Does anyone out there know when in 1942 5 RTR first received Crusader MkII, Crusader MkIII & Shermans? I am pretty sure that they had them by the end of October. Thanks.
Thank you very much David. I will take a look at those tomorrow and see if the information is contained therein.
Thank you again David. It would appear that the Crusader MkII were not new equipment, but ex 2RGH. Three Crusader MkIII arrived 5th September, but there is no mention of any Shermans. So they must have been post 23rd October, or Scotch mist!
Check you Joslen. Here is the regiment's equipment at Alamein on October 23rd, 1942. At Alamein the regiment consisted of ‘A’ Squadron in 16 Crusaders (Marks II and III), ‘B’ Squadron with 10 Sherman IIs and ‘C’ Squadron in 14 Grant Mk Is.
But that 'A' Squadron is presumably the former 2 RGH Squadron (I believe 2 RGH had been disbanded by then?). All the best Andreas
I don't know whether you are interested in a general history of 5RTR in WW2 but Mark Urban has written and excellent book about them - Tank Men.
David. I never think of Joslen for equipment, thank you! Andreas. The MkII seem to be ex 2RGH, but the MkIII may have been new issue. Peccavi. I would be interested yes.
Sorry - bad memory I meant "Tank War" by Mark Urban - excellent book on 5RTR Tank Men is Robert Kershaw - not bad, bit messy, but dealing the whole british force
Can I now take us back to Late 1940? I always thought that 5RTR arrived in N.A with A & B Sqds: 14xA10 & 3x A10cs each + C Sqd: 18x A13MkI. But I see Frank Chadwick lists all three Sqds as A13 & with A9cs. Which is correct please?
Does anyone have the War Dairy for 5 RTR for 23/24/25 August 1944? I am trying to cross reference the War Diary of 4 Fd Sqn RE for those days as I think there are some inaccuracies in it. In particular I am interested to know IF and on which day 5RTR was involved in crossing the river Risle at Pont Authou.
I don’t have copies of the war diary but at the end of each chapter in his book ‘Press on Regardless’ Edward Wilson provides the war diary entries. For 25 Aug it says: …’Meanwhile the 5DGs had crossed the R Risle at La Romancon and the Regt was ordered to cross the river and take Pt 162 but, owing to the traffic congestion, were only able to get across before dark and form a leaguer to the left of 5DG’. Hope this helps. John
Thank you, yes that confirms my suspicions that they reached the river Risle on the 25th not the 24th. I have done some more digging and have found the War Diaries of 5RTR for June/July and August on normandywarguide.com/war-diaries/5rtr-august-44 which you may be interested in. The entry for 24th August reads "B sqn pushed on and reached the bridge at Baileu (Bailleul-la-vallee on modern maps) and reported it blown, whereupon the Scissors was quickly brought into use and the Regt crossed. This has confirmed that the co-ordinates in the War Diary of 4 Fd Sqn for the Scissors bridge laid on the 24th are in fact wrong and should read 683925 ( corresponding to Baileu ) not 883925 as they have recorded (which make no sense). I have been wrestling with the site of this bridge for ages so I'm glad I've sorted it out as we are going to Normandy next month and want to visit all the bridge sites. Thanks for your help
Pleasure. In my experience grid references in war diaries are often inaccurate. However, we have to remember they were transmitted, then recorded in manuscript in an ops log and finally typed up by tired, stressed men. The scissors bridge would have been laid by one of the bridgelaying tanks held within brigade HQ 22nd Armd Bde rather than 4 Fd Sqn. The brigade war diary might shed further light if you haven’t already looked at it.
Yep thanks the scissors bridges were attached to 143 Fd Pk Sqn but under command of either 4 Fd Sqn or 621 Fd Sqn when out on operations. I have their War Diaries thanks. They’ve been remarkably accurate so far with maybe only 2 sites out of the 30 I have found being wrong.
