6th Bn The Loyals >> 2nd Recce Regt

Discussion in 'Recce' started by At Home Dad (Returning), Jan 11, 2009.

  1. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    Hallo all

    Just sticking this in here on the off chance someone
    may have some extra clues to point my way.

    The 14th Army really are still a Forgotten Army, eh!


    Just a few questions, sorry if any are duplicates -

    2nd Recce appears to be made up of men mostly from 6th Bn The Loyal Regiment. Was the Recce unit formed in UK or did 6th Bn go over to India
    and it was there that 2nd Recce was formed? If so, I presume they were
    trained up in India, if so where?

    Does anyone have any shipping details of their route to India or the name of the ship which took them?

    2nd Recce were used as a diversionary force during one of the battles to retake Burma, but I have lost the information. Does anyone know any details (date & location) of this attack?

    Many thanks for any help

    Kindest regards
     
  2. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  3. CROONAERT

    CROONAERT Ipsissimus

    Try the regimental museum for this book. Over the past few years , they've been re-printing the various regimental histories in very attractively bound hardback format with a percentage of the funds made going to the upkeep of the regimental archive. I'm unsure of the price, but (if the other 5 re-printed volumes I've got from them are anything to go by) will probably be around the £30 mark.

    dave.
     
  4. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    Thank you both very much
     
  5. Recce_Mitch

    Recce_Mitch Very Senior Member

    2 Recce was originally 6th Bn, The Loyal Regiment (North Lancs), a TA motorcycle unit, it had converted to recce on 6 May 1941. Under Lieutenant Colonel J.A.L.Powell (4th Hussars) the regiment sailed for India in the spring of 1942, arriving at Bombay at the beginning of June and was soon training at Poona. They also had exercises at the Battlecraft School at Ahmednagar.

    Paul
     
    Owen likes this.
  6. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    That is BRILLIANT, Paul, thank you very much indeed.

    How interesting, a TA Motorcycle unit!
    Is that Despatch Rider or other duties?

    Presumably, it converted to Recce in UK
    and did subsequent training in UK before
    embarking to India?

    That is fascinating about the locations, as I
    would really like to go visit my Grandad's past
    sometime in the future.

    So, Bombay, Poona and Ahmednagar are on the list.
    Do you have any other details regarding where they
    were or what they were doing?

    Cant thank you enough for these snippets!

    Kind regards
     
  7. bushfighter

    bushfighter Junior Member

    Dean's book has all the answers you're looking for.

    "On the 6th May (1941), but with effect from the 30th April (1941) the 6th Loyals were converted to the 2nd Battalion, The Reconnaissance Corps. Exercises were carried out in the Thorne area in September, and in Cumberland the following month."
    The Bn was at Great Driffield when it was converted.

    Landed in India June 1942. Involved in Internal Security duties.

    November 1943-January 1944 "A" & "C" Squadrons converted to Alligators - the first amphibious tanks to reach India, but handed them back a month later.

    In action in Burma November 1944 to April 1945.

    This story needs telling.

    Harry
    ex-1 LOYALS
     
  8. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    Harry, that's superb!

    Yup, Dean's book sounds like it needs to be on my shelves,
    sometime after the credit crunch though

    Many thanks for all this info guys!

    Kind regards
     
  9. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    According to Malcolm Bellis's 'Divisions of the British Army 1939 - 1945', the sequence as 2nd Infantry Division, Divisional Troops was as follows :-

    11/40 - 04/41 - 6th Loyal Regt. (Motorcycle)
    04/41 - 06/42 - 2nd Bn Recce Corps.
    06/42 - 12/43 - 2nd Regt Recce Corps
    01/44 - 08/45 - 2nd Recce Regt RAC

    In view of the motorcycle connection, this photo may be interesting. It was published uncaptioned in 'The Classic Motorcycle' some years back. Almost certainly from their archives, it would have originally been in a wartime issue of 'Motor Cycling'

    [​IMG]


    It shows men wearing the crossed keys of 2nd Infantry Division. The Norton is a late 1940 model and the background is clearly UK. My guess would be a training trial in the UK during the summer of 1941. It's possible that there are some Loyals / 2nd Recce here although some of them at least are wearing the blue / white armband so would be 2nd Divisional Signals DRs.

    A cup of char, a Woodbine and a bit of motorcycle sport and the war seemed a long way away.

    Rich
     
  10. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    A really good thread to read with excellent posts.
    It is also nice to read some Reconnaissance Corps History from forum members.

    Regards
    Tom
     
  11. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    Rich,

    just WOW!

    All this info is really shaping up a picture for me!
    Mad that the 'Action-Man' motorcycle (which looks
    similar-ish to the Norton) was my fave toy in the 70's!


    Also - "Landed in India June 1942. Involved in Internal Security duties."
    Blimey, maybe Grandad helped lock-up Ghandi!
    Quit India Movement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Does anyone know how long this 'police action' lasted for 2 Recce?

    Out of all this great info, I've yet to find detail
    of 2 Recce meeting the Japs in the Jungle!

    many many thanks everyone!
     
