1st battalion Cameron Highlanders, or not?

if he was not called up until 1944, its likely that he wouldn't have joined 2 Div until much much later in the war - prob not until '45

 

The film 'Burma Victory' is available on DVD. Try Amazon.

 

Service records now arrived. Looks like dad missed the majority of the fighting altogether so maybe why he enjoyed his time in India.
Service No 14805472
Originally posted to 9th Bedfs and Herts (9 S E ) R T C on 20/07/44
Transfer to RA (HAA) 0n 14/09 44
Underwent Driver Training with 52 R A T/Regt DVR IC . Passed 07/11/44
Ranked as Gunner with 52 R A T Regt 29/12/44 and then posted to 3RA RES REGT (FIeld) Heavy AA
Embarked 03/05/45
Arrived India 25/05/ 45

Not quite sure about next bit but looks like he was posted to 208 Field Regt but dont have Bty No 11/06/45
Later posted to 100th A/Tk Regt ( Gordon Highlanders) 170 Battery 12/06/46

Returned to UK 22/08/46 on 28 days leave(in addition to LIAP)
Downgraded to WT RES on 16/11/46

Records dont list where he was stationed during his time with 208 Field so if anyone has any further info on their movements it would be appreciated
The 100th A/Tk was indeed a S/P regiment with Priests so I can date the pictures a little more clearly now

There is also mentioned L A Field 260 but not quite sure where this fits in

 

as suggested earlier in this thread by IDLER he may well have been involved in operation ZIPPER. Any info on this would be very welcome
Dates seem to tie in but would Field Regts be split ? As in one part in frontline and remainder staying in training ?

 

208 Fd Regt were in the order of battle for ZIPPER, and he joined them a couple of months before it was due (Aug 45), so that could explain the waterproofed Priests.

 

sounds like ZIPPER was a bit of a disaster so far as landings went. Would you know where to start looking for more detailed info IDLER ?
I have seen references to National Archives but having time to go there is another problem

 

Well, it was a last-minute change from.an assault landing to a 'liberation', so I think things got missed.

Now you have his units and dates, the best bet is to get the relevant war diaries and work out from there. It's very, very unlikely that he will be mentioned but it will give the best indication of what he was doing.

If you can't get to Kew yourself, both Drew5233 and psywar.org on here do a very competitive copying (not research) service.

 

Thanks IDLER. The records below are hopefully the right ones. On his service record there are references down the left hand side which I presume are movement orders ? Is there any way of getting to see these do you know ?
WO 172/7426
WO 172/10103

 

Came across the order of battle for Zipper along with the attached file which from page 122 recounts the logisitics involved in its preparation. Operation BUTTON ??

Operation Zipper: The Invasion of Malaya, August 1945 Commonwealth Order of Battle (OOB)
HQ 14th Army
HQ XXXIV Corps
Corps Troops
11th Cavalry
25th Dragoons
1st Indian Medium Regiment
8th Sikh LAA Regiment
9th Rajput LAA Regiment
18th Field Regiment RA
208th Field Regiment RA
6th Medium Regiment RA
86th Medium Regiment RA
1st HAA Regiment, Hong Kong; Singapore Regiment RA
Major Formations
5th Indian Division
23th Indian Division
25th Indian Division
26th Indian Division
50th Indian Tank Brigade
3rd Commando Brigade
5th Parachute Brigade

 

Doing a bit more research about the journey back from India and cant seem to get dates to tie in exactly. Dad came back on "Empress of Scotland" according to service records but the sailings I can find dont quite match dates on service record. It would appear that conditions on board were more than uncomfortable for the everyday soldier but not so bad for the officers etc.
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1946/dec/17/troopship-empress-of-scotland-incident

Would anybody have any further details on this ?

 

There may be some info here - http://www.angelfire.com/pe2/pjs1/eos4.html

The Arnold Hague database for the Empress of Scotland - http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hague/index.html - try and align dates you have

TD