people who asked me for further details
Peter -
and therin lies the heart of the matter which has even CWGC confused as they make no distinction - Infantry or Hussars !
Also there is no mention of them being in 22nd Armoured bde being in Italy but only 11th Hussars - 1st and 5th RTR plus 4th Co of London Yeo.with 7th Armoured Div which went to the U.K. after Naples, after supporting 46th and 56th Divs at Salerno.
Ronmac - Ron's 4th Hussars were in 2nd Armoured Bde of 1st Armoured Div - but did not support the Canadians but by passed them at Coriano to the west and close to 46th and 56th divs but they found a hole between Croce and San Clemente around the 4/5th Sept but they even they did not make the Cerosolo ridge until the 17th when the Cdns broke through at San Martino, and by the 21st they were opposite Rimini.
TomCan
Which armoured units were in used to support the Cdns? The Irish Horse supported the 2nd Inf Brig. Who supported the Ist and 3rd Cdn Inf Brigades? Were these armoured units part of the same armoured brigade in the same division? Or did they mix and match from different brigades and different divsions?
Ronmac -
After Ortona - Monty fired the newly equipped 5th Cdn Armoured div for upsetting his favoured 1st Cdn Div...so the 21st and 25th British Tank Brigades were volunteered to support the Cdn 1st Div.
The 25th TB drew the short straw for the Gustav and Hitler Line battles and the 21stTB were placed in reserve alongside the 5th Cdn Div.We spent some time at Presenzano just south of Cassino.
The North Irish of the 25TB plus the 51st RTR supported the 2nd Cdn bde all through the Liri valley with 142 RAC following behind even when they lost 28 tanks in the first half hour - it was ONLY 24.8 % of total Tanks in action !
After Rome - the 21st TB Took over and the 25th TB retired for a rest
- at the Gothic Line the 145th RAC supported the 2nd bde - the 48th RTR took on the 1st bde and the 12th RTR took on the 3rd bde - now and again - depending on casualties changes were made and one attack we had the Vandoos from 3rd Bde for a while, and the Hasty Pees from 1st bde. All depended on the prevailing situation.
When we faltered at Coriano - the 25th TB came back into line along with 1st armoured Div, 4th British and 4th Indian with 10th Indian way over to the west of the line the New Zealanders also came in alongside 1st Cdn.to the east.
No other Tank units supported the Canadian 1st Div except the 21st TB. all the way through to the senio. After the Cdns left in the Jan '45 for NW Europe, we then took on the 10th Indian div. as the 4th Indian had gone off to Greece.
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