1st Bn Glasgow Highlanders

A friend of mine went ashore with 6th Bn Green Howards on D-Day & was wounded shortly after. Following his recuperation he was sent to join the 1st Bn Glasgow Highlanders shortly before Operation Varsity. He is interested in finding out the movemonts of his Bn after the crossing of the Rhine. Does anyone have the Bn's war diaries for the period so I can help him fill in the gaps?

 

TA and WWII
In 1920, it was re-established as the Territorial Army, and the Glasgow Highlanders re-raised a single battalion. They later moved to a new Headquarters in Maryhill in 1935. When war was declared in 1939 the battalion went to war again and also raised a second battalion, they fought valiantly as part of the 52nd (Lowland) Division and 15th (Scottish) Division in the Second World War, most notably during the capture of Walcheren Island during the Battle of the Scheldt in November 1944.


The war diary for 6 Green Howards has been published on this site. (WW2 Talk)

 

Here's the diaries he'll be interested in if no one has them:

WO 171/1296 1 Glasgow Highlanders (Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment)) 1944 Jan.- Dec.

WO 171/5191 1 Glasgow Highlanders (Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment)) 1945 Jan.- Apr.

WO 171/5192 1 Glasgow Highlanders (Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment)) 1945 May - Dec.

Cheers
Andy

 

My Dad was in the 1st Bn. GH and spoke to me once of crossing the Rhine. He got captured somewhat further along. 3 survived out of the platoon taking a farmhouse with a Panzer Division just behind it. I would be very grateful if he remembered anything to relate. My Dad was a Yorkshireman, name was Doug Benson. No longer with us now. He also spoke once to me of fighting on Walcheren Causeway. Cheers...Nick

 

Hi There, My Grandfather was also in the 1st Bn GLI and was from Darton South Yorkshire. I have a booklet produced by them which charts the progress of the battallion through France and into Germany - November 44 to May 45 with a map showing the route taken.
If you are interested in anything I have let me know...

 

A friend of mine went ashore with 6th Bn Green Howards on D-Day & was wounded shortly after. Following his recuperation he was sent to join the 1st Bn Glasgow Highlanders shortly before Operation Varsity. He is interested in finding out the movemonts of his Bn after the crossing of the Rhine. Does anyone have the Bn's war diaries for the period so I can help him fill in the gaps?

Hello John,

Missed your message when orginally posted...

The 6th Bn, Green Howards were part of the 69th Infantry Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Division from June 1940 for the duration - previously with the 50 Div's second line the 23rd (Northumbrian) Division. It was in the first wave of the 50 Div landing on Gold Beach on D-Day.

The 50 Div had been with the BEF in Flanders, with 8th Army - Gazala, El Alamein (including Operation Supercharge), Mareth, etc. - Sicily throughout, then with 21st Army Group - D-Day and NW Europe. Monty decided that 50 Div had done enough and reduced it to a training cadre from 30 November 1944.

Those long served troops that had survived the many 50 Div battles became part of the training cadre back in the UK. Those troops that had not been with the Division so long or were supernumery were transferred to other units. This is likely how your friend ended up in the Glasgow Highlanders.

I don't know much about the latter division, but see a post that will help in this respect has now been put immediately prior to this one on this thread.

Best,

Steve.

 

A friend of mine went ashore with 6th Bn Green Howards on D-Day & was wounded shortly after. Following his recuperation he was sent to join the 1st Bn Glasgow Highlanders shortly before Operation Varsity. He is interested in finding out the movemonts of his Bn after the crossing of the Rhine. Does anyone have the Bn's war diaries for the period so I can help him fill in the gaps?
Talk to Drew 5233 to get 1st Bn Glasgow Highlanders Diaries. Have got copies from him and found them to be extremely enlightening, very detailed. Found out where my Dad's platoon got overrun and captured just over the Dortmund Ems canal.
Can help you out in some detail, but great to have the diaries in your own leisure to study. There is so much to take in and digest.