  12. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

  13. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    "In early June 1942, 2 Recce arrived in Bombay. Training at Poona was interrupted by internal security duties following the arrest of Gandhi. After a further interruption for anti-bandit duties later in the year the unit was reorganized: it added a 'D' Squadron, while A Sqn became an Alligator squadron equipped with the US LVT-1 amphibious vehicle - a role in which it was later joined by C Sqn.

    In March 1944, 2 Recce returned to a conventional organization with three recce squadrons, although it retained its D sqn. It moved to Dimapur as the Jap 15th Army marched on Kohima in the hills of Assam.

    2 Recce Regt began by guarding 18 miles of the Dimapur-Kohima road with A sqn, while RHQ and the other squadrons held a defensive box at Zubza. In late April, HQ Sqn moved to Punjab Ridge and D Sqn to Lone Tree Hill; early May saw the Regt covering the southern flank at Jotsoma, 'sending out recce patrols and mortaring enemy positions'.

    The main mission for 2 Recce was to be as infantry, clearing the high, jungle covered slopes of the Aradura Spur. First they had to force the enemy off Pulebadze Ridge; this op began on May 11th and eventually involved the entire regiment.

    The conditions in which 2 Recce fought were extreme and their CO subsequently wrote that these caused him to revise all his previous ideas of time.

    At the end of May the unit was ordered to withdraw to a position where it could more easily be resupplied; although only two miles distant, such was the terrain that it took about 20 hours to make the move.

    For five weeks in Jan-Feb 1945 the regiment acted as a decoy force to convince the Jap that an attack was to be made on the Saigang Hills from the north. It later provided cover for an RAF airstrip at Sadaung by deploying Hookforce - C Sqn under Major Hook with A Coy of the Nepalese Mahundra Dal Regiment.

    Among 2 Recce's actions was an encounter between Lt Tarmey's troop and some Japs in which Cpl McAleer was awarded the MM; this troop had developed the tactic of driving into enemy positions with 'Brens firing, before dismounting and rolling grenades into Jap bunkers'. In the course of several actions fought by Lt sutton's troop, Sgt Rothwell gained the DCM.

    The regiment continued its recce role as 14th Army advanced to and beyond Mandalay and sustained relatively few casualties given the amount of combat it saw.

    On 7th April 1945, 2 Recce was withdrawn from the line and before it could return, the war had ended"

    Extract taken from "The British Reconaissance Corps In World War II" - Richard Doherty, Elite 152, Osprey Books, ISBN 978-1-84603-122-9
     
  14. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    Thanks to Rich for this!



    "Lieutenant-Colonel Kenneth Hook, who has died aged 93, won a Military Cross in the Burma campaign in testing circumstances while commanding a squadron of reconnaissance troops.



    In March 1944 Hook, commanding C Squadron 2nd Reconnaissance Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (2RR), was ordered to move his force from its base in Poona and rejoin the regiment which was already in action at Kohima.



    They set off in convoy on a journey of 2,000 miles. It was like driving in a permanent dust storm, Hook said afterwards. The Japanese had surrounded Kohima, the whole area was crawling with enemy troops and, before the beleaguered garrison could be relieved, the stranglehold had to be broken.



    The days were hot and sticky with, it seemed, every type of insect seeking its quota of human blood. The nights were cold. Giant frogs croaked, hyenas howled and the Japanese patrols tried to unnerve the sentries with their cackle of "Johnny Ha, Ha, Ha" which echoed through the valleys.



    Hook reorganised his unit from an armoured car establishment to a recce force on foot. There was no front line. The Japanese were on all sides of him. It was like sitting on a hornets' nest.



    His squadron was in continual contact and the fighting was ferocious. A young doctor who was replacing a colleague who had been killed was ferried to a clearing in the jungle and told: "Your regiment is just up there. Run like hell. Zig-zag all the way. Stop and you're a dead man."



    When the monsoon broke, dried-up river beds became torrents. Hook's recce troops slipped and slithered on the rain-sodden slopes and their boots turned green with mildew.



    At night leeches dropped from the trees while the exhausted men slept. In the morning, they awoke covered in blood. "It was like a knacker's yard," Hook said. "For a moment, I thought the Japs had crept in and slit everybody's throats."



    C Squadron was ordered to protect 2nd Infantry Division's right flank by reconnoitring and securing Pulebadze, a jungle-covered ridge 7,500 ft above sea level. A section of mules and 18 Naga tribesmen helped carry the equipment. Each plateau on the climb was pitted with foxholes and the Japanese were expert at crouching down in the bottom and popping up behind Hook's men as soon as they had passed.



    The squadron rejoined 2RR after 19 days occupying the area. A hot bath in a cut-off 50-gallon oil drum seemed like luxury after weeks of being rationed to half a pint of water a day. After the relief of Kohima, C Squadron was involved in several fierce engagements in the break-out and advance to relieve Imphal.



    Kenneth George Hook was born at Barian, India, on June 16 1915. After reading Architecture at Birkbeck College, London University, he was commissioned into the Royal Berkshire Regiment and served with 1st Battalion in France as part of the BEF.
    Following the withdrawal from Dunkirk he was transferred to 2RR and commanded C Squadron in India. In 1943 one of his tasks was to guard Mahatma Gandhi in his country house in the west of the country.



