4271948 Kenneth ALLAN, 2nd Battalion RNF: WW2 & Korean War

Steve
Thanks for the Korea info . I know when he went to Korea he was married and had two young children a two year old son and a one year old daughter, so it must of been hard.
Regards
Billy

 

Hi,

I couldn’t agree more Billy. Don’t think any of them expected to be recalled from the reserve.

My gf was a recalled reservist in August 1914 after 6 years out of the Army during which time he had married. His wife was left with 3 young kids. He was off to France before the end of the month and back in England by mid November having been wounded at Ypres. He was sent overseas again in 1916 after he’d recovered. He lost 2 brothers and a brother in law KIA whilst serving with NF - the Fighting Fifth.

Steve

 

Hi All
Apparently there were 3 groups in the 2nd Battalion RNF , in Africa and Italy . Does anyone know
how I can find out which group my father may have been in . This could help me enormously .
best regards
Billy

 

Billy.

War Diaries in conventional infantry battalions do not go down to Company level.

However, because the Divisional Machine Gun Support Battalions like 2 NF never fought as a single unit but had their Companies/Groups despatched to work with individual Infantry Brigades, some of these Companies/Groups kept their own detailed War Diaries.

Chums on this site will be able to tell you if 2 NF had WDs that went below battalion level.

Regards

Frank

 

Billy.

For a better understanding of how a Divisional Machine Gun Battalion was structured, I recommend that you go to Richard Fisher’s excellent site on Vickers Machine Guns. He lays it all out for you.

Regards

Frank

 

Hi All
Just received more info on my dads platoon etc , from a letter he posted to his brother :
Num 6 platoon H company 2RNF CM Forces
Does anyone have any details on this Num 6 platoon in H company .
Best Regards
Billy

 

The letter was dated Jan 1944

 

Billy.

In a 1944 infantry battalion, you had a Headquarters Company, a Support Company and four Rifle Companies. The Rifle Companies were A, B, C and D Coys. Some Regiments named their Companies differently - Royal Fusiliers battalions named their Rifle Companies W, X, Y and Z. 2 NF could have been using the same technique.

Regards

Frank

 

Hi Frank
I found a christmas post card my father sent from Italy to his brother . Sender info reads : 4271948 fus Allan Num 6 pln “H” coy 3 group 2nd RNF CMF

Best Regards
Billy

 

Hi Billy

This is a screen grab of a weekly field return for other ranks dated 6th January 1945. This section lists those who are absent, why and (usually) where they are.

Lance Corporal Allan was second from the bottom.



I have searched the British Army Casualty Lists 1939-1945 for his service number and found nothing. This means his time in Hospital was most likely to be from some sort of illness as opposed to being a Battle Casualty (BC). He only appears in this particular field return which suggests his time in Hospital was short (i.e. less than 7 days).

As 2NF were guarding a RAF station and a nearby POW camp at the time, my money would be he was at the RAF's own Hospital.

2 NFs war diaries for Dec 44 and Jan 45 are nearly 0.5 Gb in size so I will have to spend some time reducing them to a size that can be emailed.

And be warned the adjutant who wrote them must have been a doctor before the war as his hand written stuff is quite difficult to read.

2NF by this time have no 'H' Company, Just HQ, A, B, C, & D. 6 Platoon is part of B Company.

Hope this helps

Gus

 

Gus
You are a genius and I can’t thank you enough for the information and help .
Best Regard
Billy

 

Billy.

Even more confusing. The Div MG Bns switched from Companies to Groups and back to Companies in the course of the war. 3 Group would be C Company.

Regards

Frank