Taken from the link below and identified by May 1940 (Andrew) and Rich Payne. BEF Vehicle Markings Thread Post Number 5. Now that vehicle units are being successfully identified I thought I'd pull any pictures out of the above thread that can have further information added to them from the war diaries I already have. Guy 15cwt carrying '17' belonging to the 98th (Surrey & Sussex Yeomanry) Regt. RA. From reading the unit diary I also believe that the B2 stands for B Troop, Number 2 gun. Its a shame there is no further information available regarding the location or the 2nd vehicle. The units war diary has a very detailed 57 page account of events from the 10th May to 30th May 1940. I have found two entries (I favour the first account involving Major Egerton) that could be a possible match to the picture above and are as follows on the 25th May 1940: Capt. Lord Cowdray's OP in Morbecque was visited. At that moment Major Egerton arrived, and reported that he had been informed by an officer of the Hamps. that our infantry were through Steenbecque and were fighting in Boeseghem. Consequently, at 1715 hrs he set off, followed by Lord Cowdray, to see what assistance he could give. On arrival at Steenbecque, the village was found to be deserted, and the party therefore pushed on, still in their trucks, towards Boeseghem. Nothing much was seen in Steenbecque except a good deal of equipment lying around, though sounds of machine gun fire were heard fairly close on their left front, which they thought probably came from their own troops. Major Egerton then took the lead in his truck with Captain Cowdray following about 100 yards behind. On approaching a windmill about a quarter of a mile beyond Steenbecque, a German outpost on their left front opened fire with a machine gun and a anti-tank gun. Major Egertons car was hit at once, and the last that was seen of the occupants was jumping for the ditch. Capt. Cowdray's driver, Dri. Scoates, turned their car and had begun to drive off when he was killed instantly. Capt. Cowdray had his left arm shattered, and one of the two signallers in the back of the truck was wounded. Capt. Cowdray managed, however, to steer the truck with one hand until they reached the outskirts of Steenbecque, where the engine stalled, and the truck was abandoned. The occupants then made their way towards Morbeque where they were collected and brought in by a Gunner Major, II Corps. The account continues a bit further on regarding the trucks... During the course of the night, 2/Lt. Palmer, having heard that Major Egerton was missing, took out a fighting patrol from Hazebrouck to try and get news of him. The patrol found Capt Cowdray's truck in Steenbecque, where it was started up and driven in under its own power. The patrol pushed through Steenbecque to the approximate area of the ambush, but could find no sign of Major Egerton's truck or its occupants. On the 26th May 1940 4 Royal West Kents were considering withdrawing their post from Steenbecque and the diary says: They [4 RWK] were proposing to withdraw their post in Steenbecque, but were ordered not to do so as it would have exposed the flank of 137 Inf. Bde., who had a patrol in Plaine Haute. In addition they provided information to the effect that French civilians reported that the Germans were mining the area around the crossroads between Steenbecque and Boeseghem. The civilians added that the bodies of three British soldiers had been set up as a booby trap near the windmill on the Steenbecque-Boeseghem road, which supported the theory that at least three of the four occupants of Major Egerton's car had been killed. The second possible incident dated 27th May 1940: Enemy infantry penetrated the Bois Des Huit Rues at once, and 2/Lt. Johnson's truck came under heavy machine gun fire at the southern sector of the wood. As the truck was withdrawing, the O.P. signaller, L/Bdr. Young, was killed, and the driver, Dvr. Bartlett, was wounded in the knee. The truck succeeded in getting clear, but was finally ditched and abandoned about half a mile west of the bridge over the canal at Le Souverain. 2/Lt Johnson joined the remains of 2 R. Sussex, and eventually succeeded in making his way on foot to Hazebrouck, where he reported to Capt. Tremlett who later ordered him to report to RHQ.
Further information on the regiment during May can also be read in the link below: 98th (The Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery in Action
Is the casualty wearing Service Dress or his greatcoat ? He has RA shoulder titles and I can see no rank badges which would seem to rule out the Lance Bombardier. The truck is not ditched either. I'm not sure that this vehicle relates to either of these incidents unless it was a borrowed truck rather than an HQ vehicle. Egerton seems to have been taken out of the area but died the same day. Name: EGERTON, CHARLES RALPH Initials: C R Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Major Regiment/Service: Royal Artillery Unit Text: 98 (The Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry) Field Regt. Age: 37 Date of Death: 25/05/1940 Service No: 36354 Additional information: Son of Charles A. and Lady Mabelle Egerton, of Mountfield, Sussex. B.A. (Oxon). Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: Plot 15. Row E. Grave 4. Cemetery: TERLINCTHUN BRITISH CEMETERY, WIMILLE Name: SCOATES, RONALD ERNEST Initials: R E Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Gunner Regiment/Service: Royal Artillery Unit Text: 98(The Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry) Field Regt. Age: 23 Date of Death: 25/05/1940 Service No: 892398 Additional information: Son of Ernest Owen Scoates and Elsie Rosetta Scoates; husband of Madeline Audrey Scoates, of Pevensey Bay, Sussex. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: Grave 5. Cemetery: STEENWERCK COMMUNAL CEMETERY Name: YOUNG, STANLEY RAYMOND Initials: S R Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Lance Bombardier Regiment/Service: Royal Artillery Unit Text: 98(The Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry) Field Regt Age: 24 Date of Death: 27/05/1940 Service No: 881850 Additional information: Son of Ernest and Georgina Alice Young, of Carshalton, Surrey. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: Column 18. Memorial: DUNKIRK MEMORIAL
BEF Vehicle Markings Thread Post Number 7. The A identifies this Morris CDSW field artillery tractor abandoned near Dunkirk belonging to A Troop.
According to Idler here http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/1940/27885-98th-surrey-sussex-yeomanry-field-regiment-royal-artillery-action-2.html#post309078 this regiment had 18/25 pounders. Essentially this was an 18 pounder converted to have a 25 pounder barrel. Although a small number of these were on carriages with a split trail (carriage Mark VP), the more common was the box trail type (carriage Mark IVP). I have generally seen the box trail type in France in photographs, like this one: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=49941&stc=1&d=1304447898 although it seems there was at least one Mark VP split trail type as in this IWM picture of an unknown unit with Neville Chamberlain at Bachy, 15 December 1939. http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=49992&stc=1&d=1304520662 The tractors seem to have been the Morris CDSW 6x4 as in this picture of an abandoned 98th Regiment tractor. (It is a CDSW as can be seen from the open rear locker with a lid that only extends three quarters of the way across the back.) http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=49942&stc=1&d=1304447898 How's that for linking up diaries with pictures, markings and equipment? Andrew
Here is another snap from eBay of an abandoned Morris CDSW tractor of 98th Field Regiment. The Morris Quad in front of it is, perhaps, from another unit as I would expect one regiment to have a single type of tractor. http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=50067&stc=1&d=1304664167 http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=50069&stc=1&d=1304664392 Andrew