    After the relief of Kohima and Imphal, British forces went on the offensive and Hook's squadron, with infantry, artillery and sappers under his command, grew to the size of a battalion.



    In the push southwards, he was given the task of flank protection and, by bold use of small patrols over great distances, he deployed his force over a wide front. He was awarded his MC in 1946 and was mentioned in dispatches in the same year, the citations paying tribute to his inspirational leadership.



    2RR was disbanded after the war and Hook transferred to the Inns of Court Yeomanry and subsequently to the 12th Royal Lancers (12RL) and served in BAOR and Yorkshire. A posting to 67th Training Regiment RAC as chief instructor was followed by a return to BAOR as GSO2 (Air). He then rejoined 12RL to take command of a squadron.


    In 1958 Hook was appointed College Commander at the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham. While he was chief instructor at the Army MT School, he captained the Army motor rally team and took part in many of the major events, including the Monte Carlo Rally.



    After an appointment as commandant of the Army Ranges at Castlemartin, Pembrokeshire, he taught at the RAC Centre, Bovington, before retiring from the Army in 1967 in the rank of lieutenant-colonel.



    Hook was a personnel officer at the Sussex Police HQ before finally retiring, in 1982, to a village in Sussex, where he enjoyed gardening and was involved in voluntary work for the PDSA.



    Kenneth Hook died on July 10. He married, in 1940, Monica Howard-Luck, who predeceased him. He is survived by their two sons and a step-son."


    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2471088/Lieutenant-Colonel-Kenneth-Hook.html
     
  15. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    If you're interested you can download the recomendation for McAleer's MM.

    The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Image Details

    Name McAleer, JohnRank: TrooperService No: 2823041Regiment: 2 Reconnaissance Regiment, Royal Armoured CorpsTheatre of Combat or Operation: BurmaAward: Military MedalDate of Announcement in London Gazette:

    The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Image Details


    Name Rothwell, HerbertRank: CorporalService No: 3851880Regiment: 2 Reconnaissance Regiment, Royal Armoured CorpsTheatre of Combat or Operation: BurmaAward: Distinguished Conduct MedalDate of Announcement in London Gazette: 12 July 1945



    All 2 RECCE's recomandations here.

    http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/search-results.asp?searchtype=browserefine&query=corpname%3d2%20reconnaissance%20regiment&catid=22&pagenumber=1&querytype=1&mediaarray=*



    Recommendation for Award for Foy, JosephRank: Acting SerjeantService No: 52531531Regiment: 2 Reconnaissance Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps Originally enlisted in the Worcestershire RegimentAward: Military Medal1946WO 373/43[​IMG]
    Recommendation for Award for McAleer, JohnRank: TrooperService No: 2823041Regiment: 2 Reconnaissance Regiment, Royal Armoured CorpsAward: Military Medal1945WO 373/40[​IMG]
    Recommendation for Award for Wharton, HarryRank: SerjeantService No: 3853991Regiment: 2 Reconnaissance Regiment, Royal Armoured CorpsAward: Military Medal1945WO 373/36[​IMG]
    Recommendation for Award for Rothwell, HerbertRank: CorporalService No: 3851880Regiment: 2 Reconnaissance Regiment, Royal Armoured CorpsAward: Distinguished Conduct Medal1945WO 373/40[​IMG]
    Recommendation for Award for Warwick, ArthurRank: TrooperService No: 5336940Regiment: 2 Reconnaissance Regiment, Royal Armoured CorpsAward: Military Medal1944WO 373/34[​IMG]
    Recommendation for Award for Tarmey, Martin AlbertRank: LieutenantService No: 193892Regiment: 2 Reconnaissance Regiment, Royal Armoured CorpsAward: Military Cross1944WO 373/34[​IMG]
     
  16. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    Thanks Owen, that's very helpful.

    Blimey, what a day!
    I cant thank you guys enough for all this help

    Kindest regards, all
     
  17. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

  18. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    of course, what shouldn't be forgotten is
    that whether or not he was at Kohima
    depends on finding out his date of capture.


    If anyone has time to kill at Kew before I get there,
    I'd love to know the contents of the file in WO 345/36
    and WO 344/392/2, subject Miller, R A, 2 Recce!

    Kind regards
     
  19. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    Hallo all

    Just got back from losing my NA-Kew virginity!

    Blimey, 2nd Recce was out Far East a long long time!

    Ended up, after hostilities ceased, with more of that
    'police action' type work, in Malaya and also time in
    Singapore.

    Couldn't find him in the Interviews of Returning Far East
    POW's and am thinking now that perhaps 'POW' was only
    an assumption based on when he returned to UK ('46/'47).

    Still, a very interesting morning!


    Kind regards, all





    Also - "Landed in India June 1942. Involved in Internal Security duties."
    Does anyone know how long this 'police action' lasted for 2 Recce?
     
  20. Recce_Mitch

    Recce_Mitch Very Senior Member

    They resumed training in Sep 1942.

    Cheers
    Paul
     

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