7th Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders June 1940

Hi all, new to the group. Researching my family history has led me here.

My Great Grandfather was L/Cpl John Conway. SN 2980896. He joined the Argylls in 1936 as part of the Territorial Army and was sent to France with the BEF in January 1940 as part of 154 Brigade. He was captured on the 6th of June at a place called Franleu and spent the rest of the war in POW camps. I have his service records and discovered his POW logbook which contained many photos of his time behind the wire. The logbook had been donated to the regimental museum but the archivist there was nice enough to left me see it and take lots of pictures which I will post up in the POW forum soon.

He didn't write a great deal in the book but he did give an account of his capture which I've included here. I'm interested in finding out more about what happened to the 7th Argylls. I've searched the forum for mentions of the unit diary but didn't turn up anything. I've read some books about the 51st Highland Division during this period but can only find little bits and pieces.

Does anybody out there have more information about this?

Thanks in advance.

 

Hi Incredibledisc - welcome to the forum.

There are others here much better qualified to answer your question but I can point you to "Churchill's Sacrifice of the Highland Division" by Saul David, which contains a reasonably detailed account of the 7th Argyll's fight with the German 12th Infantry Division on 5 and 6 June 1940 around Franleu.

I was in France last year and passed through Franleu visiting places my Grandfather was involved with (he commanded the 51st AT Regt). I have a few photos taken in the village churchyard of those not quite so fortunate as your relative. If you are interested I can post them here.

If you are after a copy of the unit war diary then Drew should be able to assist if anyone can.

Cheers
KRO

 

National Archives ref number for 7 Argylls war diary.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C163177



WO 167/704
7 Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's)
1940 Jan.-June

 

Hi & welcome to the forum

Just for information:
J Conway in the UK, British Prisoners of War, 1939-1945


Name: J Conway
Rank: Lance Corporal
Army Number: 2980896
Regiment: Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
POW Number: 265
Camp Type: Stalag
Camp Number: VIII-A
Camp Location: Görlitz, Saxony
Record Office: Infantry Record Office, Perth
Record Office Number: 16

Must say thats about the lowest POW number I recall seeing so far

TD

 

Thanks KRO,

I do have a copy of Saul David's book (and Sean Longden's and Hugh Sebag Montefiore's) I'm a History teacher with a life long WW2 obsession . The Saul David one was good but I'm not sure which company my GG was in so I was hoping perhaps the war diary would help. I know the reference and wondered if anyone had made a copy when they have been at Kew - I noticed a few people here offering to carry out research for members so I might send one of them a message. The offer of photos is great and I would love to see them either in this thread or via a PM (whatever you prefer).

 

Thanks Owen. I believe there are two archives for the 7th A&SH - one covering 1939-40 and then one from January 1940 to June. I noticed there was a thread where people had requested copies of war diaries and really was just making sure that no one already had a copy they could share before asking someone to go look it up for me. I did request an estimate for copying the diaries but the cost was pretty high - a few hundred quid as I recall.

 

Thanks TD,

That looks like the transcript I got from Find My Past. I assume Stalag VIIIA was the other camp he was in before being repatriated. He started off in Stalag IX where he worked in a salt mine ( as he describes in the diary page I posted) but then he has notes in his diary of being in various Oflags and Stalags including Luft III. According to my mum he was employed as an officer's Batman which might explain why he was in Oflags and camps meant for RAF.

 

There is a published battalion history for 7 A&SH - can't remember the author ofc the top of my head.

 

Is this the one that picks up after 1940 when the unit was reformed?

 

I think that may be the case, but I will try to double check later.

 

Cheers Idler. I could be wrong but it rings a bell from searching through a bunch of other threads last night.

 

From the battalions war diary

 

I would also consider the WO 361 Missing Men file for the battalion in case there is an account of his capture in there and the WO 344 PoW Liberation Questionnaires in case he completed one of them when he was liberated in 1945.

 

The Battalion History is by Cameron. It has one chapter about the battalion in France but as suggested most of the book is from when the battalion was reformed to the end of the war.

 

That's amazing stuff Drew! Since he specifically gives the 6th as his date of capture I wonder if he was trapped in Franleu after the fighting referred to as being detailed in the appendix?

Do you have the whole diary Drew?

 

I contacted Arcre just before Christmas to see about WO 344 and he got back in touch to say he could find no record relating to my great grandfather. I've had a quick search online at TNA for WO 361 and WO 417 just using his name for a search term but I get no results. I did find a couple of reports via Forces War Records which I think are transcribed from WO 417.

 

The Missing Men file is WO 361/70 The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Missing Men. An educated guess says it will probably be quite thick as it appears to cover all three battalions that were in France during 1940.

 

Thick as in costing a bomb to copy? Is is possible to narrow down which bits would need copied?

Edit - oh, I see they've added a "page check" service where they can find the bit you're looking for and then tell you how much it is likely to cost.

 

Thanks, Andy, for beating me to it!

Good luck, ID, you're in good hands now...

 

That's costs £8 I believe. I'd guesstimate around 500 pages but you never know, the thickest Missing Men file I have ever copied contained around 900 pages most are between 100 and 200 pages.