Hi I have obtained the war diary, for 1943 and 1944, of 178Field Rgt RA. (Thanks DREW5233). I want to trace my father in law's travels during WWII. In 1943 he was in 366 battery 178 field Rgt. i'm trying to wade through the diaries and simplfy the returns, onto a spreadsheet to list dates and location for each battery of the field Rgt. It's easy for 1943, but 1944 will take a while to do, as the batteries were seperated in March 44 as they went into action. I have transferred the spreadsheet into a .pdf file. So I am going to try and upload the file, I hope it works! Regards John Hi My father George Henshaw was a lieutenant in 516 Field Battery, 178 Field Regiment. Th listing for 1943 is just great. have you been able to do anything for 1944 and 1945 at all? If i can help in any way, let me know. Regards Rick
I'm away from my files at the moment-If none of the above help give me a shout. I have most if not all of the regiments War Diaries.
Hi Have not been on for a long time. My hard disc died and I lost all my data, didn't have the heart to start again, until now! Looked through September 1943 war diary for 178 field Rgt. If your father is Lt. G W Henshaw, then he is listed as Troop leader for E tp. Possibly 122 Bty. Not sure on that as its not clear. Being an officer he would be listed on every return, so it's easy to follow his journey. There is so much material to wade through it would take awhile to do. You can obtain copies of the war diaries through Drew or visit Kew to examine them yourself. The Firepower museum in Woolwich has a second copy. We visited the museum, last weekend, the gentleman we spoke to looked at the info on 178 field Rgt. He said you would need to book a day at their library to go through all the material!
This is from the war diary of 178 Field Rgt. 4th September 1943. The regiment was located in Kharakvasla, India. The regiment were either on exercise or firing on the Aundh ranges. It looks like Lt. Henshaw was Trp. leader E Tp. 122 battery. These lists can be miss-leading. In January 1945 he got told off for not filling in a form. John
In March 1945 the regiment was in action at Myitson and Mogok. Lt Henshaw is listed as CPO of 516 battery. John.
Hi John, Can't really help here, but I have been working quite extensively on maps recently. Here are the two towns mentioned in your last post today. Both maps can be found at this website, the reference for the map is the code on each jpeg: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/burma/
Thanks for the maps and link. Bit more added to the puzzle! Regards John Has an after thought. In the war diaries there are map references, long shot, is there anyway of applying these to the maps?
Kate The book writtne by James Fenton - The Forgotten Army is a good read, it is basically a book on his correspindance whilst he has in the army. He was in B Troop 366 Battery 178 Field Regiment. After reading the book, there were some indirect connection to me, so I spent some time trying to find him......which I did. He is a wonderful man and very nice to speak to. Anyway you can purchase the book in normal book format of on kindle (if you want to get it quickle), There are images inside it including some of his own art work of the time. I hope you enjoy Ed
Hi John, I'm no map reader really, but I would say if the co-ordinates correspond to the scale of the Texas maps, then its a possibility. Steve
Thanks Steve. I have forgotten my map reading tuition I received as an army cadet in the 1960's! Something to think about for the future. Eddie, thanks for the book info. I downloaded the Kindle version this afternoon. Guess what, my father in law was in B tp. 366 battery and the he is in the photo taken at Felixstowe in 1943. His best friend, 'Curley', W H Hawksford is also in the photo. Regards John
John, Glad to be of some assistance. The company that James worked for after the war still exists, their registered office, funnily enough is a bout 100 yds from where I work. Also James wife was from Abbey Wood I believe, which is where some of my family are from.
Hi zahonado If you wolud like a hi-res copy send me pm with your address and I will send you a copy on CD. Regards John
Much of Geoffrey Foster's account of 36 Div is included in '130th Field Regiment RA and its Burma Campaign'. 130 Fd Regt was the other British field regt in 36 Div.
Hi, my dad was in A Troop 366/178 RA Fld regiment. I have been going through his letters recently trying to trace his steps during the war. I see you are particularly interested in the Dutch aspect of the conflict. There are mentions of the Dutch forces he encountered (not all favourable I'm afraid). If you would like copies of the relevant pages, I would be happy to email them to you. Regards, Phil