 

My Dad was in the 1st Bn. GH and spoke to me once of crossing the Rhine. He got captured somewhat further along. 3 survived out of the platoon taking a farmhouse with a Panzer Division just behind it. I would be very grateful if he remembered anything to relate. My Dad was a Yorkshireman, name was Doug Benson. No longer with us now. He also spoke once to me of fighting on Walcheren Causeway. Cheers...Nick

Hi There
My father Robert webbe was also with the 1st BN Glasgow Rangers and was also at a farm house crossed the Rhine at Wesel on March 24th he was just 18 we have been trying to find out more info for the grandsons my father is still very much with us at 85 but has never really talked about his time in the war but we would like to find out more so we can ask him about it once we get him talking he does start to open up i have a booklet with a tarten cover and the badge on the front for the dates October 1944 to May 1945 i can if intrested scan pictures and the book of his time in france and germany

Janet King

 

Hi Janet, Have already snared the same booklet myself. My Dad was in 'A' Company, 7th Platoon, Doug Benson, a Yorkshireman, only 20 yrs old himself. Ask your Dad if he knew my Dad as an opener and what Company and platoon he was in and I can help track his history via his platoon in the Glasgow Highlander Regimental Diaries I have. These are daily accounts and records written up by HQ and are very detailed.
Cheers....Nick

 

Am looking for any personal accounts of the travails of the 1st Bn. Glasgow Highlanders H.L.I from the mountains of Scotland down through the mud of Walcheren and on through the Rhine etc. 1943 to May 1945.
I am researching to write a comprehensive biograophical book on this Battalion for to be preserved in history forever.
Have got their end of campaign booklet, Regimental War Diaries, waiting for my Dad's Service Record. Also have many of the books available such as 'Mountain and Flood' etc. Even 'With the Jocks' help somewhat, but now need to get some first hand accounts to piece together to put it into a very real and gritty book.
My father has passed away(L/Cpl Doug Benson, 14404464, 1st Bn. Glasgow Highlanders, H.L.I., 'A' Company 7th Platoon.)
Any help would be most helpful...Thanx
Nick

 

Hi Janet, Have already snared the same booklet myself. My Dad was in 'A' Company, 7th Platoon, Doug Benson, a Yorkshireman, only 20 yrs old himself. Ask your Dad if he knew my Dad as an opener and what Company and platoon he was in and I can help track his history via his platoon in the Glasgow Highlander Regimental Diaries I have. These are daily accounts and records written up by HQ and are very detailed.
Cheers....Nick

Hi Nick spent some time with my dad yesterday alas he cant recall a doug ,He said they were down by the rhine for two weeks waiting for the air strikes holed up in what he thinks was a private house he says the area covered by 51st highlanders was large and they were shelled daily he does remember that most of it was cover by a smoke screen all day that made your eyes sting and stuck in the back of your throat .
He said he was not one of the first to cross that was the commandos ???? now we have talked a bit he seems more poen to disscuss his time at war

 

Thanx Janet for asking your Dad,
What will help you in communicating with your Dad is to get hold of a book called "With the Jocks" by Peter White. It is a very compelling and detailed account of a soldier that fought in the same region as your Dad. This book will enable you to understand and empathise what your Dad experienced as this book is a very personal account of experiences, emotions and fears in the fighting.
I wish I had this book before my Dad passed away and I would have been able to then hear him on a much deeper level.
Please check if he was in the 1st Bn. Glasgow Highlanders. If he spoke of the 51st, then he could have been in the 2nd Bn. Glasgow Highlanders or the Gordon Highlanders.
Cheers...Nick

 

Hi Nick spent some time with my dad yesterday alas he cant recall a doug ,He said they were down by the rhine for two weeks waiting for the air strikes holed up in what he thinks was a private house he says the area covered by 51st highlanders was large and they were shelled daily he does remember that most of it was cover by a smoke screen all day that made your eyes sting and stuck in the back of your throat .
He said he was not one of the first to cross that was the commandos ???? now we have talked a bit he seems more poen to disscuss his time at war

As Nickleby mentioned, I would strongly advise you to ask your Dad if he remembers what Company and Platoon he was in. It's quite rare for family researchers to have this information and with it you can really pinpoint what someone was doing in a battalion diary which covers around 800 men. If you know the Company you can narrow it down to 100 ish men and Platoon down to 30 ish men.

 

Thanks for your replys will speak to him again but after remembrance day as he always gets a bit upset, but will keep you posted and as you say we are so lucky he is still here to talk too

 

....

 

There were no Glasgow Highlanders in 51st Highland Division.

