147th Essex Yeomanry RA - Battery Identification

Discussion in 'Royal Artillery' started by Susan A, Jun 1, 2020.

  1. Franky

    Franky Active Member


    Wow. My dad is in picture 98 8th from the left rear rank. Please make contact some one as I would like to talk more about the photo. I do know of my dads exploits from joining the EY and leaving the Royal Artillery after serving 29 years as the Garrison Sergeant Major Royal School of Artillery Larkhill Garrison
     
    dbf and Charley Fortnum like this.
  2. IanTurnbull

    IanTurnbull Well-Known Member

    Hello Franky
    So pleased you have found a new picture of your Dad.

    The picture is one of a series taken on the occasion of the handing in of the 147 Field Regiment's Guns in Hannover on 8th June '45. There was an inspection visit from General Dempsey and a drive-past parade. The vehicles look immaculate as they have been repainted with Naval paint of Battleship Grey captured in the dockyards at Bremen and applied by German POWs.

    I am not sure what the collection of men is, but they are from 431 Battery "C" Troop. Possibly it is the 4 gun crews as there are at least 4 Sergeants. Far right standing is Troop Commander Captain Foreman and far left standing is "C" Troop's GPO Lt Basil Sowden, I think. Unfortunately I don't have the names of the other men yet. I suspect they are standing in front of Sexton C1 as C2 "Chigwell" is on the right. On the left is the Sherman "Canfield" of Lt Basil Sowden.

    The picture was provided by forum user Andy Urwin whose father Cyril was in sub-section Gun D2 "Danbury" of 431 Battery "D" Troop on D Day. I subsequently found the same picture in the EY Archive (Q89/21)

    What was your father's full name & role?
    Ian
     
    dbf likes this.
  3. Franky

    Franky Active Member

    Cheers Ian.
    My fathers name is Harold Hayes Gunner 14417562. 413 battery signaller during the first wave landing. I have attached a photo of the signal bren carrier taken shortly after the landing. My dad is second from the right. Note the communication cable reel on the carrier. Also note the French flag flying from the carrier. In the background you should just about see a couple of Sextons hidden away amongst the washing lines. When the ramps dropped the bren carrier was off the ramp following the Sextons firing on the run in. The carrier dropped into the sea with the Sexton crews laughing because the carrier was swamped leading the carrier crew and my dad to make their own way through the sea to the beach. Dad told me that they hung around at the top of the beach for a while so they could get their kit off the carrier when the tide ebbed. Once they grabbed their kit they hitched a lift off a half track who came back to the beach to pick up ammuntion. A replacement carrier was secured. My Dad told me there were two Shermans and around four sextons aboard his landing craft. Just after the war 147 RA regiment dissolved and a few regimental members formed part of the Hertfordshire Yeomanry. I was born in Germany Caithness Barracks Verden Aller 27 July 1949 after my dad signed on as a regular soldier. When then served with 3 RHA, then 2 RHA, 5 RHA, 5 Field, 26 Medium then as Garrison Sergeant Mjor Royal School of Artillery. As you can appreciate I was bought up in the RHA and RA and listened to many war stories the regulars discussed amongst them selves. I have the names of the crew of the attached photograph which I will post when I find the hard copy of the photo. My dad wrote the names on the back a couple of years before he passed away. One killed in action, one captured by the Germans. I shall expand on how the signaller was captured and of course a few more exploits.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Aug 29, 2023
    Ramiles and Susan A like this.
  4. Great photo Franky! Many thanks for posting it here.

    As you mentioned, this is definitely a "Carrier AOP" (Armoured Observation Post), because of the reel gear you noted at the rear.

    We are looking forward to your posting the scan of the back of the photo as you kindly offered, as this will pay tribute to men who are usually ignored in the War Diaries and general histories.

    Thanking you in advance,

    Michel
     
    Franky likes this.
  5. Franky

    Franky Active Member

    Good day Michael
    With respect to the names on the back of the photo I am going to hang fire for a while in view of trying to find any crew member descendants alive today. As mentioned before one of the crew was killed in action and another captured by the Germans during a communications cable break activity. Interesting story told my dad there amongst many more. I see a number of commissioned and non commissioned authors are writing books on 147 Field Regt RA and wish to pick my brains on a one way information gathering exercise hence my reluctance to give too much freebie information away. I don't know what their charge out rate is but I am very wary as I have given information away before on other subject matters only for the information and photos ending up in glossy books to be sold at a great profit. I may write a chapter on my dads wartime exploits from joining the 413 Battery 147 regiment RA from the Durham Light Infantry which will include the Armoured bren carrier OP photo along with the names on the back. All the best. Frank
     
  6. Derek Barton

    Derek Barton Senior Member

    Frank
    I had not commented before as I did not want to nitpick but if you are going to use the "Armoured bren carrier OP photo" in a book you should get the caption right. First, it is not a "bren carrier" it is a Universal Carrier, a bren carrier is a much earlier and different vehicle. Second, it is not an OP carrier. There were 3 types of Carrier AOP based on the Universal Carrier with various sub-marks. They had single cable drums mounted on a basic frame front and rear. None are visible in the photo.The vehicle in the photo is carrying a cable layer which was used by the signals section to lay and recover telephone cable it would not be fitted to an AOP. You stated that your Dad was a signaller and that fits perfectly with the vehicle belonging to the signals section.
    Derek
     
    Franky and SteveDee like this.
  7. Franky

    Franky Active Member

    Correct Derek and thank you for that, much appreciated. Deffo a cable layer which my dad was part of the signals section for A troop 413 battery like he said. That forms part of my missing link. Artillery signaller not Royal Signals that I know Derek. It's that I was informed on this forum by Michael that the carrier was an armoured OP vehicle. My dads sank just after they went down the ramp.




