14368303 Edward Charles Williams, 8th Bn Royal Fusiliers

Looking for any information about my wife’s maternal grandfather Edward Charles Williams Army No 14368303. He was in the Royal Fusiliers (8th Battalion I think) and disembarked in Italy 27.01.1944. We know he fought at Cassino. His service record is very sparse. I plan on taking a look at the war diaries in National Archives later this month. Any info or advice much appreciated as we plan a trip later this year.

 

Ask minden1759 , he has plenty of info on them .
Gary Tankard has the war diaries.

 

JD123,

Welcome aboard.

By coincidence there is a current thread on the 8th RF / 8 RF, although the context for that member's research is Anzio. There are posts on general research and one book for the Italian campaign is mentioned: 8th battalion fusiliers (city of London) 2763107 Robert Williams

Your subject's number has not appeared here before.

If you search online with his unit(s) if known or later, so for example: "XXth Anti-Tank Regiment" site:ww2talk.com that may identify threads mentioning them, at a glance without adding much. If you drop the 'th' more may be found.

Searching the National Archives for the subject or unit(s) can identify those who were awarded honours / medals and the existence of War Diaries – which rarely mention individuals soldiers. They do give context and details of activity.

Some research tips next via PM and good luck.

 

JD,

Afternoon.

As you will know, there were 4 infantry battalions of the Royal Fusiliers in Italy in early 1944.
1st Bn. - 8th Indian Division, crossed the River Gari during the final battle of Cassino in May 1944.
2nd Bn. - 4th Infantry Division... crossed the Gari during the final battle of Cassino in May 1944.
8th/9th Bns. - co-brigaded in 56th (London) Division at the Garigliano river & Anzio during January to March 1944.

Good luck with your research,

best wishes

 

His medal card indicates that he also served with The Gordon Highlanders, I assume, if you have his service records, that you are aware of the dates he transferred between units?

 

Thanks Tony. Yes I did see that his medal card had Gordon Highlanders - but his service record doesn’t give details of a transfer that I can see?

 

Look at the 1946 entry.
He joins The London Scottish.

They were affiliated to The Gordon Highlanders.

London Scottish (regiment) - Wikipedia

 

From his arrival date, he may have been one of the reinforcements sent to the battalion on 10th February before it left for Anzio.

There is a bit more detail in this post.

292975 Lieutenant Eric Fletcher WATERS, 8th Battalion Royal Fusiliers: 18/02/1944

He likely went to 9 Royal Fusiliers (I can see he was with them in December 1945) when 8 Royal Fusiliers were reduced to cadre on 23rd September 1944. Most of the personnel were transferred to 9 Royal Fusiliers.

 

Fus EC Williams joined 8 R FUSILIERS on 27 Jan 44 so he missed their crossing of the mighty Garigliano operation on 17-18 Jan 44 but joined just in time for their swift redeployment to prop up a collapsing beachhead at Anzio. For the period 27 Jan-11 Feb 44 he would have been with the battalion in the area around Monte Damiano which is next to Castelforte on the lower reaches of the Garigliano. That technically puts him at the First Battle of Cassino but the monastery and town were 15 km due north of where he was.

The battalion arrived at Anzio on 13 Feb 44 at almost full strength and took up positions in an area known as the wadis on 15 Feb 44. The wadis were a set of dry river beds that flowed down to the sea across the front from right to left. They were utterly ghastly to operate and fight in.

On 16 Feb 44, the Germans launched a massive counter attack. The battalion was assaulted by units of FJR 11 and over the next two days, three of the four Rifle Companies were overrun one by one.

That he was reported missing in error on 16 Feb 44 comes as no surprise - the battalion was fighting in the wadis and knowing where every soldier was at any given moment would have been fiendishly difficult.

Given the losses that the battalion sustained at Anzio, Fus Williams was very lucky to make it through alive.

Regards

Frank

 

Frank, it looks like he disembarked in Italy on 27 January and would have at least gone via 1 IRTD, hence why I think he was one of the 67 OR reinforcements on 10th. He isn't in any of the acquittance roles from X and Y Companies in early February, although, of course, he may been in the other company, but the WD doesn't mention any reinforcements being received. The battalion was only operating with three companies and, despite the reinforcements, was still 70+ men short on arrival in Anzio and did not reconstitute W Company. This could have been a factor that contributed to what happened on 16-18th February.

In effect, the battalion was all but wiped out from 16th to 18th February, with R Company being formed from the remnants of the three companies (of which I assume Fusilier Williams was one) and any personnel that could be spared from HQ and support companies.