hi I am trying to find out more about this regiment and it’s history. My husbands late father Mallinson Ward was with this regiment up to his death in 1941 and from his service records we know he was killed at sea, his record shows that he was part of the B.E.F in 1939 to 1940 and was evacuated on 2/6/40 and on 22/7/40 was deployed to Egypt, His record also shows that at the time of the outbreak of the Second World War he was serving Egypt and that he had been in the army since 1928 so was a long serving solider Casualty
UK, Army Roll of Honour, 1939-1945 Name: Mallinson Ward Given Initials: M Rank: Gunner Death Date: Apr 1941 Number: 788786 Birth Place: Stoke-on-Trent Residence: Stoke-on-Trent Branch at Enlistment: Royal Artillery Theatre of War: At sea Regiment at Death: Royal Artillery Branch at Death: Royal Artillery UK, Commonwealth War Graves, 1914-1921 and 1939-1947 Name: Mallinson Ward Age: 32 Birth Date: abt 1909 Death Date: 26 Apr 1941 Cemetery: The Athens Memorial Part II (Lac-Zuh) Burial Country: Greece Regimental Number: 788786 Region or Memorial: Memorial Register Global, Find A Grave Index for Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current Name: Gunner Mallinson M Ward Death Date: 26 Apr 1941 Cemetery: Phaleron War Cemetery Burial or Cremation Place: Regional unit of Athens, Attica, Greece Has Bio?: N URL: https://www.findagrave.com/mem... Hopefully others more knowledgable to the theatre will be along to explain more. Can I suggest if you edit your first post and add some tags to the thread, possibly North Africa, Greece, the others who specialise in those areas will pick up on the tags TD
Here is a small summary of the service of 2nd Heavy AA Regiment, RA including 16th Battery. 2nd Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA Station: Lichfield Batteries: 4th, 5th, 6th AA Batteries; 2nd Light AA Battery The regiment mobilized as part of 3rd AA Brigade at Lichfield with 4th, 5th, 6th AA Batteries and 2nd Light AA Battery. It moved to France on 12 September 1939. 2nd Light AA Battery was detached and officially removed from the regiment on 28 May 1940. On arrival in France, the regiment moved to the Nantes area. It moved to Boulogne on 9 December 1939 and transferred to 2nd AA Brigade. It was there until the start of the campaign in May 1940. 5th Battery moved to Sogny-aux-Moulins in May 1940 served under 12th Anti-Aircraft Brigade defending the Allied Air Force Strike Force fields. 6th Battery served in the defence of Calais while 4th Battery fought in the defence of Boulogne. The regiment was evacuated after the fall of France. It was retitled a Heavy AA Regiment on 1 June 1940. On return to England, it reformed at Aperporth with 4th, 5th and 6th AA Batteries equipped with 3.7” AA guns. Before it was sent to the Middle East, the regiment gave up 4th-6th AA Batteries. 4th Heavy AA Battery was sent to Iceland in December 1940 with 49th Division. 5th and 6th Heavy AA Batteries went to 4th Heavy AA Regiment and moved eventually to Malta in 1941. It gained 16th Battery originally part of 4th Heavy AA Regiment and lately of 1st Heavy AA Regiment and 27th Heavy AA Battery also from 4th Heavy AA Regiment. The regiment arrived in Suez on 1 September 1940 with 16th and 27th Heavy AA Batteries and 1st Light AA Battery. It immediately took over 20th Heavy AA Battery already located in the Delta. The regiment moved to Mersa Matruh on 19 September, but had to send 27th Battery to Malta on 27 September. By 1 October, 20th Battery had a troop at Mersa Matruh and another at Baggush. 16th Battery moved to Mersa Matruh on 2 October. At this point the regiment had 16th Battery (8 3.7” guns), 20th Battery (4 3.7” guns) and 1st Light AA Battery (6 40mm guns) at Mersa Matruh. 20th Battery was despatched to Alexandra and then to Piraeus, Greece, where it arrived on 6 November. By early November, the regiment was formed for mobile operations with 1st Light and 16th Heavy AA Batteries. 37th Light AA Battery was added. The RHQ moved to Cairo on 28 December 1940 on the arrival of 51st Heavy AA Regiment HQ in the desert, which replaced the regiment. 16th Heavy AA Battery was left with 51st and 1st Light AA Battery was left with 13th Light AA Regiment. RHQ 2nd Heavy AA Regiment arrived in Greece with 16th Heavy AA Battery and 155th Light AA Battery of 52nd Light AA Regiment in February 1941. It took over 154th and 122nd Light AA Batteries already in Greece. It served in the Greek campaign starting on 6 April and embarked without guns at Sykia at the end of April. It arrived on Crete on 29 April 1941 and then moved onto Alexandria, where it arrived on 2 May. It immediately moved into an anti-parachute role in the Delta as infantry. The regiment was located in Egypt under GHQ and BTE on 6 August 1941. It served the rest of the war under Middle East Forces in Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Libya. In January and May 1943 it served under 21st Anti-Aircraft Brigade in the Suez Canal area. In June 1944 it was located under 1st Anti-Aircraft Brigade in the Levant area and Cyprus. It was attached to Force 292 for Dodecanese operations in September 1943, but not used. Officially 5th Heavy AA Battery left on 24 March 1944 and 6th Heavy AA Battery left on 1 July 1944. 16th, 20th, 28th Heavy AA Batteries joined officially on 1 July 1944.
CWGC gives date of death as 26-27/04/41. I am tending to think he was a casualty from the sinking of the Dutch Troopship Slamat. I'll try and discover more when I have time. Slamat disaster - Wikipedia Tim
World War II: Sinking of the SS Slamat (27 April 1941) genealogy project There doesnt seem to be many British troops aboard the ship SS Slamat Memorial - Oudehorne - TracesOfWar.com SS Slamat: Crew: 222, victims: 211, survivors: 11 Soldiers: 508, victims: 500, survivors: 8 What really happened with 'Operation Demon' TD
Thank you that would be lovely if more could be found, I have booked to take my husband to see his dads memorial as sadly he never know him he was only 10month old when his dad got killed
It's just possible that File WO 361/141 - enquiries into missing pesonnel SS Slamat sunk 26/27 April 1941 may contain more information. Casualties at sea, Mediterranean (evacuation of Greece and Crete): SS Slamat, sunk on... | The National Archives Tim
