Hello everyone, I’m trying to tap in to the amazing amount of knowledge on this site. I’ve just obtained my late father’s service records and I’m trying to build up more information around the details on there. He was conscripted in September 1942 and based at Warley Barracks in Brentwood. The records show that he was posted to 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers on 06/02/43 and at some point he appears to have been in Market Rasen before embarking for Algiers on 14/04/43. Having arrived there on 23/04/43 he was then posted to 8th Batallion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders so he wasn’t in the Fusiliers for long. I can’t find much information about the 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers for this period or when they moved to Market Rasen. Does anyone know any more about them? Any information gratefully received.
17 Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) | The National Archives Reference: WO 166/12543 Description: 17 Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) Date: 1943 Jan.-Nov. Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description Access conditions: Closed For 29 years For other options - Search results: 17 royal fusiliers | The National Archives TD
Kevin, welcome to the forum. I do have a copy of ALWAYS A FUSILIER by C. Northcote Parkinson. Chapter III Rehearsal for War seems to go-into some detail about 17 Royal Fusiliers.. I will have to read more about it before I come back with some info! I also have a copy of The History of The A. & S.H. 8th Battalion 1939-47 by Lt.-Col. A.D. Malcolm O.B.E. If you don't mind, can you please show his service records if you are able ? Regards, Stu.
Wow, that's a fast response! Tricky - Thanks for the Archives reference, I'll look further into that. Stu - thanks very much for the offer for info from your books. As I've named the thread for the 17 Royal Fusiliers I suppose we should stick to that part and I'll add a post to the ASH thread for your help there (I'm not sure about how the thread etiquette works here). I've uploaded the relevant section of his records regarding the Fusiliers (hopefully I've done it correctly, I'm new to this). As you can see, he was a bit of a naughty boy. Frankly, he really didn't want to be in the Army and kept trying to go home. I suspect the Army were relieved to finally get him overseas and stop him from any more AWOL's! Any information you can find in your book would be great to hear about.
17th (Pioneer) Battalion, The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) The battalion was raised at Alnmouth, Northumberland on March 9th, 1940. It moved to camp at Amble after it was raised. It was converted to infantry on October 24th, 1940. It moved to North Seaton Hall on October 17th, 1940 then to Ryton-on-Tyne. 141st (London) Infantry Brigade – 17 December 1940 to 2 October 1942 140th (London) Infantry Brigade – 2 October 1942 to 10 December 1942 144th Infantry Brigade – 10 December 1942 to 19 November 1943 It moved to Monmouth on December 17th, 1940 where it joined the 141st (London) Infantry Brigade. It served in the United Kingdom with these brigades. It was disbanded in the United Kingdom on 18 November 1943.
dryan67 - Thanks for that information. As I now understand it from what you have posted, the 144th Infantry Brigade were part of the 48th Infantry (Reserve) Division who handled training and inducting new soldiers so that all makes sense. Once they arrived abroad they were moved to whichever units needed them. In my father's case, the 8th ASH who were with the British 1st Army at the time.
