Interested in any info about this regiment my father served with them from D-Day till 21st Oct 1944. Already have some details from web but still interested in any more
I think I have some details from their War Diary somewhere; if you don't have this, I will see if I can find it? I expect you already know they have a memorial in Normandy? Below is a photo of it.
Rather a delayed post but have you seen the book " D-Day to Arnhem With Hertforshires Gunners" It is a personal account of Major Robert Kiln. Very good and comprehensive Jw
Originally posted by pb521021@Dec 29 2004, 12:21 PM Interested in any info about this regiment my father served with them from D-Day till 21st Oct 1944. Already have some details from web but still interested in any more [post=30328]Quoted post[/post] Welcome to the boards, and good luck in your quest.
I have a signed copy of the book D Day to Arnhem by Major Robert Kiln. My father is listed incorrectly as AGK Borrell on page 199 instead of AK Birrell but despite that error for which the late Major Kiln did apologise it is an interesting book. I retraced some of their route through Normandy in 1996/7
Interested in any info about this regiment my father served with them from D-Day till 21st Oct 1944. Already have some details from web but still interested in any more I realise this is an old thread but rather than start a new one I`m posting the relevant link here.I have just been directed to this site by a friend,well worth a visit for anyone interest in this unit or events from D-Day to their end of the War in Europe. 341 BATTERY 86TH FIELD REGT RA (HERTS YEOMANRY) WAR DIARY 3 JUNE 1944 TO 9 APRIL 1946 COMPILED BY LT. BECK [B. TROOP GPO] Battery diary, 341 Battery, 86th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, 1944 to 1946; compiled by Lt Sidney Beck apologies if this link has been posted before I did search but could`nt find a previous post with it in. Regards Verrieres
I just stumbled on this and thought it maybe of interest to some members. One of the many problems connected with the planning of D-Day was the best means of giving fire-support to the assaulting infantry during the approach run to the beaches. Bombing did not meet the case, Naval gunfire would not be sufficient nor concentrated enough, the infantry could not support themselves as they normally would in the last stages of an attack. It looked as though the infantry would have to cover the last few thousand yards to the beaches without any protection from the enemy until someone had a happy idea. Why not put the Field guns into landing craft and let them fire over the heads of the craft carrying the infantry until they reached the beaches? The 86th (Hertfordshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment R.A. under the command of Lt. Col. G.D. Fanshawe R.A. (later Brigadier G.D. Fanshawe D.S.O., O.B.E., R.A.) were given the task of perfecting the technique of firing from moving ships, a role never before allotted to the Royal Artillery and justifying once again its motto “Ubique”. The first experiments were carried out at Poole, in Studland Bay, in July 1943 using 25 pdr. guns on a Valentine tank chassis shackled in the hold of Landing Craft (Tanks) (L.C.Ts). Later a demonstration was given to the Master Gunner of St. James, Field Marshal Lord Milne, who travelled in the LCT carrying the four guns of B Troop of 341 Battery and watched the Regiment’s fire concentrated on the beaches while the LCTs steamed at 6 knots towards the target area. The fire was directed on to the target by a Forward Observation Officer (FOO) travelling in a small assault craft ahead of the LCTs and in wireless contact. The LCTs were kept on their correct line of approach by wireless signals from an accompanying motor launch fitted with radar. The success of the idea was assured. It only remained to perfect the technique and train the infantry and artillery to co-operate. Further demonstrations and experiments were carried out at Kilmarnock and Tignabruich. After experiments with American equipment (the Priest 105 mm S.P. Gun) the Regiment was finally equipped with their assault guns - Sextons (25 pdr. guns mounted on a Ram tank chassis). In April and May 1944 final exercises were carried out in Studland Bay, co-operating with the infantry in realistic representations of D-Day under the watchful eye of General Montgomery. Here the problems of water-proofing, loading and unloading were all tackled and solved. By the middle of May 1944 everyone knew his job...... Battery diary, 341 Battery, 86th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, 1944 to 1946; compiled by Lt Sidney Beck
Andy Thought this had been on before. http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/nw-europe/20500-run-shoot-ra-overlord-assault.html Interesting read from a unit view though. Rob
