9th Queen's Royal Lancers "A" Squadron

Discussion in 'Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy' started by Keith Lockitt, Oct 19, 2014.

  1. Keith Lockitt

    Keith Lockitt Junior Member

    Hello Everyone,

    My Dad served in North Africa and Italy but died very young (only 54 years of age) so he never really had the opportunity to talk about it all that much. I would dearly like to flesh out what history I do know - especially if some specifics could be unearthed. One of my problems is that I can't completely make sense of his service record in the light of what I do know about his history.

    Dad always mentioned the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers - "A" Squadron - and I have photos of him in Italy with others from that Squadron - in fact I'll attach a great one with his handwriting on it, of him with the squadron having Christmas dinner in Italy in 1945. If anyone is interested in the photo I can email them one in a higher resolution.

    Where I'm a bit confused is that he definitely served in North Africa (and was awarded the Africa Star with 1st Army clasp) however he was not posted to the 9th Lancers until 11.11.44 which was when they were already in Italy. Prior to the 9th Lancers he had been with the 16/5th Lancers since 06.03.43 but those postings appear to be domestic, although I may be reading them incorrectly. I'm not sure how his North Africa service fits in with that.

    His service record states:

    Posted to 16/5th Lancers 20.07.42
    Posted to Garrison Base Depot 06.03.43
    Posted to No1 Delivery Squadron 13.03.43
    Posted to Royal Armoured Corps Training Depot 15.12.43
    Posted to No1 Armoured Reinforcement Regiment 19.10.44
    Posted to 9th Lancers 11.11.44

    ...and subsequent entries up to his release to the Army Reserves in February 1948

    I would love to hear from anyone who could enlighten me about this and help me trace his likely movements during his period of service. His name was John Lockitt on the off chance that someone out there actually served with him. Even if I could work out when he would have arrived in and departed from North Africa and then his arrival in Italy, that would be a help.

    Thanks in advance for any help.

    Keith L.
     
  2. 4jonboy

    4jonboy Daughter of a 56 Recce

    Hello and welcome to the forum Keith.
    I presume you have just received the service records? Do they contain the forms B103? which are the service and casualty forms.
    The reason I am asking is because these forms give much more information about the movements.
    Could you post the forms you have received on the forum if it is not too personal please? We can help decipher them :)

    Lesley

    Edited, typo
     
  3. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    The 16th/5th Lancers served in North Africa from November 22nd, 1942 until the Axis surrender in Tunisia on on May 12th, 1943. The regiment was part of the 26th Armoured Brigade of 6th Armoured Division.
     
  4. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Dryan67

    Then the 16/5th landed in Italy in January '44 - and took part in the Cassino 2 battle at the station supporting the kiwi 28th
    Maori battalion and the rest of 6th armoured followed later - after ROME they joined XIII corps to Arezzo and Florence- returning to

    8th Army for the last push to the PO ending the war at the aptly named "Finale" township then on to Austria until 1947 when it went

    off to lybia…..

    9th Lancers were part of 2nd AB of 1st AD -which didn't do so well at the Gothic and was broken up for spares around Oct '44

    Cheer
     
  5. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Hello and welcome to the forum. Here's the war diary page the day he joined the 9 Lancers. I wonder if he joined the regiment with Major Price?

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  6. Keith Lockitt

    Keith Lockitt Junior Member

    Thank you so much for your responses. I had no idea the war diaries were so accessible or carried so much detail - I can smell the fuel and hear the squeak of the tracks. What happened the next day Drew?

    I have had Dad's Service Record since 1997 4jonboy but, from memory, there were no other documents with it - certainly don't have a B103 and have never seen one. I have his medals and low quality copies of his Release Leave Certificate (Form X 202/A) and Certificate of Transfer to the Army Reserve (Form X 202/B).

    Happy to post any of the above (not too personal) but I don't think they reveal too much other than his very favourable conduct and testimonial (which I have not been able to emulate in my own life by the way) - I actually did attach the photo of A Squadron's Christmas Dinner but it doesn't seem to have appeared. I'll try again.

    9th Lancers Christmas Dinner Arzignano 1945.JPG

    Worked this time - Dad is the handsome dude in the middle-front.

    Thanks dryan67 and Tom for your insights, although I still don't have enough of an understanding of military structure and language to see how Dad's record meshes with this information. For example Tom, you say the 9th Lancers were broken up for parts around October 1944, but Dad was posted to them after this time (11th November 1944).

