8th Argylls 1943-1944

Discussion in 'Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy' started by Keith Alexander, May 31, 2020.

  1. I know they were led by LtCol James Scott Elliott until November 1943 and then by Maj/LtCol Henry Leask (the former battalion adjutant) possibly from December 1944 (although he is mentioned as 2 i/c in June 1945)but which officer/officers led the battalion in this period November 1943-June 1945?

    I am also interested in a platoon commander Lieutenant Duncan McP. McMillan MM. Which platoon/company?
     
  2. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    From Algiers to Austria by Cyril Ray.

    2020-05-31 22.59.12.jpg
     
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  3. John "Hamish" Taylor! Many thanks Owen. I knew he had been temporary commander in 1943 between Colin MacNab (McNabb?) and Jim Scott Elliott, but there's a problem in this chronology ... Scott Elliott took command of 8th Argylls in April 1943 and then 17 Indian Brigade in November 1943. Hamish taylor may therefore have led the battalion from November 1943 until November 1944 when he was removed from command through ill-health and detached to lead the School of Mountain Warfare in Italy (a position he held almost until the EOW- he was attached to the Italian co-belligent army in April 1945). Maj Henry Leask is cited in many accounts as battalion commander but this may be a confusion in his obituary post-war...

    Victims of Yalta: The Secret Betrayal of the Allies, 1944–1947

    In this account Leask is mentioned as weeping over the repatriation of Cossack groups to certain death.

    Steadfast Hussars: The Last Cavalry Divisions of the Waffen-SS

    In this book it states that Lieutenant Colonel A.D. Malcolm of the 8th Battalion was in command. Therefore, Malcolm took command in October 1944? Which is odd because A.D. Malcolm OBE wrote the battalion history in 1949. A surprising error unless he was hoping to avoid the Cossack repatriation event in June 1945? Does anyone have details of Malcolms military history and when he was awarded the OBE?
     
  4. LtCol Alec Malcolm who is mentioned more than once in "Victims of Yalta" was convinced of the guilt of the Cossacks as traitors to the USSR. He disapproved of the methods of repatriating them but did not intervene in any significant way.
     
  5. vitellino

    vitellino Senior Member

    In June '44 on the Trasimene Line the commander was Lt-Col. Taylor. War Diary WO 170/1357.

    Vitellino
     
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  6. My dad met the 1st Argylls in Palestine in 1946, He was not impressed with their discipline orr cleanliness but their war was a bad one and they lost their smooth edges in serious fighting. It's only recemtly I have looked into their record and appreciated their war record. My dad saw them after a war that had made them hard.
     

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