David, as you are about, please can I repeat the request for the 89th Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery please. Thanks, David W.
89th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, R.A. (T.A.) HQ, 205th (Kent) Bty: Sittingbourne 234th (Kent) Bty: Deal 235th (Kent) Bty: Margate The regiment served under 28th AA Brigade at the start of war and mobilized at Ramgate. It sailed from Glasgow on 15 December 1939 and arrived at Suez on 16 February 1940. It moved into a training camp at Qassassin called El Tahag on arrival. It assumed the AA defence of Suez in the Canal Defences on 28 April 1940. 234th Battery was sent to Crete in April 1941.It fought in May 1941 in the Suda Bay/Canea sector under HQ 2nd HAA Group RM. 235th Battery was sent to Tobruk as relief in April 1941. The regiment remained in Egypt with RHQ and 205th Battery and served at Suez. 235th Battery left in August 1941, but returned on 12 September 1943. On this date 231st Battery was also added. In January 1943 the regiment was serving under 1st AA Brigade in the Benghazi area. The regiment then landed in the Taranto/Brindisi area under 8th AA Brigade in October 1943 with the regiment being located at Brindisi port. In July 1944 it moved to 25th AA Brigade in the Bari area. The regiment and batteries were placed into suspended animation there on 19 September 1944.
Thank you David. When you say that 235th Bty left in August 1941, do you mean that it left North Africa, or just that it left 89th Heavy AA?
Hi dryan67 Just wondering if you could advise on further information regarding these units or where I could get a copy of the source information? My Grandfather Gnr COE RA 1442868 205/89th served from the start to the end and we believe he then moved to Italy and into the occupation forces ( Nan until recently still got letters from the Italian family he boarded with). We also believe that he was at BERGEN-BELSEN as an artist documenting the horrors of the place. Unfortunately he passed away in the early 70's and my gran has had alzhiemers for some time so we don't really have much to go on. ANY information that you could pass on would be VERY much appreciated...
Are you sure they sailed in December 1939 and not 1940? WD in Home Forces (WO 166/2380) runs until November 1940 and the Middle East WD (WO 169/306) starts in December 1940 - which ties in with a December 1940 sailing ex UK. Maybe this could be the cause of much of DavidW's confusion.
According to my Dad's (Sjt Wilf Palin 849709) 1941 diary the regiment left Butlin's, Clacton at 04:15 15-Dec-1940 for Glasgow (via Edinburgh). They boarded the City of Canterbury 18:00 on the 16th, and put out to sea at 03:00 on the 18th. They disembarked at Port Tewfik on 17-Feb-1941 and headed for camp El Tahag.
Adam, Would that be a Ron and Elsie Coe? My father (Wilf Palin) was in the 205/89th and I believe was good friends with Ron. Did they end up in Perth WA? There was a couple of Mum and Dad's friends who sponsored our own emigration in 1965 - and I think it may have been a Ron and Elsie Coe.
Hi mate.. SORRY, Had many IT issues getting back here.. Yes Ron and Elsie Coe, and they did end up in perth. Hoping this reply finds you.
Hi According to his attestation record on FMP he joined the Royal Artillery (RA) in 1938, joining 55 Anti Aircraft (AA) Regiment 55th (Kent) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery - Wikipedia He was transferred into the Royal Armoured Corps (RAC) on 29 September 1944. Hope this helps Gus
Hi Gus, Im sorry to sound a bit silly, i dont follow your statement, particularly attestation record on FMP.. what is this, and can i access this? We applied for paperwork but with gran passing and the craziness of the world, I'm basically starting again. Thanks in advance
Hi Findmypast FMP has some interesting royal artillery information including attestations. It's only the basic details, but occasionally there hand written info like initial posts and transfers. Gus
No problems. (Likewise only just picked this up as a bit of an infrequent visitor). We also stayed in Perth '65-67 and my family visited Ron & Elsie - though I was too young to remember details. Did they run a farm? [One of my parent's friends did and I have one or two vague memories of visits to them]. Hopefully your research is going well, I am probably not going to be able to help much as most of my knowledge comes from internet searches. We do have my father's photo's, particularly trips to the sights in Egypt - often with a group which I think included Ron. Unfortunately they are packed away somewhere. We also have photo's from Australia (somewhere) and I would expect Ron & Elsie to appear on a few - but again tricky to know where to start. Dad operated the predictor and relayed targetting information to the guns. I know my Dad enjoyed his time in Egypt, but then I think 205 got off the lightest of the three batteries (dodging Crete and Tobruk). He was looking forward to touring the sights of Italy - but then they got posted to some remote airfield (Brindisi?!) and did not get to see anything. His personal diaries are very sparse and petered out entirely after about '41. He did have one near miss when a mis-fire sent a shell (or something) straight over his normal station at head height - but fortunately he was doing something else at that precise moment.
205 Battery were originally part of the 55th (Kent) AA Regiment, but transferred over to the 89th in mid 1939.