52nd (Lowland) Division CMP Provost Company

Discussion in 'Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy' started by Bowlesy, Dec 13, 2021.

  1. Bowlesy

    Bowlesy Member

    I have only just discovered this site, & have enjoyed lots of the interesting articles & amazing photos. Thank you very much for all the info., a ray of light at last!! I am quite new to all of this but have been trying to find out exactly where my Father was during WW2. It's the same old story that I wished I'd spoken with him more before he died. I'm know he desperately wanted to talk about his experiences but it was difficult for him & I know he had nightmares about it & would dearly have loved to return to Holland & Germany to 'lay a few ghosts to rest'. Because he was a Military Policeman it seems difficult to get information although I give special thanks to Richard at the MP museum for who was responsible for finding him & putting him on their database.

    His full name was Wilfred Horace George Bowles (always known as George).
    He was a Corporal in the Corps of Military Police Provost Company.
    He did most of his training in The Cairngorms in Scotland.

    I think he was 'seconded' if that is the right word to 155 Brigade of the 52nd (Lowland) Division which is the last reference to a division on his war records. I have been able to trace the division's diaries & have bought many books on the subject. Again, there are the odd mentions of the MP's but no exact reports as to where he may have been on any given date. His records show that he embarked for BLA on 2nd September1944 which I now know, thanks to one of the blogs, may be incorrecet & was the army's way of paying out less pension should he have been killed by parachuting in to the war zone. H

    Over the years he mentioned many places which I have entered as tags which I hope in the right thing to do. He used to pull faces, grimace & whisper words to himself 'Oh those floods, the cold, urgh those flame throwers, the poor buggers'

    I was hoping that someone could point me in the right direction, especially if they had a relation in the MP in the same theatre of war.

    Thanks again for an amazing platform
     
    Chris C and 4jonboy like this.
  2. 4jonboy

    4jonboy Daughter of a 56 Recce

    Hello and welcome to the forum.
    What a great first post you've made there, and you've already done a lot of research about your father.

    I'm sure members will be along soon to assist you further. They're a pretty clever lot here:).

    Lesley
     
  3. Tony56

    Tony56 Member Patron

    Welcome Bowlesy, Do you you know his service number? The name fits so was wondering if the following Royal Artillery attestation could be him, date 1930.
    Bowles.jpg
    When he married (have seen your family tree) he was in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.
    Bowles marriage.jpg
    A good example of why you must have his official service records before embarking on detailed research, you need a timeline of dates and regiments to make sure you follow the correct path.
    Requests for personal data and service records: a detailed guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
     
    4jonboy likes this.
  4. Bowlesy

    Bowlesy Member

    Hi there & thanks Lesley for your welcome. My God you were right they are a clever lot here.

    Thank you so much Tony56. I don't even know if I am replying properly but how did you do that?? Amazing!!!

    Just seeing the newspaper cutting for me is, well, breathtaking so I will try to explain briefly why, as I know other people's stories can 'drag on'. You have brought things alive that I didn't even know about my Grandfather & I can now research this further as I still live in the same area.

    I am 64 years old & desperate to re-trace my Father's wartime foot steps. On a personal note, when I was 38 years old I had a job bombing around the country as a glorified delivery boy & after a trip to Yorkshire I found out, quite by accident, that he had been married before, but he was very ill by then & I never told him I knew. He had gone straight up to Catterick (I think) at the start of the war for training & met this lady Dorothy, she was 18 & he was 25 & they married straight away (no children involved). His next move was up to his beloved Scotland for training & I think she may have gone with him but returned to her Mother when he went off to the Cairngorms then on to Walcheren, Arnhem, Bremen etc. etc. He was away in Europe for 1 year + 161 days & for some reason they never got back together. Sadly, for poor Dorothy, in those days it was the woman in a relationship who had to follow the man wherever he went which she refused to do so was blamed for 'desertion' on the divorce paperwork. This wasn't the case & I have put things right with her relatives who have posted details on their family tree on Ancestry. Because of what he had seen & been through Georgie was a completely different person after the war. He met my Mother in the 50's & she just didn't like him talking about the war as it represented a life & marriage long before she came on the scene. Hence, I knew very little except a few snippets I hold in my memory, place names & battles he mentioned & so on. I know he wanted to talk & even needed to talk to someone. He was the gentlest of souls & sought solitude for most of his life & was often alone, deep in thought & prayer (even in a crowded room) but my god could he 'fly off the handle', often for the simplest of reasons, or no reason at all.

    I can't thank you enough for finding the Marriage cutting.

    I do have his official service record but can't understand much of it but it shows his number as 13032411.