 

I found that in the 6th HLI History:

At 3 p.m. the Colonel received the information that the Battalion was likely to be on the move by 8.30 that evening to take over from the Coldstream Guards somewhere in the area of Menzelen and that he was to attend a Brigade 'O' Group immediately. Prior to leaving the Battalion, the Colonel summoned his 'O' Group and instructed it to move forward to meet him if ordered. There was an air of tension about the whole proceedings which augured no good. At 4 p.m. the 'O' Group was ordered forward to Headquarters Scots Guards to be there by 5 p.m. It was here we learned that we were definitely to take over from the Coldstreams that night, the positions having been captured by them during the afternoon after a bloody battle. This battle had most definitely not subsided for the company areas were reconnoitred under a storm of shot and shell such as we had seldom had to suffer. 88mm shells were whizzing overhead, Spandaus were firing and that instrument of death, the nebelwerfer was landing its bombs just as fast as the Boche could fire it. We had always been a lucky Battalion and never had our luck been more evident than it was that night for the sky itself was pitch black but the whole area was vivid with the light of burning houses and exploding shells and nebelwerfer bombs and yet withal the Battalion got into position with only three casualties - one officer wounded (Lieutenant Stinson of B Company), one man killed and one man wounded. The furious cannonade by the enemy continued through the night and only stopped at about 5 o'clock in the morning. He had thrown in the sponge and retired across the Rhine over the Wesel bridge which he later demolished.

At the time we were not definitely aware of this withdrawal although the unusual quiet seemed to suggest it. At 10 a.m. we were informed that Brigade was taking no chances and had ordered 7/9 Royal Scots to put in an attack on Rill. At the time of receipt of this message the Royal Scots were halfway to their objective without opposition. On Rill being taken we were to move forward. Simultaneously a patrol was ordered to move north east along the railway line a few hundred yards beyond Menzelen. The patrol duly left and returned shortly afterwards with five German deserters who declared that Menzelen was clear. It was becoming increasingly evident that our suspicions regarding the enemy withdrawal were proving true and the Commanding Officer ordered A and B Companies to move forward. At 11.20 a.m. we were advised by Brigade that the 1st Glasgow Highlanders, whose task it was to occupy Menzelen, had encountered opposition and that A Company was not to move meantime but that B Company was to be allowed to proceed. By 11.20 A Company was also on the move, having been instructed to act as cut-off to any enemy trying to escape from Menzelen. An hour after midday B Company reported themselves in position without difficulty and that several R mines had been encountered en route. The Pioneers were sent forward to deal with these. Enemy deserters were now being brought in and, in no time at all, we had accumulated a batch of forty two. By the evening the whole Battalion had moved forward to a new area east of where we had spent that fearsome night.

The night of 10/11th March produced no excitement whatsoever and the troops were able to get a good rest. The whole morning of the 11th was quiet and by 12.25 we had been informed that the whole west bank of the Rhine was clear and that we were to take over a stretch of the river in the area of Marienbaum which was north west of our present position. We were to be at two hours notice with effect from 1 p.m. Reconnaissance parties under command of Major Bell left at 1.15. The rest of the Battalion waited, enjoying the quiet and rest after the unwonted noise, until the Commanding Officer was summoned to an 'O' Group after 5 o'clock. On his return the two hours notice was reduced to one hour. TCVs had been ordered up and by midnight we were off on our travels once more.

 

My Grandfather and Great Uncle (who I was named after) where both involved and as both lived in Glasgow I suspect they where both in the Glasgow Highlanders although I can't be sure. My Grandfather was rescued from Dunkirk with the BEF before being invalided out and my Great Uncle was KIA in Antwerp (AFAIK). My Grandfather died before I was born but was known to be very tight lipped about his time in the army.

I'd love some info if anyone could help. I tried the little museum in Sauchiehall Street with no luck.

If anyone has photos, please post them. I also have a healthy (or no-healthy if you take my wife's view) ijterset in 1/6 figures and I'm just waiting for some good reference photos to make me some mini Glasgow Highlanders.

 

Hi Eddie,
First you need (if you can) to get any old soldier stuff and papers that was your Grandfather's. Important is his army no. & any photo in uniform.
Army No. you can apply for his records from signing on to discharge. Everything of import is recorded in these.
His photo will enable you to deduce his regiment. Any probs post it on this site asking for help. Plenty of expertise on this site to solve any mysteries.
Somewhere on this site is expertise in going about applying for his records.
Good Luck
PS. If he was in the 1st Bn. Glasgow Highlanders I have the battalion's war Diaries and would be interested in his details and to help you in your searching.

 

My great Uncle Alexander Gilmour was also in the 1st Glasgow. Does he have any recollection of him? I'd like to see a copy of the booklet if you still have it. Thanks and all the best - Maria