Another one of those spooky coincidences: today, I received the substantial 'official' histories of the Herts Yeo in WW2. Contents pages are reproduced (poorly) below if you wish to know what's inside. Both are well illustrated with official and unit photos and both cover the hardware. Copies of these and related titles are available from the author - Col J D Sainsbury - for very reasonable prices (so reasonable that I don't get any commission). If anyone with an account would like to crosspost the WW1 ones on GWF, please do. Without more ado, here's the list: The Hertfordshire Yeomanry: 1794-1920 aka Volume I 240 pages - Hart Books - 094852703X - 978-0948527036 £12.50 The Hertfordshire Batteries, Royal Field Artillery: 1908-1920 aka Volume II 116 pages - Hart Books - 0948527048 - 978-0948527043 £10.00 The Hertfordshire Yeomanry Regiments, Royal Artillery: The Field Regiments, 1920-1946 Pt. 1 aka Volume III 290 pages - Hart Books - 0948527056 - 978-0948527050 86 Fd Regt RA (NW Europe in D-Day); 135 Fd Regt RA (Malaya & Singapore); 191 Fd Regt RA (NW Europe) £15.00 The Hertfordshire Yeomanry Regiments, Royal Artillery: H.A.A. Regiment, the Searchlight Battery and the Post-war Units Pt. 2 and 3 aka Volume IV 350 pages - Hart Books - 0948527064 - 978-0948527067 79 HAA Regt RA; 334 S/L Bty RA £15-00 Hertfordshire Yeomanry and Artillery Honours and Awards 152 pages - Hart Books - 0948527099 - 978-0948527098 £7.50 A Bibliographic List of Officers of the Hertfordshire Yeomanry, 1794- 1920 Hart Books - 0948527072 - 978-0948527074 £5.00 The Home Guard in Hertfordshire 1952-1957 114 pages - Hart Books - 0948527102 - 978-0948527104 £10.00 Herts V.R.: An Account of the Hertfordshire Volunteer Regiment, 1914-1921 Hart Books - 0948527080 - 978-0948527081 £10.00 Prices include UK P&P. I didn't ask if Col Sainsbury would post internationally so it would be best to enquire; payment might be an issue. If ordering more than one book at once, deduct £1.50 for each extra book. Please make cheques payable to J D Sainsbury at: Hart Books (Welwyn): 6 Roundwood Drive, Welwyn Garden City, Herts, AL8 7JZ Tel: 01707 390815 n.b. the dates on the Home Guard volume are not a typo on my part - can't explain them yet.
Updated web address and a bump for another nice D-Day plus 70 read. http://www.benbeck.co.uk/fh/transcripts/sjb_war_diaries/intro.htm
Hi all, Am searching for the 86th (East Anglian) (Hertfordshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery War Diaries for their actions in the Ardennes, late December 1944, Early January 1945. Especially, their actions in support of the 6th Airborne are of interest to me. Can anybody help me?
Shields dad and his brothers-in-arms alone to face the enemy British soldiers fighting in the Second Word War faced danger and the threat of death on a daily basis. By The Newsroom Monday, 2nd January 2017, 8:59 am Updated Monday, 9th January 2017, 12:11 pm Veghel in September 1944. Here, local historian Dorothy Ramser recalls the moment gunners from Battery 342, the 86th Hertfordshire Yeomanry Field Regiment Royal Artillery, who were fighting in the Battle for Veghel, in Holland, found themselves isolated from their comrades – and surrounded by ruthless enemy troops. The account is made even more dramatic, by the fact that Dorothy’s father, a 31-year-old sergeant, at the time, was caught up in the fighting. As Dorothy reveals, September 24, 1944, was “a bad day” for 342 Battery who had been supporting the 44th Royal Tank Regiment and the 101st US Airborne Division in their push for Veghel Bridge over the Willemsvaart Canal. “As night time fell, and although they were still answering fire calls from 101st US Airborne, the men of 342 Battery made a sickening discovery,” explains Dorothy. “The infantry of 231 Brigade of the 50th Northumbrian Division, had moved north to a new position, leaving the gunners with no support, in an area that was infested with Panzer Grenadiers and enemy tanks. What is more their position was well known by the enemy. “The men of 342 Battery knew it was going to be a very long and anxious night, with the enemy never far away and often surrounding them. “Knowing that two days before, in Eerde, the Germans had been murdering civilians in cold blood probably didn’t help to ease their minds. “My father who was a sergeant of one of the regiment’s Sexton self-propelled guns, wrote in a letter to his older brother Francis, a station master at Bear Park, of his night with the isolated battery. “He told of the tension of complete silence throughout the night, when even the smell of a cigarette could give their position away, and how it got to one of the men, who in his temporary panic, was in grave danger of alerting the nearby Germans as to where they were, so was quickly suppressed.” With the men and their guns still isolated, a 20-year-old gunner, Denys Hunter, was sent out in A Jeep by the Battery commander, Major Whitmee, to try to locate them. But when he got to their last know position, they had gone. “He drove off again in the dark, in the direction he hoped they’d taken. “After a while he came to an abrupt and terrified halt, when he was confronted, to his horror, by the sight of Panzer Grenadiers blocking the road – and they were definitely looking his way. “Survival instinct and adrenalin kicked in, and Denys threw the jeep around, pressed the accelerator to the floor, gunned the engine and hurtled round the bend in the road under a hail of enemy gun fire. “He eventually got back to Veghel and saw that the 101st US Airborne Division had set up a checkpoint, with an anti-tank gun in the middle of the road. “There was a wood on the left beside the road-block, with a wide road running alongside, so he parked the Jeep there and went to identify himself to the paratroopers before going to report to Major Whitmee.” With the major asleep, he gave his report to a corporal before “watching in the inky darkness” for any signs of 342 Battery. Tomorrow: What happened to Dorothy’s dad and his brothers-in-arms. Shields dad and his brothers-in-arms alone to face the enemy
