2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment in North Africa May-August 1942

Came across an account available online from JSTOR for their limited time in North Africa May-July 1942, written by a company C.O., Major James Bazett "Hamish" Colvin - who was the father of the military historian James Colvin and the article's author.

JSTOR is an online academic journal repository, which currently allows free registration (started during Covid and appears to still be current). You can read up to 100 articles per month. Downloads are not permitted and for e.g. this article costs US$19.50 to download. Web link: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26899851?seq=3

Now some background.

Their full name was the 2nd / 2 West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own).

They appear in many threads here, at a glance mainly for their time fighting in Burma / India and nowt for the battalion in North Africa in 1942, as distinct from individuals service there.

Wiki has almost no mention of them in North Africa, where they earned two Battle Honours for: Cauldron, and the Defence of Alamein Line, North Africa 1940–42. From: West Yorkshire Regiment - Wikipedia

For nearly all the war they were assigned to the 9th Indian Infantry Brigade, part of the 5th Indian Division, from November 1940 to August 1945. From: 9th Indian Infantry Brigade - Wikipedia

This is a summary of the division's time in North Africa:

From: 5th Infantry Division (India) - Wikipedia

 

Colvin sets the scene:

The letter was written to his parents in January 1943, pgs. 171-178 refer and it opens with:

Battalion and Brigade C.O.s appear usually when they are sacked!

James Colvin's conclusion includes this:

I found the article interesting as a first-hand account of those months by the "poor, bloody infantry".

 

It's also interesting in light of the morale crisis.

All the best

Andreas

 

Here's the officer list Jan 1942.



All the best

Andreas

 

Andreas,

Thanks for the update. I note the battalion's casualties in May 1942 are not quantified and that they do not appear in Fennell's chart for the infantry and motor battalions in the Gazala battles - which shows those units with 40% plus casualties.

There are no useful threads here for them; although one old post id'd their divisional history 'Ball of Fire' by Antony Brett-James. This is available via: http://ourstory.info/library/4-ww2/Ball/fireTC.html

Yes, I will also cite Colvin's article for the morale of the 8th Army before 1/7/1942 on a certain research paper.

Standby, I will check the officer list provided to see how many died.

 

The battalion got absolutely hammered during Gazala.

All the best

Andreas

 

Sadly the CWGC do not list many dead for the battalion 1/5/-1/7/1042, fifty-nine in total, including five officers, buried in Egypt and Libya mainly around or on 5/6/1942. I expect some were buried in the field and were not found later. Possibly as many as two hundred (see his later post).

Their C.O. Lt. Col William Henry Langran survived WW2, he was a WW1 POW and retired on disability in 1948.

 

I have now skimmed through the relevant chapters of 'Ball of Fire: The Fifth Indian Division in the Second World War’ by Antony Brett-James (published 1951). The 2nd West Yorks were part of the 9th Indian Brigade.

From Ch.13 on the action on 5/6/1942:

From Ch. 17 a summary not a quote: When reaching the El Alamein position, the C.O. Lt. Col. Langran had under his command an infantry company of less than fifty men; in a “Jock” Column named after him ‘Langcol’. On 16/7/1942 the remainder of the battalion returned from the Delta. It was then 250 strong. After an attack on Ruweisat Ridge 17/7/1942 one company of fifty was reduced to fifteen. By 20/7 the battalion was reduced to under a hundred.

 

The main if not only real action was 5 June. At 59 dead overall casualties should be estimated 250-350 in my experience. Two companies (B & C) were particularly hard hit, losing all their officers and HQ sections.

All the best

Andreas

 

Anyone have a copy of the regimental history? “From Pyramid to Pagoda”?

Regards

Tom

 

Tom,

Looks like Drew5233 does from two posts and IIRC he is from Yorkshire. In 2023 dryan67 posted screen photos from the book. In 2024 Skoyen89 did the same, so three options for you.

The full title being: Sandes, E.W.C. From Pyramid to Pagoda; the Story of the West Yorkshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales’s Own) in the War 1939-45 and afterwards. London: F.J. Parsons Ltd., 1952.

 

I was hoping to see the pages for the battle of Keren but also for their battles in the desert in 1942. Sorry for the thread hijack!

Regards

Tom

 

Tom. I have a copy. What do you need?

 

I’d love to see the pages for the battle of Keren (especially the fighting at Fort Dologorodoc) and it looks like David, Andreas and I would like to see the pages for the battles of Gazala in mid-1942.

Regards

Tom

 

Well anything relating to July 1942!

All the best

Andreas

 

I'll copy those and post them out within the next day or so.

 

Here are the pages for the 2nd West Yorkshire Regiment during July 1942.

 

Here are the pages related to Keren.

 

That’s fantastic. Many thanks.

Regards

Tom

 

Thank you so much!

All the best

Andreas