1/5th Battalion The Queens Royal West Surrey

Hi To Everyone,
Can anyone please, please help ? My Uncle Bernard Joseph Corbett 14760250 Of the above regiment was wounded in Europe some time before his death 7-5-45. He died in Walsall Manor Hospital on this date of disease while recovering from what my Dad has told me was machine gun wounds to his legs, He was 19. Our guess is he was probably wounded a month or so before this, so where were his Regiment at this time ? We believe it was probably some where just into Holland ! Not to make too much of this but my Dad and me would love to find out anything, I mean anything about it ! We are waiting at the moment for his service records from the army, but we have been told we will have to wait about 9 months.
Cheers
Tim

 

Hi Tim,

My Granddad served with the 1/6th Queens Royal West Surrey's
and was also wounded in Europe and died a month later of his
injuries in a military hospital in bath.

In 1945 the 1/5th Queens crossed the Rhine on the 28th March,
fought its way across North Germany and led the Desert Rats
into the ruins of Hamburg where they raised the regimental
flag on the town hall.

Going by the date you have given and saying that your Granddad
was probably wounded a month before his death he was more than
likely wounded somewhere around the Rhine in operation "Plunder"
or in the battle for the Ibbenburen Ridge where there was alot
of fierce fighting and sniper attacks.

Tim there are a couple of books that I recommend you get:

Churchills Desert Rats from Normandy to Berlin by Patrick Delaforce

The Desert Rats by Robin Neillands

In the first book there is alot of reference to your granddads regiment
like the following:

8th April 1945 - The Queens came up against the 20th SS Training Div
at Sudweyne and Kirchweyne 5 miles south-west of Bremen and had a bloody little battle. They killed fifteen SS, took fourteen more prisoners
but suffered thirteen casualties.

Like I said there is alot of reference to the 1/5th Queens in this book just like the above. I picked this book up for £2.00 on ebay.

I hope I have been of some help and I hope you get your Granddads service
papers soon.


Regards
Kieron

 

Hi,

The 1/5th Queen's were part of 131 Brigade of 7th (Armoured) Division. The Division was in Holland until the end of 1944, and from January 1945 took part in the Operations that led to the invasion of Germany. In the final phase of operations from 15 April to 7 May the Division was in the advance to the Elbe in Germany itself.

A good memoir of this unit is Rex Wingfield's So Few Got Through; it is out of print (came out in the 50s) but can be found at:

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/

Wingfield served with 1/6th Queens (?I think) in the same Brigade.

And a useful web source is:

http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/1661t.../ww2queens.html

Your best bet is to contact the MOD for his service record; some helpful advice on tracing WW2 soldiers on my website at:

http://battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/tracing_ww2_soldiers.htm