does anyone know what happened to 323 searchlight battery in Italy after 30 Searchlight Regiment was broken up? I am researching the background to a soldier Gnr Rickard who died 5/12/1944 and buried in Faenza CWC
Hi Get the relevant war diary - http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_aq=323+searchlight+battery+&_ep=&_or1=&_or2=&_or3=&_nq1=&_nq2=&_nq3=&_cr1=wo&_cr2=&_cr3=&_dss=range&_sd=1940&_ed=1946&_hb=&_ro=any&_rd=&_rsd=&_red=&_st=adv&_rv=&name=Search and you will have your answer. regards Robert
Ha. Thanks. I must have overlooked the entry you found. When I searched yesterday I could only find thebattery war diaries to the end of 1941 and between Jan - May 1945.
I'd be surprised if 323 Battery was with the regiment in 1944. The Battery diary runs from Jan to Dec 1944 which would suggest it was working independently from its parent unit for all of this time.
If its of interest to your background research: Birth cert: Name: Claude D Rickards Mother's Maiden Surname: Marsh Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1919 Registration district: Hemel Hempstead Inferred County: Oxfordshire Volume Number: 3a Page Number: 1295 I note there is a very slight difference in the surname spelling, - also his rank in CWGC details is Lance Bombardier TD
I am sorry that I've only recently seen your query nearly six years after you first made it. Please let me know If you see this response and did not find the information in the War Diaries referred to by Robert above. Some years ago I compiled a book about British Searchlight Regiments in the Second World War, and I included references to 323 Battery and the death of L/Bdr Rickards, I can provided you with details from the book. Further, my late father, Alan Berriman, was posted to 323 Battery of 30th Searchlight Regiment in December 1940, and while he subsequently held other postings he returned to 323 Independent Field Searchlight Battery (as it had become) as 2 i/c in March 1945. With best wishes, Geoffrey Berriman
My Dad (Fred Preston) was also 323 Battery 1941 - 45. Here's a photo of the Battery at Sharpness in 1941, so before deployment to Tunisia. Liberation of Tunis 1943 One of his mates was a keen photographer. This is Dad's searchlight Tunis 1943
With no war diaries surviving for 1942 and the first surviving 1943 on being for July, there is a hole in the battery narrative. However, Rowan Bentall's book "My Store of Memories" (available at low prices on abebooks, and often signed) is some help. It says that in February1943, the battery went on board a Dutch ship and landed in Algiers. "By this time 323 Battery had become completely self defensive so that they carried light machine guns, Thomson sub-machine guns, rifles, pistols and anti-tank weapons". Later "Bentalls men were among the first troops to enter the City (Tunis) when it fell on May 8th." "A further change in the lives of the Bentallians took place in Tunis. They were formed into a completely independent searchlight unit. This was made up of three troops each commanded by a captain". From what my father told me (he worked at Bentalls for over forty years), as the battery travelled north through Italy, this involved crossing many rivers. Their searchlights were used to illuminate the enemy on the opposite side of each river by bouncing their beams off the clouds - known as "artificial moonlight" - a term tagged to one of the photos above. The battery had no further connection to the 30th Searchlight Regiment once it became "Independent"
Initially they illuminated the front line horizontally. This obviously made them a target, so 'bouncing' the light off clouds became a safer practice. Here's a few more pics from my Dad's scrapbook.... On leave in Rome (Vatican. My Dad Sgt Fred Preston arrowed) They did indeed fight S-N through Italy, with rivers being the German preferred defensive lines. They ended the European war in Klagenfurt Austria. De-mob from there (for my Dad) was a journey back down to 'Lammie' camp in Naples and then by train home. I have one copy of the 'Lammie Camp' weekly news sheet........
