I just can't find them in the National Archives. Does anybody know where to find them, if at all? They all three belonged to 43 Division.
Maybe you need to look for 59 Anti-Tank Regiment. WO 166/1632ROYAL ARTILLERY: ANTI-TANK REGIMENTS: 59 Anti-Tank Regiment.1939 Nov.-1941 Dec. WO 166/7090ROYAL ARTILLERY: ANTI-TANK REGIMENTS: 59 Regiment. 1942 Jan.- Dec. WO 166/11336 59 Regiment1943 Jan.-Dec. WO 171/917 59 Regiment1944 Jan.- Dec. WO 171/4770 59 Regiment1945 Jan.- Dec. WO 171/9026 59 Regiment1946 Jan.- Mar. -
I only have the 59 AT War Diary for 1944. 233, 235, 236 & 333 Batteries under command. What do you need to know? Not every battery wrote their own diary.
Ramacal, I would very much want to know what was written on 20-26 September 1944. Especially 25 September. Thanks Owen!
They don't tell you a great deal. 3 Men died between 20 - 26 September 1944, the first two at Arnhem (Oosterbeek) and the third in the UK. [/URL] Cheers - Rob
Thanks Ramacal! On 25 September, 333 Battery "accidently" blew up a stationary ammunition train, near Arnhem. Would have been nice to hear their side of the story. Do you know if other documents then war diary in Kew could tell more?
If I had more information, I would have gladly posted it. A number of RA war diaries are full of information, some hardly any at all. 59 AT are one of the latter.
War diaries report the activities of the unit and the sub units under command. The sub units of the Anti Tank Regiments were often detached to support individual brigades. This might mean that their activities might be included in both the brigade and Atk Regt war diaries - or in neither. When the latter occurred they could be ignored by the history books. See the story of the anti-tank gunners who supported the DLI in St Pierre http://www.theobservationpost.com/blog/?p=132 The battery war diaries may be in the Firepower archive
If they are not at the National Archives, they won't be at the Firepower Museum. I've asked these questions of them before.
Its incredibly hit and miss with Company, Battery and Squadron War Diaries. When I was at Bovvy they said they had approximately 1/15 of the Squadron War Diaries. Since then I found copies in Brigade level War Diaries, and a friend has even found a Company War Diary tucked away in a family file in a County Archive... So they may well be out there if you luck out with Firepower, treat them as a great bonus, not the crux to rely on.
Greb1940, Do you mean an Anti-Aircraft or Anti-Tank Regiment, as there were no units titled 59 AA in 1944. They were either a Heavy or Light AA Regiment. 59 HAA & 59 LAA Regiments were not in North West Europe. However, if you mean 59 Anti-Tank Regt, they were the 43rd Division A/T unit at this time and were deployed in Nijmegen, but the war diary is not specific about being at the bridge.
Do you also have these for June to December? My grandfathers memoirs have recently come to light who served in the 235th and it wpould be good to cross reference with the war diaries