    Best regards,

    Cheers,

    Chris.



     
    4jonboy likes this.
  5. Tony56

    Tony56 Member Patron

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  6. jmcq

    jmcq Junior Member

    His army number comes up as (Royal) Pioneer Corps.

    My father was in 157 Brigade, 52nd div. and was sent to go to Arnhem as an air landing brigade from Woodhall Spa airfield to Delleen airfield but as the airfield was still in enemy hands it was cancelled. He landed at Ostend in October 44.
     
  7. Bowlesy

    Bowlesy Member

    Hi there,

    Thank you, that's interesting, I guess that confirms what did happen to my Father. Did your Father tell you or did it say what date he landed in his records? Georgie's records state 2nd September but doesn't say where to but now you say Ostend that seems to ring a bell.
     
  8. Bowlesy

    Bowlesy Member

    Hi there, many thanks again. He would have been 17 years old in 1932 but I can't imagine anyone else with all those names & in that order. He used to chuckle & moan about his name. He said his parents couldn't decide which name to choose so lit 3 candles with a name marked on each one of them & which ever burned down first they were going to pick. Being simple country folk they lit them all together & they all burnt down together so as he would say "silly buggers & I bloody ended up with all of 'em" :0) :0).

    Cheers,

    Chris
     
  9. Tony56

    Tony56 Member Patron

    But 15 in 1930 if that was the attestation date. If you have his official service papers there is a question on the first page of the attestation along the lines of 'Do you now belong to, or have you ever served in, The Royal Navy, the Army, the Royal Air Force etc etc'. Presumably in the case of your father this would be a 'Yes' and would give details, if he had previously been in the Royal Artillery.
     
  10. Bowlesy

    Bowlesy Member

    Hi Tony,

    Yep, you are bang on again, many thanks. What I thought was just a cover page with his name & address etc. It says '220 Bat. Artillery' with date of 1931 - 1933
     
  11. Bowlesy

    Bowlesy Member

    Are there lists available that show how a division was broken down & what brigade, then company a person was assigned to? I have read the copies of 155 brigade diaries, the originals of which are held at Kew but would I find more info if I was able to arrange a visit there. I can't find anything extra listed separately in their cataloge of archive material. Grrrrrrr!! I wish I understood more about the structure of the British army during WW2.

    My poor old Dad went through action somewhere on Walcheren & fought all the way on up to Bremen & he told some amazing stories when I was a child but I was too scared to ask details & he never wrote anything down. He would shudder & pull terrible agonising faces & remark about "those flame throwers, urgh, those poor buggers". He tells of stopping somewhere "for a hedge ticket (to urinate)" with explosions all around & when he ran back to his jeep there was nothing left of it. He said I couldn't even "find a bloody razor blade". I know he was a bren gunner & thats about it.

    He says he was searching a farm for Germans & found a whole Dutch family murdered with gunshot wounds but as he left he saw some movement in a dung heap in the farm yard. It was a hand & he pulled the person free & it was the son of the farmer. He said they stayed together on & off during my Dad's time in Europe which was a total of 1year +161 days & he often acted as an interpreter for him. As a small child I know my Day had several letters & momentos such as cufflinks made out of silver Dutch coins. Over the passage of time they all seemed to disappear & I never knew any names or locations. I had always intended asking him but a stroke, then dementia took him before I could.

    He always felt guilty that he had gone through all that & came home safe while so many of his pals perished.

    Strangely, his only injury was caused by the very Scotsmen that he had grown to love so dearly. While serving as a Military Policeman assigned to the 52nd (Lowland) Division he was on patrol on his motorbike late one night somewhere in Scotland, either near Stirling or while on exercise somewhere else in Scotland & noticed 2 men hiding in a shop doorway & thought some theft (looting) was going on. He stopped & got off his bike & while he approached the men he could see they were both urinating in the doorway. They were both stonking drunk, a few too many not so 'wee drams', & knew that they could be reported & put on a charge for what they were doing. My Dad, being one of the dreaded & loathsome 'Red Caps', took the full brunt of their panic. They managed to beat him up so badly & kicked out seven of his teeth (ouch!!) that he was hospitalised, I think for about two weeks. He never ever bore any malice to any Scot &, in old age would even have a little chuckle to himself while he related the story.

    Strange old world!!

    Cheers,

    Bowlesy.
     
  12. Bowlesy

    Bowlesy Member

    Sorry written Day, instead od Dad in the above. Should have also mentioned that he was initially at div HQ??? in Rothes-on-Spey ner ELGIN if anyone has any info about the Division's movements there.
     

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