Introduction

Discussion in 'User Introductions' started by nacalaman, Jul 28, 2012.

  1. nacalaman

    nacalaman Junior Member

    Good day all
    The name is John. I am an ex merchant navy captain but my father was from 1933 to 1946 in the KOYLI 1st battalion as a signals operator. I would like to find out more info about his service
    no 4688607 Michael James (Jim) Neary
     
  2. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    Here is a brief summary of the service of 1st Battalion, KOYLI:


    1st Battalion, The King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry

    15th Infantry Brigade – 3 September 1939 to 31 August 1945
    The battalion started the war located at Strensall. The battalion disembarked for France on October 4th, 1939 and arrived the following day. The winter of 1939-1940 was bitterly cold, and was spent mainly near Lille, though the battalion went into position in front of the Maginot Line for a period. The brigade remained in France until April 16th, 1940 when it returned to the United Kingdom. It left Rosyth on April 22nd, 1940 for Norway and landed at Aandalsnes on the night of the 23rd/24th of April. After landing and advancing more than a hundred miles down the Gudbrandsdal Valley, the battalion became involved in a series of rear-guard actions. At Kvam the battalion, entirely on its own, held up the German advance for two days. After a severe action at Dombaas, a railway accident and a long march, the Battalion was withdrawn. The battalion left late at night on May 1st and returned to Scotland on the 2nd. It spent the rest of the summer and autumn in Scotland until it moved into winter headquarters at Rochdale, Lancashire at the end of October 1940. It went to Northern Ireland with the brigade in April 1941 and returned to England in January 1942 to prepare for tropical service.
    The brigade sailed for India on March 17th, 1942 and arrived at Bombay on May 21st. On arrival it moved to Poona and in June to Ranchi for jungle warfare training. It left India on September 19th, 1942 by sea and arrived in Iraq on the 21st. It remained in Iraq until November 11th and then moved to Kermanshah, Persia the following day. It remained in Persia until February 26th, 1943. It left for Egypt on that date and arrived on March 14th. It was located in the Canal Zone through April 12th, 1943. It moved back to Syria and served there from April 14th to June 3rd, 1943. It moved back to Egypt by the 5th and embarked for Sicily on July 5th.
    The brigade landed in Sicily on July 10th, 1943 and remained in Sicily until September 3rd, 1943. Villas Mundo, the River Semento and an attack on the enemy some 8,000 feet up the slope of Mount Etna were the main engagements in this two months' campaign. It crossed over to Italy at Calabria on the 3rd and served until the capture of Rome, being engaged in the crossing of the Garigliano and Minturno Rivers as well as spending a period of time in the Anzio beachhead. After that it remained in the area of Rome and Capua until June 19th, 1944, when it left for Egypt. The brigade arrived in Egypt on June 25th and left for Palestine on July 6th. It moved from Palestine to Syria on August 8th and back into Palestine on August 31st. It moved back to Syria on December 1st, but returned to Palestine a week later on the 8th. The brigade embarked from Palestine on February 24th and landed at Marseilles, France on March 4th, 1945. It moved through France to Belgium and finally reached Rahden in Germany on April 17th. It crossed the Elbe on April 30th and fought its last battle at Potrau near Hamburg. After VE day the brigade remained in Northwest Europe. It was located at Minden on August 1st, 1945.
     
    stolpi and Xenze like this.
  3. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

    Welcome aboard - nacalaman
     
  4. hutchie

    hutchie Dont tell him Pike!!

    welcome aboard mate :)
     
  5. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    nacalaman

    think you will find that the 1st KOYLI's served in the 15th Bde of 5th Infantry Division AKA ( globetrotters) they were all over the place and landed in Sicily july 1943 and stayed in Italy for many months finishing up in NWE and Germany - saw a lot of rough stuff at the Sangro - then over to the Garigliano then Anzio and Gemmano - not an easy war
    Check for his serb=vice records from Glasgow - which take while but the War Diaries should be faster - see Phys.org or Drew
    Cheers
     
  6. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

  7. 4jonboy

    4jonboy Daughter of a 56 Recce

    Hello and welcome to the forum John. Good luck with your research.

    Lesley
     
  8. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Hello and welcome to the forum.

    1 KOYLI has 10 battalion war diaries at the National archives - drop me a message if you are interested in obtaining copies.

    Good luck
    Andy
     
  9. Steve Mac

    Steve Mac Very Senior Member

    Welcome to the forum nacalaman - enjoy!

    Best,

    Steve.
     
  10. Xenze

    Xenze Junior Member

    I’d love to get copies. My Grandfather was in 1 KOYLI from the beginning of the war and told me stories as a kid. He died a good few years ago of course but I would be interested to know more. Just reading James Holland’s Sicily 43 but having the battle records would be very interesting
     
  11. Wobbler

    Wobbler Well-Known Member

    Have you got yourself a copy of Fifth British Division by George Aris? Excellent history of the Globetrotters.

    Fifth British by George Aris - AbeBooks

    My grandad was also with 15th Brigade, in the RA, 368 Battery no less, probably fired a shell or three in support of yours! :salut:

    42D0AF23-9167-46F1-8877-2148FE50FC2D.jpeg DE5FEBA7-1C6D-44D3-BD5C-D233973B0E4F.jpeg

    I’ve also not long acquired Sicily ‘43, but have yet to start reading it.
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2021

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