I have cropped this soldier from a photo taken in Cornwall in the spring of 1943. He is involved in giving a group of civilians a demonstration on a mortar range. Can anyone identify his regiment please?
Many thanks, Alex. Now to check whether they were in Hayle in the spring of 1943. No, the pic has not been colourised. It is an original WW2 colour photo taken by Jack Smith, the Ministry of Information official photographer.
I thought it might have been one of the Cornish Home Guard units . Cornwall-Homeguard-Flashes - Cornwall's Regimental Museum Looking again it could be a distorted Hayle Bn flash. Don't think it 56th Div as the one in the photo has a tail-like projection at the bottom.
56th Division left the UK in late August 1942 and remained in the Middle East/Med area till the end of the war. Gary
46th Division? They left the UK in Jan ''43, but could he be a stragglers or a reinforcement. Need the larger picture for more clues.
Hi, There are some more photos covering the event that this photo was taken at online at the IWM website. Regards Danny IWM (D 12429) UNDER FIRE - AS A REWARD: MORTAR BOMB PRODUCTION AND TESTING AT J & F POOL'S NO 1 WORKS, HAYLE, CORNWALL, ENGLAND, 1943 A group of mostly women war workers stand, many with their fingers in their ears, on the sand of a coastal test range to watch as several soldiers launch mortar bombs. The workers are from J & F Pool Ltd, a small factory in the West Country, and have been rewarded by the Ministry of Supply for producing 1 million mortar bombs with a trip to see some of their handiwork in action. IWM (D 12431) UNDER FIRE - AS A REWARD: MORTAR BOMB PRODUCTION AND TESTING AT J & F POOL'S NO 1 WORKS, HAYLE, CORNWALL, ENGLAND, 1943 IWM (D 12432) UNDER FIRE - AS A REWARD: MORTAR BOMB PRODUCTION AND TESTING AT J & F POOL'S NO 1 WORKS, HAYLE, CORNWALL, ENGLAND, 1943 Universal Carrier IWM (D 12424) UNDER FIRE - AS A REWARD: MORTAR BOMB PRODUCTION AND TESTING AT J & F POOL'S NO 1 WORKS, HAYLE, CORNWALL, ENGLAND, 1943 IWM (D 12427) UNDER FIRE - AS A REWARD: MORTAR BOMB PRODUCTION AND TESTING AT J & F POOL'S NO 1 WORKS, HAYLE, CORNWALL, ENGLAND, 1943 Factory IWM (D 12423) UNDER FIRE - AS A REWARD: MORTAR BOMB PRODUCTION AND TESTING AT J & F POOL'S NO 1 WORKS, HAYLE, CORNWALL, ENGLAND, 1943 IWM (D 12418) UNDER FIRE - AS A REWARD: MORTAR BOMB PRODUCTION AND TESTING AT J & F POOL'S NO 1 WORKS, HAYLE, CORNWALL, ENGLAND, 1943 D 12421 UNDER FIRE - AS A REWARD: MORTAR BOMB PRODUCTION AND TESTING AT J & F POOL'S NO 1 WORKS, HAYLE, CORNWALL, ENGLAND, 1943
Hi, Links to colour photos. Regards Danny Colour Transparency TR 672 WAR WORKERS IN THE WEST COUNTRY, BRITAIN, 1943 Women war workers from the small West Country arms factory of J & F Pool Ltd in Hayle, Cornwall, which had produced one million trench mortar bombs, being shown how to fire the bombs on a range. IWM (TR 673) WAR WORKERS IN THE WEST COUNTRY, BRITAIN, 1943
Looking at the order of battle on the wiki page , seeing the single red arm of service stripe on his arm indicating the senior brigade and Danny's post above I'd say they were 1/4th South Lancs in 164 Bde as photo dated 1943.
Thanks for all the helpful input above. Brian Sullivan in his book 'Hayle in World War II' says the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers departed the town in early 1943 and were replaced by the Durham Light Infantry. They in turn were replaced by the Kings Own Royal Regiment and finally the Devonshire Regiment before the Yanks arrived. However the shoulder flashes don't fit with any of those, so I think Owen & Danny may be cracking it.
I've researched the 1/4th South Lancashire's during 1943-44, but only from July 1943 onwards (when my grandad was posted). I've just been back to the war diaries and read the January to June entries for the first time; what you say definitely fits. The 1/4th South Lancashire's were based in Helston, Cornwall from 1st Jan 1943 to 7th May 1943 when they moved to Trelowarren up the road. Next relocation was the move to Newhaven, Sussex on 28-May. They remained in Sussex until December when they moved to Northern Ireland. The diaries do not make specific mention of the war workers at J&F Pool. However, there are repeated mentions of training exercises conducted at Hayle Range throughout January to May. There is one specific entry which feels like possibility of being relevant: 28th April 1943..... Divisional Commander visited unit and was present at C Company demonstration "In the Attack" Feels like the sort of thing the top brass could be present for?
Thanks wibs12. The visit of the war workers to the range was reported in War Illustrated on 14th May 1943 so your dates fit nicely. Helston to Hayle is only 10 miles and being based there would explain why Brian Sullivan didn't mention them in his book on Hayle. It's possible top brass may have showed up but nothing I've seen related to the event has hinted at it.