1st battalion Cameron Highlanders, or not?

Discussion in 'British Indian Army' started by dogsbody21, Apr 19, 2016.

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  1. dogsbody21

    dogsbody21 Member

    I am trying to trace my fathers route through India/Burma/Malaya from 1944 to 1946/7.
    All I really have to go on are some photos of him in uniform, his Burma star and the Cross Keys cloth badge which I beleive denotes 2 Division?

    He would have been called up in 1944. He lived in herefordshire at the time but I beleive that he was sent to scotland for a portion of his initial training so presumably sent to his battalion/regiment from there.

    In a couple of pictures I have he is in front of a "Priest" armoured vehicle which I remember him saying that he drove along with some early chauffering duties which may explain the aguillette he wears in one of the pictures

    His name was Dennis Edwin Davis. Through what I can find out for myself I think he was possibly in the Queens own Cameron Highlanders, 1st Battalion.

    I have attached 3 pictures of him,kilted, with Priest and wearing aguillette kilt.jpg priest.jpg aguillette.jpg

    Any help would be greatly appreciated
     
  2. dogsbody21

    dogsbody21 Member

    I just remembered he had a mate called "Tarzan" but I suppose there might have been more than one person out there with the same nickname
    He also had a picture sent to him dated december 1945 from another mate, Albert. Written on the back was Visapur ?
     
  3. idler

    idler GeneralList

    I think you will need to apply for his service records. In that last photo, he looks like he's wearing a Royal Artillery badge and lanyard which rather goes with the Priests.
     
  4. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    ^^^ What he said ;)

    Welcome by the way :)
     
  5. 51highland

    51highland Very Senior Member

    It's difficult with B&W photo's, but it looks more like Seaforth Tartan, rather than Cameron, Maybe 1st Seaforths? Part of 1st (Indian) Brigade, 23rd Indian Division. They returned to India 1945, Visapur is in India.
     
  6. idler

    idler GeneralList

    Now I've looked at the first photo, my first guess would be Gordons - the badge looks like the stag and the tartan would be Government with the yellow stripe.
     
  7. dogsbody21

    dogsbody21 Member

    Thanks for the replies. I know the cross keys was related to 2nd Division and that he drove the Priest. Is there any record of infantry units using these? Is it possible to trace service record without service number?
     
  8. idler

    idler GeneralList

    No - Priests were self-propelled artillery so they belonged to the gunners.

    The exception would be when the guns were removed from surplus Priests and the hole plated over so they could be used as armoured personnel carriers. Although they carried infantry they were usually driven by tankies. I'm not aware they were used in this role in Burma, only NW Europe and Italy.

    As for his service record, MoD should be able to trace him with just a full name and date of birth.
     
  9. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    how about the divisional anti-tank regiment ?
    http://www.ra39-45.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/atk/page57.html

    100 (Gordon Highlanders) Anti-Tank Regiment RA(TA)


    might have then transferd to another RA unit
     
  10. idler

    idler GeneralList

    I hadn't got as far as checking that, but had wondered if the regiment might have kept a few kilts etc. around for portrait photos as our man was too young to have been with them before the war. It's also quite likely that the A/Tk Regt was subject to some changes for service in Burma - Farndale might be the best bet....
     
  11. dogsbody21

    dogsbody21 Member

    Thanks for the replies. Does anyone know if Priests were used by or attached to infantry units at all ?
     
  12. sol

    sol Very Senior Member

    Only unit that used Priest in Burma was 18th Field Regiment RA. Its batteries were split between VI and XXXIII Corps, usually support armoured units of these two corps.

    And to me it also looks more as the Gordon Highlanders.
     
  13. idler

    idler GeneralList

    The cap badges of the officers in the Priest photo could be RA grenades - are they any clearer on the original?
     
  14. dogsbody21

    dogsbody21 Member

    all very confusing at present. unfortunately the original pictures dont make identification any easier.
    Some research suggests that 8th batt. Gordons converted to 100th RA but others suggest that it was 4th Gordons. I suppose people found themselves rebadged all the time.
    How do I upload an additional pic to this thread?
     
  15. dogsbody21

    dogsbody21 Member

    Found it now.
    I suspect this would be the full crew for the Priest ?
     

    Attached Files:

  16. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  17. idler

    idler GeneralList

    The 'new' Priest photo is very interesting as it is being or has been waterproofed. You can even make out the 'pinned' plates on the side (more usually seen on Universal Carriers).

    When you say 'Malaya' he was likely to have been involved in Op ZIPPER - the planned re-invasion of Malaya which was carried out just as the Japanese surrendered. There can't have been too many SP regiments involved, so it may narrow the field a bit but you still need to get the records application in to eliminate the guesswork.
     
  18. sol

    sol Very Senior Member

    All three field regiments of the 2nd British Infantry Division, 10th, 16th and 99th, had one battery equipped with Priest when this division was trained for amphibious operation against Akyab. But when the division was send to Kohima they replaced their Priests for 25-pdrs.
     
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  19. dogsbody21

    dogsbody21 Member

    thanks all. Application for records underway. I would guess that he didnt arrive in India/Burma until autumn of 1944 so maybe narrows things down further.
    Interesting about the waterproofing mentioned. Could that possibly be due to weather conditions rather than river crossings ?
     
  20. dogsbody21

    dogsbody21 Member

    no news on service records as yet but have done quite a bit of research and came across this film
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mA1y31RXMk

    cant seem to find part 2 though
     

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