Help with history of service

Yes, the one and same man... His family had shops in Walthamstowe and Enfield. His mother died in January 1933 and he originally enlisted at BEDFORD on 19 April 1933 aged 14 and was posted to 2nd Bn.

He was then posted to 1st Bn and sent to India on 26.9.33 his rank is simply BOY (we believe he was a drummer boy). On his return from Calcutta just under 2yrs later, he discharged himself at his own request on payment under article 1072(a)(iii) R.W. & Paid 370 (viii). --- His father lived in Waltham Cross.

Underneath this entry on his 1st records it states he Re-enlisted on 11.8.36 and a £21 refund was made to A Slater & Co. who I assume is a solicitor of some sort.

 

Hi Stuart,

That book starts at the end of the period I am researching, by trawling through (and transcribing) the unit war diaries. I am interested in the 1st Loyals particularly from May 1943 to Aug 1944. I am booked to go to Kew tomorrow as I only have the diaries for 1944, and so need to go further back. My man was transferred to the Loyals at the end of their successful African campaign, days after the Victory Parade. I believe the route from Tunis (North Africa) was over to the island Pantelleria (Operation Corkscrew) then they made the attack on Anzio (Operation Shingle) - diaries will tell me the exact details between the island and Italy's coast I hope. From Anzio they headed to Florence where your book picks it up.

 

Steve, I do hope your journey is not that long to kew? There are smart people on this forum who would save you some time with obtaining War diaries. You may have paid silly coin for the ones that you have all ready obtained.?

Regards
Stu.

 

Just to put a close to this, I now know his entire route. After Pantelleria success in which no shots were fired, he returned to the North African region based at Sousse and surrounding areas. They took part in many training exercises and dummy scenarios and were officially 'at rest'.
They next got ready for action when the order came in on 1st December, that they would soon be on the move.
They docked on 7/December/43, TARANTO in Italy, then moved to Spinazolla where they spent Xmas, then on 29/Dec the orders where to be on the move again. They went to Salerno, where they began preparations for Operation SHINGLE on 19/Jan, (Operation OBOE).
They left Naples on 20th, they were told of the destination and mission whilst on board, arriving on the Beach on the 22nd.
After some easy days, this is when things got very rough, and the diaries show how difficult and brutal it was on both sides.
March and April, whilst bad, were quiet in comparison to previous month. Things picked up again in May when a push at Dead End Road / STAMFORD Bridge happened.

Anzio and what happened next is well documented so I won't bore you with the details.

Big bonus was that I actually got a picture of my man from his (second) sign up in 1936 (Beds & Herts).

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Just to add a couple of photos of Spinazzola .The first one is a post card sent home to his wife in December 43, by one of the chaps of the 2/7 Middlesex. The second is of the station ( around about the mid 1930's ). Note the sign of the "Duce" in the far left.
Anzio is not a bore..