The rare regimental history of the 17th Field Regiment, RCA of the 5th Canadian Armoured Division is available here: Constructed table of contents for the History of the 17th Field Regiment It is a very nice transcription with all of the photographs included. Material from other sources has been added to the history. David
thanks for putting this up I have been wanting to figure out a way to do it for a while. My dad was a GPO in the 17th field. He was sersiously wounded in during the pursuit up the Liri Valley at Pofi at the end of May 44. Something else you might find interesting is memoir of Gordie Bannerman. He was a sargent then sargent Major of E troop all the way through Italy and North West Europe. Still lives on Vancouver Island and is doing well. the title is War-A Soldiers Dairy. He at present during the Otterloo battle and they (the 76th Battery, particularly E-troop) believed they were the only battery which defended its guns in hand to hand combat during th ecourse of the war. These gunners were also pround to have been in the line when the first ever "Willaim" target (all the guns of the Army) was called down on the railway yards at Acquino. in support of the 1st CID's assault/breakthrough on May 23th www.gordiebannerman.com
Thanks for the information gpo's son. It is not a good idea to place your email in a public forum. It is best to send a private message to a person through the forum if you want to get in touch outside the forum. Regards, David
Dryan67 A most excellent account of the actions and movements of the 17th Cdn Field regiment which brought back many memories of places and actions in the Italian campaign when th 21st & 25th Tank Bdes of Britain joined the Cdn 1st Corps in March of '44 at Lucera prior to the actions though the Liri Valley and on to their retirement to Belgium in early '45 Well done Cheers
Gord We welcome more details covering your father's wartime experience. Tom was there! And, Dryan67 is well versed on all things Canadian. Welcome to the forum...from Toronto.
Sorry for any confusion Gord Bannerman was in my dad's regiment the web site I posted is a the link to his personal memoirs of ww2
Here are some maps of the dispostion of the 5th CAD for Operation Chesterfield from May 23rd to May 31st 1944 I have added in the dairies for the 17th Field regiment RCA from the 16 May to 31 May 1944. this was the regiment's first major action. At this tme they recorded heavy casualties in during the breaching of the Hitler Line in support of the 1st Canadian corp. My dad had some pretty close calls and was finally wounded on May 29 at map corrdinates 592795 [think I got that right]. He was caught in an airburst while waiting at a cross roads with an advance party. He told us that while he was lying with all the other 'goners' (sucking chest wound's [pneumothorax] were pretty low on the survival scale) at the field hospital a surgeon came out for a smoke, on seeing him he ordered an orderly to "sit that man up he is drowning". He believed that this event saved his life. Edit here are the maps lost in the change over.
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I am proud to say my Grandpa served on the front lines with the 17th field regiment. I was lucky enough to get a copy of this book last May by ordering it online but thank you for posting it on a website because it is difficult to find more to order. I also came across this website if nobody has come seen it, click the link below. It is a CBC radio broadcast from the 40's on the 17th field regiments famous Battle of Otterloo. CBC Digital Archives - Countdown to Victory: The Last Days of War in Europe - VE-Day countdown: Canadian army repels desperate Germans
Welcome what Battery was your Grandpa in. Try looking up War-A Soldier's Diary written by a gun sargent in 76th battery. he was right in the thick of the otterloo battle
Macfie That is very intense audio clip not sure the 17th part in that bill was very high but those gunners were pretty Brave/foolish not to pull back when the IRofC did but they were very very proud to have been able to withstand the assault without losing their guns. As said above they belived they were the only regiment [british empire] to successfully defend thier guns in had to hand combat. QUOTE=Macfie;504513]I am proud to say my Grandpa served on the front lines with the 17th field regiment. I was lucky enough to get a copy of this book last May by ordering it online but thank you for posting it on a website because it is difficult to find more to order. I also came across this website if nobody has come seen it, click the link below. It is a CBC radio broadcast from the 40's on the 17th field regiments famous Battle of Otterloo. CBC Digital Archives - Countdown to Victory: The Last Days of War in Europe - VE-Day countdown: Canadian army repels desperate Germans[/QUOTE]
Welcome what Battery was your Grandpa in. Try looking up War-A Soldier's Diary written by a gun sargent in 76th battery. he was right in the thick of the otterloo battle He was in 76 Bt. of 17th Field Regiment. He joined with the 64th Field Battery from Yorkton but ended up with the 17th Field Regiment when he got overseas.
The 17th field regiment RCA landed in Naples in early November 1943. After Taking over and rehabilitating the 5th RHA 25ers. The Regiment became operational in early January were they fired their first rounds against the enemy on January 14th 44. 3 days later (17th Jan) they were in support of the 11th CIB in the attack towards the Arielli River. this was the 11th Brigades first attack and proved to be disastrous. After suffering casualties on the start line before H-hour the Perth's and Cape Breton Highlanders attack bogged down in the mine fields and mud of battlefield with little tanks support and merger air cover the infantry quickly lost the Barge and went to ground short of it intermediate objectives. the 17th Field fired over 10000 rounds in the action. it was a difficult day for the observation parties, who recorded many casualties and equipment failures. I have added the regiments war Diaries for the period. Matt
After spending a miserable winter in the Acquafondata supporting the 11CIB the 17th field rgiment RCA was relieved by the 6th South african Field Regiment. and Spirited away to train for the upcoming spring offensive against the Gustav and Hilter lines.
After spending a miserable winter in the Acquafondata supporting the 11CIB the 17th field rgiment RCA was relieved by the 6th South african Field Regiment. and Spirited away to train for the upcoming spring offensive against the Gustav and Hilter lines.
