Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (8th armoured Brigade)

Discussion in 'RAC & RTR' started by DavidW, May 3, 2012.

  1. DavidW

    DavidW Well-Known Member

    I am looking for an inventory of tanks supplied to the Notts Yeomanry from their arrival in North Africa, through to the end of 1942.
    If it is nearly as convoluted as the Royal Scots Greys, I may need David Ryans help (again).

    Thanks, David.
     
  2. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    8th Armoured Brigade – 1 August 1941 to 31 August 1945

    The Nottinghamshire Yeomanry was located in Palestine with the brigade and had no equipment when it joined the brigade. It left Jerusalem and moved to Karkur on August 15th, 1941. The first Stuart arrived on October 1st, 1941. It had three Stuart Light Tanks by the period from November to December 1941. The brigade moved into Egypt on February 19th, 1942. It received its first Grant on March 20th, 1942. On June 21st, 1942, all Grants and most of the Stuarts that it had received were taken away to reequip the County of London Yeomanry and 1st Royal Tank Regiment. The brigade moved to the Western Desert on June 14th, 1942 and formed a composite force with the rest of the tanks of the Royal Scots Greys and Staffordshire Yeomanry. On June 25th, 1942, the regiment handed over 36 Stuarts to the 1st Royal Tank Regiment. It then trained and reequipped with ‘A’ Squadron in Stuarts and ‘B’ and ‘C’ Squadrons in Grants. It fought at the battle of Alam el Halfa with this organisation. At El Alamein it had ‘A’ Squadron in Crusaders, ‘B’ Squadron in Grants, and ‘C’ Squadron in Shermans for a total of 11 Shermans, 20 Grants, and 13 Crusaders.

    XXXXX The brigade advanced after Alamein and crossed into Libya on November 25th. By December 5th, 1942, it had ‘A’ Squadron at full strength in Crusaders, ‘B’ Squadron with 11 Shermans and 2 Grants, and ‘C’ Squadron with 8 Shermans and 6 Grants. Two Grants of ‘B’ Squadron were sent to the Royal Scots Greys. It kept this organisation throughout North Africa.
     
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  3. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    During the period from 26 May to 23 October 1942, every British armoured regiment's equipment state was in flux with equipment changing often. Composite regiments were frequently formed and squadrons were interchanged. Of you are looking for some standard organizations then you will be disappointed.
     
  4. DavidW

    DavidW Well-Known Member

    David.

    Thank you again!

    I have come to realise that standard organisations are pretty much mythical!
     
  5. Gold

    Gold Member

    Did they used the 25 pounder please ?
     
  6. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

    Re. a "25 pounder" - I assume you mean around D-Day - and on Gold beach - specifically or did you mean just generally did the "Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (8th armoured Brigade)" ever have the use of the 25 pounder?

    (i.e. see the note at end of this post - re. the qrlnymuseum's ref's to their post ww2 use - i.e. in the SNH - The South Nottinghamshire Hussars - I glanced through the SRY bit (in haste) - but didn't see a specific mention of the 25 pounder here. SRY History

    However, re. D-Day and Gold beach - there is this (mentioning The Essex Yeomanry) in ref. to the SRY's landings: James Holland's Griffon Merlin | Bert Jenkins (British)

    To quote:

    So you were the only survivor from your tank?

    Yes. As I say, I don’t know what happened to the others, the other three. I was the only one they found. Anyway, they came and got me and I was put into this compound with these other chaps. They were mostly infantry and that. They’d lost their regiments, most of them said. How they can lose a regiment over that little distance, I don’t know! But, anyway, one thing that was marvellous, really saved Gold Beach, was the Sexton Tank, came ashore with A Squadron. And there was a sergeant – the Sexton Tank is a Sherman with no turret on it, and it had a 25 pounder on it – and there was a Sergeant (Phillips). I’ll never forget his name. Evidently he saw what was happening and he turned his tank over open sights, he fired with his 25 pounder and it went straight through the aperture of that gun emplacement.

    (I have to) tell you a story…

    That’s why it was the luckiest shot of the War. He got a DCM or something for it.

    We went over there in 2004, David and I, and we met the chap who fired that shot.

    Really? Oh!

    He was in the Essex, wasn’t he?

    Essex, yeah, in the Essex.

    [3rd Person] The Essex Yeomanry, that’s right.

    Essex Yeoman… I think his name was Phillips.

    And you were just standing by that place and you kind of made the connection, didn’t you?

    [3rd Person] What he said – it’s quite interesting – is that it was his first day, first day of action, and he broke all protocols by having – when he came in off his landing craft he had a shell up the spout, and it was the first shot that he fired in action, as he landed, that went through that aperture.

    Over open sights.

    [3rd Person] Over open sights.

    Marvellous. Wonderful shot.

    [3rd Person] And, actually, we’ve seen the gun emplacement, because it had done a terrible – wreaked a lot of damage, hadn’t it?

    Yeah. And that saved B – not only B Squadron, but the whole of Gold Beach. ‘Cause we were supposed to land at five-and-twenty past seven. A little bit further along was the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards. Their landing was five minutes later, high tide. And as it went on, five minutes later all the time for the high tide. You know, it was getting behind all the time, and C Squadron was due to land at 8 o’clock… Or five-and-twenty to eight… Uh, five to eight. A half hour after us. But they landed on the same beach, of course. It was cushy for them. And (Stewart Hills) – you know, has written a book – his tank sank, you know, water over the top. And his crew managed to get into a raft. Most of the tanks had a raft on ‘em. And they all got on the raft, and they were very good, the Navy was very kind to ‘em. They pushed them ashore so they had to carry on the fighting! But further down the beach was the Sergeant-Major of B Squadron. His tank sank and they got on a raft, but they weren’t so lucky. They weren’t pushed ashore. They were put on the landing craft and brought back to England!

    So when were you given another tank then? When were you put onto another tank?

    Ohhh…

    I mean, was that your D-Day over or was it..?

    Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I was stuck on that beach – I don’t know how long it was. And they were looking for the Regiment, ‘cause everything was on the move. Nobody knew where anything was at all. And when they found out where the Regiment was I was put in a car, taken in a car up to (St Pierre). And that’s where I got back to the Regiment, at St Pierre. I don’t know whether it was 3 or 4 days after.

    And you were immediately crewed up again, were you?

    And then put in another crew. I don’t know who they were in there. After that I don’t know what happened at all. I was (probably in shock. I’ll tell you), it was a loss to me, you know, Monty Hawley.

    Also....

    There's some ref's on the QRN website to some of the elements in the Yeomanry after the war, albeit in this case the SNH: SNH History

    "With the rise of an aggressive Russia after the War the TA was re-formed in 1947, and the SNH, now re-numbered 307, were armed with Rams - self propelled 25 pounders on a tank chassis - changing to towed 25 pounders in 1956. They steadily built up their strength, greatly helped by Col Peter Birkin's remarkable recruiting skills and by the influx of trained ex National Servicemen who had to complete 2 or 3 years reserve service with the TA."
     
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  7. karlmcd

    karlmcd Junior Member

    Excellent, from where did you get the figures and dates please. .k

     
  8. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    From a variety of sources. At one point I tried to identify equipment for all the British armoured units in North Africa and the Middle East. I would enter data on card whenever I came across anything. The main source would be:

    Lindsay, T.M. Sherwood Rangers. (The Story of the Nottinghamshire Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry in the Second World War).London: Burrup, Mathieson & Co., Ltd., 1952.

    I have a copy in my library, but the information is not limited to that source.
     

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