    Regards Frank
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2022
  8. Derek Barton

    Derek Barton Senior Member

    Frank, almost certainly RA signaller. R Sigs in an arty regt manned the rear link back to Brigade at RHQ. By this stage of the war there should not be any R Sigs at Battery level.
     
  9. Franky

    Franky Active Member

    Cheers Derek, appreciated. I remember my dads uniform after I was born of course. We were living in Hildesheim Tofrek Barracks to be precise. I remember he was a Sergeant at the time and smack in the middle of his three stripes he had crossed signal flags indicating Signal Sergeant. Then he made Staff Sergeant then Battery Sergeant Major. 1959 we moved to Hong kong with 5 RHA and my dad was advised to take on P battery the dragon troop as Battery Sergeant Major of a gun battery to enable him to line up for another promoton to WO1 and RSM of a Regiment. It wasnt until after I joined the Royal Navy 1965 I asked my dad what regiment he was in during the war. A Troop 413 Battery 147 regiment RA was his proud response. Over the next twenty odd years we chatted about his and my exploits and he opened up about 413 battery and how he joined the regiment in Essex from the Durham light Infantry. Then off to various firing camps including Scotland up the Clyde for landing exercises amongst other places. New Forest and Lepe he discussed and the eventual channel crossing to Normandy beaches firing on the run in and the loss of his Carrier in a deep gully of water no soon as they left the LCT. He told me that the Sexton and Sherman crews behind the carrier laughed their heads off at seeing five helmeted heads sticking out of the water. Dads story goes on from there right to the end of the war when the regiment went into suspended animation with some of the regiment transfering to the Hertfordshire Yeomanry. Two photos I have found of my dad, one sporting the Essex Yeomanry badges on his battledress blouse and the other with the Hertfordshire yeomanry cap badge. A short while later he became a regular soldier and served 29 years just like my good self. I used to love my dads war stories as a kid understanding that we lived in Artillery Barracks right up to when I joined the Royal Navy. 1950s Artillery barracks in Germany and the UK was an adventure play ground for us army kids as you can well imagine. Then that's another story eh.
     
    Derek Barton and Chris C like this.
  10. Thank you for the correction Derek. The mistaken identification as "Carrier AOP" is my fault. I looked only at the caption on IWM H16602 and did not check my other sources:
    [​IMG]
    THE BRITISH ARMY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 1939-45. © IWM (H 16602) IWM Non Commercial License

    Michel
     
  11. Franky

    Franky Active Member

    Brilliant, thank you Michel M8.
     
  12. Andy Urwin

    Andy Urwin Active Member

    Hi Kevin,

    listening to Lt Thomas Anthony Richardsons account of D-day, he references the first casualty of the war when a gun is lost when leaving thr landing craft. maybe this is the one that was replaced with D5. The landing craft itself shows D1 to D4 aboard
     
  13. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake All over the place....

    The image caption says "Universal carrier Mk I fitted out as an Artillery OP (Observation Post) carrier equipped with No. 11 and No. 18 wireless sets."

    The vehicle Tac sign is X above the RHQ AOS flash for the senior field regiment in an infantry division.. Maybe its BC HQ Battery? Except I am not sure there was a BC HQ Battery in the wartime establishment or that there was an ArmouredOP/Unioversal Carrier in RHQ. Maybe this was some trial establishment? .
     
  14. IanTurnbull

    IanTurnbull Well-Known Member

    Andy
    "D" Troop "lost" 2 guns on D Day, the second of which (D2) was "lost" on the way to the Troop's inland gun position near Buhot, but repaired hence its intended replacement D5 appeared as you suggest. TAR refers to it in detail in one of his accounts. D2 was your father's mount I believe.
    upload_2023-7-13_14-52-18.png
    The first (D1) was lost just after landing on the track above the beach in a crater whilst moving to their first gun position above the beach, irretrievably it seems.
    Ian
     
    Last edited: Jul 13, 2023
  15. Derek Barton

    Derek Barton Senior Member

    The Tac sign is for the Battery Commander of the third Battery, I can just make out the red quarter at Bottom left. The AoS was the same for all vehicles in the regiment.
     
  16. Andy Urwin

    Andy Urwin Active Member

    Ian,
    Thanks for posting this. It was my grandfather, Cyril Urwin who was indeed listed as D2 on D-Day.
    Appreciate it
     
  17. Nadine P

    Nadine P Member

    Hi all,

    Picture 4, 5th from the left back row, is my grandfather Herbert 'Pip' Piper.

     
  18. Andy Urwin

    Andy Urwin Active Member

    Hi Nadine,
    that’s great. I see there is a piper on the landing craft for the 431 battery. Would that be him?
     
  19. Andy Urwin

    Andy Urwin Active Member

    I’m so happy that you have seen your dad on the picture. Happy I posted it
     
    Franky likes this.
  20. Nadine P

    Nadine P Member

    Not sure Andy, have yet to find / see a list, would love to find out, and I would love to find out what happened to the Doodle Oak!
     

Share This Page