    Keith
     
  7. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Keith

    What I meant was that the 1st Armoured Division - of which 9th Lancers served in 2nd Brigade was broken up for spares- and 9th

    being a regular Regiment was held intact the same as 4th Hussars which became a troop carrying unit and served in various

    Divisions such as 56th and 78th at different times- forgotten which division the 9th went with….MANY territorial units were

    disbanded and scattered amongst other regular regiments- which is why I ended up in 16/5th Lancers.

    He was with 16/5h BEFORE they went to North Africa- do we know when he went to North Africa or Italy ….probably why it doesn't

    mesh - can you scan the records for us - then we can sort it all out…


    Cheers

    That Christmas Dinner of 1945 shows a regiment of the 6th Armoured division - I was with 16/5th at that time n have no recall of 9th Lancers being there
     
  8. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Keith

    as I recall when we are in Austria - we lost the Lothian and Border Horse as they were a territorial unit - later we lost the 17/21st Lancers as they had a job to do in Milan with VIP's etc - they were replaced by 4th Hussars who were replaced in june 1946 by
    the 1st Battalion Gloucester Regiment who had been in the UK all through the war nd by that time the 6th AD had also been broken up
    so didn't ned any other units to be attached…

    Must look up where that dinner was held…

    Cheers
     
  9. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Keith

    Thought so - that dinner was held away down in Italy between Vicenza and Verona - long way from Austria and why we didn't know

    of them being in the division…

    Cheers
     
  10. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  11. Keith Lockitt

    Keith Lockitt Junior Member

    Tom there is possibly a further complication to that dinner photo. On the front Dad has written 1945 but there is also writing on the back which is a bit harder to decipher and I think it says 1946, so it may have been a full year after, although it was definitely Christmas.

    I will attach Dad's Service Record, Release Leave Certificate (Form X 202/A) and Certificate of Transfer to the Army Reserve (Form X 202/B).

    Kind regards,

    Keith
     

    Attached Files:

  12. Keith Lockitt

    Keith Lockitt Junior Member

    Thanks Drew - love the story about the artist. "A" Squadron appears to have gone AWOL.
     
  13. 4jonboy

    4jonboy Daughter of a 56 Recce

    Hi Keith

    The typed records (you received in 1997) are basically just a summary of your father's service, which is what a lot of people got all those years ago.
    Nowadays when people apply they receive a lot more information (most of the time!) of their relatives movements.

    Since it is such a long time ago, I would suggest you re-apply and make sure you ask for the FULL records. They should fill in some of the gaps. Link here
    https://www.gov.uk/requests-for-personal-data-and-service-records

    Have a look at my father's records, a lot more info was provided
    [sharedmedia=gallery:albums:70]


    Lesley
     
  14. Keith Lockitt

    Keith Lockitt Junior Member

    Hi Lesley,

    For some reason it was a real bun-fight last time - I even ended up paying twice, so when I saw your post I initially wasn't warm to the idea of doing it all again (I'm in Australia by the way).

    However, I have not only taken your advice but I have got up a head of steam and now the application is already in the post. If you're surprised, you're not as surprised as me!

    Thanks for the motivation.

    Kind regards,

    Keith
     
    4jonboy likes this.
  15. Fran Sandham

    Fran Sandham Member

    Hi Keith,

    I just stumbled across this forum, and joined.

    Are you still researching your father's WW2 service with 9th Lancers? My late father (Ron 'Sandy' Sandham) was in 2nd Troop 'A' Squadron 9th Lancers at the same time as your father (in Italy), and knew him. I think your father was known as 'Jack' rather than 'John' in the Regiment. The Christmas dinner photo you posted was Christmas 1945 at Arzignano, Italy. My father (in a very unflattering shot!) is sitting directly in front of your father, turning round to look at the photographer. That same Christmas your father was in the Christmas Concert Party which my father organized (I have a photo of them both together with the 5 other guys in the concert party).

    Ron actually mentioned your father once in a letter, referring to an evening just before Christmas 1944,near Faenza in northern Italy: "The following evening I went into the town with Jack Lockitt. We went to a cinema and spent an hour or so in a canteen. It was such a pleasant evening that we took a long way back. As we arrived a couple of long-range shells came over so we went into the canteen for a while. Here I was informed that I was going to Rome at 6.30 the following morning ..."

    I'm currently trying to do some research myself on Ron's wartime service with the 9th Lancers, so I would be interested to hear how your own researches have gone, or if you have any info or photos you might care to share.

    Best wishes

    Fran Sandham
     
    Ramiles likes this.
  16. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

  17. Fran Sandham

    Fran Sandham Member

    Thanks Ramiles, I'll check it out.

    Best wishes,

    Fran
     

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