Home Leave

Hi everyone - I’m a newby so forgive me if I mis-speak at all. I am trying to find out dates of home leave for my father who served in Egypt, Syria, India and Burma during WWII. I know he was back in the UK at the beginning of 1945 for a short time but would really like to find out whether he managed to get home during this time. His army records show him posted to ‘18-1-HB’ 7/1/45 and off again to Norway 30/4/45. Any advice would be gratefully received.

 

Welcome to the forum
Your best bet is to post his records on the forum.
However
Forgive me but if you are trying to track down home leave before the war ends and it is of a personal nature our forum members are very good at digging and you possibly do not want any personal info shared on the forum

 

Your description sounds like he came home on Python leave

This will appear on his Service Record as LIAP or similar acronym.

.Leave - Python and Lilop

 

Regarding leave in different theatres of war:

OVERSEAS FORCES (HOME LEAVE SCHEME) (Hansard, 17 November 1944)

 

Thank you for the info. My problem now is that there is no mention of any leave while he was still in this country (before he went to Norway).

 

Val,

Welcome aboard.

What is your subject's NAME and his Service Number?

The RA became a corps with a million plus members, so individuals rarely appear in online research - unless they got a medal, wounded and died.

I usually check whether a subject’s name or number have appeared here before.

If the subject is Royal Artillery please post up his Tracer Card, which is available online (££ may be req’d) and the experts here may be able to help interpret the scrawl.

If you search online with his unit(s) if known or later, so for example: "XXth Anti-Tank Regiment" site:ww2talk.com that may identify threads mentioning them, at a glance without adding much. If you drop the 'th' more may be found.

Searching the National Archives for the subject or unit(s) can identify those who were awarded honours / medals and the existence of War Diaries – which rarely mention individuals soldiers. They do give context and details of activity.

Some research tips next via PM and good luck.

I note you state:

I did an online search for: "18-1-HB" + "royal artillery" and Google returns - from this thread - text which is not here: 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals).LAA,Royal Artillery. The phrase 18-1-HB was not id'd.

He would not have gone to Norway on 30/4/1945. Germany only surrendered on 8/5/1945 and a British force landed a few days later, mainly from the 1st Airborne Division - whose Order of Battle lists very few RA present. See: Operation Doomsday - Wikipedia and 1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) - Wikipedia

He may have been alerted for a move to Norway, as preparations were underway to liberate Norway and disarm German forces once Germany surrendered. As the army was short of infantry he could have transferred from the RA.

Posting here his Service Record will help.

Curious he came home from Burma-India at the beginning of 1945. The war against Japan then was very active and no end was in sight. Yes, I have read Churchill's speech in November 1944, about a month's home leave for those serving in Burma.

 

James Edmund Brayshaw 3604437 Border Regiment.
Embarked SS ??? for UK from Bombay 11/12/44.
Posted to 18 1-H-B 7/1/1945.
Left UK for Norway 14/6/1945
No mention of any leave early 1945

 

Val,

His Service Number was issued upon enlistment to the Border Regiment. His name and number have not appeared here before this thread.

An online search using: "4 border regiment" site:ww2talk.com found a small number of threads here. Using: "4th border regiment" site:ww2talk.com found one thread referring to them in Burma 1945.

Wiki has a short history of the 4th. See: Border Regiment - Wikipedia

They were part of a Chindit operation behind Japanese lines in 1944. See: Chindit Units in 1944 His time in hospital April to July 1944 may have made him unfit for duties, hence sent back home and then posted back to duty!

I wonder if IHB is an abbreviation for Independent Highland Brigade? No trace for an 18th Brigade and the only readily id'd IHB was Polish!

The 1st Battalion Border Regiment was part of the Airborne Division sent to Norway:

From: 1st (Airborne) Battalion, The Border Regiment | ParaData

 

Hi,

18 I H B is 18 Infantry Holding Battalion as per the Adjutant signature/stamp on the bottom of the posted page.

He appears to be a soldier returning to UK from the Far East on medical grounds rather than on LIAP or Phython.

I’d say 18 IHB is a Border Regiment admin term for a trained soldier held on the strength of 18 Infantry Training Centre (from memory either at Hadrians Camp, Carlisle, Cumberland or at Altcar Camp near Formby, Lancashire) pending redeployment as a reinforcement to either to a Border or another regiment.

He would’ve had at least 4 weeks disembarkation leave in UK then, subject to his health, would’ve been physically present at 18 ITC for a period of time training until he was posted to 1st Border - then in Lincolnshire - in mid April 1945.

Steve

EDIT TO ADD

18 ITC was at Carlisle per the attached link -

http://ww2talk.com/index.php?attachments/itcs-xls.47443/

I think it was situated at Houghton just outside Carlisle.

Historic Carlisle army camp remains documented for the future

19 ITC was at Formby.

Later Edit

There are also mentions of 18 Holding Battalion Border Regiment in the B103 posted in this topic a few years back -

The Records Have Landed!

 

Thanks very much for info. I’ll keep on digging

 

Thank you for your help. Dad didn’t talk much about his war. Just remember him saying Norway was beautiful and he wanted to go back but never got there. Apparently one day he was on a boat going down a fjord and a boat with German soldiers went past and they (the Germans) all stood to attention and saluted.