15th Scottish Division war diaries June 1944-May 1945

Great work! Highly appreciated.

cheers

Helge

 

Wow this is a good way to share valuable information!

Cheers

 

The daily movements of the 15th Scottish Division's principal combat units are now complete in the Battle of Normandy animation. They participated in, among others, OPERATION EPSOM, OPERATION JUPITER, and OPERATION BLUECOAT as well as crossing the SEINE south of ROUEN. The 2nd Argyll & Sutherland Highlander Diary is noted for its interesting anecdotes:

"The whole 24 hrs operation was done without encountering any enemy whatsoever, except for one boshe who gave himself up to Capt W.R. Bruce (sup coy comd) while he was asleep in the Comd post area." (aug 5)

"With the object of evacuating the wounded who could not be reached by S.Bs (stretcher-bearers) because the area was under MG and mortar fire, Maj L.L.E. Moreton (Law Moreton) advanced alone towards the German lines carrying a red cross flag above his head. He was fired upon once as he approached the place where the wounded lay. A German captain then appeared & shouted at his men to hold their fire. Maj L.L.E. Moreton and the boshe officer shook hands and a truce of half-an-hour was agreed upon to remove all dead and wounded, a demarcation line being drawn and the boshe removing all casualties on their side. Thus several Argylls fell into German hands - the first known to be taken prisoner in the Bn." (aug 9)​

Thanks to Adam for these faithful transcriptions.

If anyone has other diaries (ideally transcribed!) for units in Normandy, I'd love to know. After finishing the Canadian units, the 43rd Wessex Division will be entered.

 

Great work! Highly appreciated.

 

Another website of war diaries up and running at: www.royalscotskosbwardiaries.co.uk - to go with the 15th Scottish Division site. This time the Royal Scots and KOSB battalions in the various ww2 theatres (except for 2 KOSB, which is a work-in-progress because there’s a lot of it and it may take some time). I’ve included a tribute to Joe Brown and a link to his memoirs, which I hope is fitting.
That’s probably quite enough war diaries from me for the time being. Hope they’re of use anyway.
Adam

 

Missed this thread. A Brilliant resource. Many thanks!

 

Waaauw! What a great share!! Thanks a million!

 

Hi Adam,

Just stumbled across your website chasing up some anti-tank regiments. Thank you very much for your work and for making these documents available!

Cheers,
Chris

 

Brilliant thread. Does anyone know if there is a good history for the 2 Glasgow Highlanders in WW2?

 

There is the "Concise official history 2nd Battalion The Glasgow Highlanders" published in Lubeck in 1946 but I don't think its easy to find, I have a copy if there is something in particular you want checked

Also a recent book "Eric a Welshman in the Glasgow Highlanders" by Gary Brace - while its a book about an individual it is written more as a unit history

 

Attacking with great determination in face of fierce resistance, “B”Company got a few survivors of No 11 Platoon into the outlying houses of Tillemanskath on the left. The attack on the knoll, however,could. It progress beyond the lane on account of the withering fire which now came from positions outside the wood on the left . Here the PIAT of no 10 platoon knocked out an enemy S.P. which tried to lead a counter attack.”
From page 249 The FIFTEENTH SCOTTISH Division 1939-1945.
The piat was fired twice!! By 14725302 Cpl Leslie Paul Tye.
He received a Military Medal the recommendation states

“Joining the Ben in September 1943 at Helmand as a private soldier Cpl Tye has fought through the campaigns of Holland and Germany with great determination, courage and loyalty. In battle his coolness under fire and clear judgement has gained for him the complete confidence of the men he commands
At moyland on the 14th February 1945 whilst still a private diuring a particularly unpleasant engagement, when the company was under direct fire from an enemy SP gun, he crawled forward on his own initiative to within 50 yds to knock out the gun with two well aimed shots. Retuning to his section to find his section commander has been wounded Cpl Tye immediately rallied his section and led them on to their final objective.
Again on the 27 March during the very heavy fighting that preceded the breakout from the Rhine bridgehead this NCO’s cheerfulness and unfailing devotion to duty did much to inspire his men . During one attack that day when the company came under direct fire from
Small arms and flak guns thus holding the forward platoons up. Cpl Tye whose section was then in reserve personally and with great gallantry led his section to attack the enemy post from the rear. So determined was this attack that the post surrendered, thus enabling the company to gain its objective.

throughout the campaigns this NCO has set a consistently high standard of gallantry and unfailing devotion to duty. His coolness under fire ,
Cheerfulness and courage has been inspiration to all. The fine example set by this NCO is beyond all praise.”

not withstanding this recommendation,Cpl
Tye received a “periodical MM’.

Photos of Cpl Tye to follow.
Any information on thiis soldier would be most welcome.

 

From a quick look at both books, both mention a SP gun being knocked out on the 14th (but neither mention Tye) - the concise history includes his MM in the awards and honours list, but I can't see anything else - neither book has an index which doesn't help.

 

Lot 1096 - WWII. (dominicwinter.co.uk)

 

For Tillemanskath and battle of 46th Bde see: VERITABLE 1945: 15th Scottish & 43rd Wessex Divisions in the Reichswald battle

Unfortunately I did not mention Cpl Tye either. Maybe because the periodical awards are less conspicuous and therefore easily overlooked.

 

I have been using Adam's great website in my research but tonight as I try to access it I am getting warnings from my browser and pages aren't loading. I fear it may have gone down, but I'm hoping it's only a temporary problem from my laptop. (I am currently on a train.)

PS if anyone has 1st Middlesex's(?) war diary for March 1945 please let me know!
PPS I am a little unclear on which MG regiment served in 15th Div, at least based on wikipedia... meh.

 

Hi Chris
Sorry for the temporary service outage - most of the months of the 1 Mx diary had error 404 messages for some reason although the "All" page seemed to be OK. I've reloaded the pages anyway and it should now be working again. Thanks for the alert and any other problems, do let me know ..
Adam

 

Hi Adam!

Thank you very much!! Your work has been very helpful for me in writing the story of 44th Brigade's fight for an Issel bridgehead in Operation Plunder.

 

Just noticed this cracking thread and what a great website well done Adam.

I've been interested reading the 10th HLI diaries and the 9th Cameronians as 2 Cockermouth lads were both sadly killed on the 31st October 44 in the 2 regiments mentioned.

Mike.