1st Bn Rifle Brigade 1944

Following a request by one of the members here I scanned the pages from the 1944 Rifle Brigade Chronicle which cover the history of 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade in North West Europe in 1944.

Thought this might interest a wider audience so have put this thread up as well.

The whole document can be downloaded here:

1st Rifle Brigade 1944 - a set on Flickr

 

Thanks Paul...I'll have to find my spec's

 

When you click on an image in the set, click 'all sizes' above it. You shouldn't have any problems or need for your specs then!

 

Arhhh, wonderful!

 

Really great; thanks for that.

Just one question: do you know who was commanding 1st Battalion at this time?

Many thanks in advance.

 

I am away from my books at present; will check when I return.

 

Thanks, Paul.

 

I was going to OCR it all but I can't download the photos. Are they protected? I could simply do it all longhand but it seems such a waste of effort.

I had great difficulty getting the 4bn Welch War Diary extracts into wordpad as well. I had to paste them into notepad before I could transfer them.
Am I missing something here?

 

After much work here it is as seen in OCR. I have corrected many of the inevitable errors you get with this system but I am sure I missed a few!

Interesting writing style!



THE RIFLE BRIGADE CHRONICLE :

THE 1st BATTALION WITH THE B.L.A.

DEAR EDITOR,
Our last letter ended with the Battalion shivering
in their dismal and ill-constructed Nissen huts in a
dank pine wood near Brandon, Norfolk. By the
beginning of May our re-equipping was largely com-
plete and the English climate became more tolerable.
Waterprooling was, next to leave, our chief pre-
occupation, and much training and instruction in this
were carried out : we were told we must expect to
drive through at least three and a half feet of water.
Around the middle of May we moved to our
assembly area near Brentwood and begin the actual
waterproofing of the whole of the Battalion vehicles.
The camp was overcrowded and our time there was
a nightmare, relieved from time to time with a few-
hours respite in London. But after we had been briefed
as to our destination, even this was officiallv denied
us and we were, at least theoretically, wired in.
At the very end of May we moved down to the
Docks. The vehicles had already been loaded and we
were driven to Tilbury in R.A.S.C. transport and
embarked on our M.T. ships during the first days of
June.
We had been warned that we should be crowded,
but I don't think anyone expected that the packing
would be quite so tight. But once out in the Thames
Estuary we had a grandstand view of the invasion
fleet which stretched to the horizon. The voyage
was uneventful and early in the morning of D plus 2
We anchored off the coast of Normandy, opposite
Arramanches.
Arramanches looked unexpectedly peaceful from
the boat and only distant gunfire could be heard
from farther inland. There seemed, though, to be a
great dearth of landing-craft apart. from a large
number high and dry the beaches. During the
time we spent at anchor in the M.T. ship there was
an almost uneery calm ashore and a serious lack ot
any unloading of the many hundreds of ships awaiting
unloading.
However, at length after delays of as much as
I8 hours in some cases, the Battalion began to come
ashore. Enormous time and attention had been
spent in waterproofing, but most peoples hearts
were in their mouths as they took to the water to
drive ashore, for the prospect of losing one's vehicle
and all one's belonpinns was by no means attractive.
Those landing, on the high tide were the luckiest, for
their landing was almost dry-shod. But those at
half or low tide had a longer and deeper drive and
occasionally disappeared completely from view through
driving into holes up to 18 feet deep, made where
ships had beached on previous tides. The driver and
crew had to bale out quickly and make a sad and
ignominous way to the beach. On the whole, there
were remarkably few cases of drowned vehicles in the
Battalion and such as there were, were for the most
part quickly rescued by the REME Beach detach-
ments which did splendid work with their specially
waterproofed bulldozers,
We concentrated inland a few miles short of
Bayeux still without sign of any but distant sound of
enemy activity. We were not, however, ready to go
forward as complete battalion when the Armoured
Brigade moved, as "C" Company (Bill Jepson-
Turrner) and the Support Company, "B" Company
(John Watt) were far from complete. Nevertheless.
when the advance did start on D plus 4 "A" Com-
pany (James Wrighf) and "I" Company (Bill Apsey).
each with an anti-tank platoon under command, were
ready to join 4th CLY. and 5 RTR, the. two
Armoured Regiments with which they usually work.
We soon learned the nature of the "Bocage"
country with its banks and thick hedges every hundred
yards or so. You could not imagine closer country,
and it was difficult, if not impossible, to spot enemy
anti-tank guns, Spandau positions or even tanks
themselves if they chose to lie up and keep still. It
was hopeless country for an Armoured Division and
our hopes of a rapid "swan-through'' faded rapidly.
" I " Company found themselves clearing one small
set of houses no less than three times in the day
since small parties of Germans kept filtering back.
Whilst. doing so they were unlucky enough to lose
Sergt. Hines (M.M.) who had a distinguished record
both in the old 9th Battalion and in this Battalion.
"A" Company were plugging along with the leading
Armoured Regiment and finding it necessary to watch
every approach along which enemy infantry might try
to stalk the tanks, and all night had to guard the
tank leaguer.
All this seemed far removed from the rapid dash
some 20 miles inland for which we had been briefed,
with its first objective Villers-Bocage and its final
objective Mt. Pincon and the high ground near it
dominating all the surrounding country. However,
after a few days of imperceptible progress towards
Tilly la Campagne it was decided on the 12th June
to switch the Armoured Brigade by small side roads
to pass through the Americans on our right and to
approach Villers-Bocage from the west and to capture
some high ground to the south and east of the town.
Speed was to be the essence of the party and rapid
progress was made by the 4 th Sharpshooters (County
of London Yeomanry) and "A" Company, with
Roger Butler's anti-tank platoon under command
which formed the leading Armoured Regimental
Group.
The group passed through Villers-Bocage early on
the morning of the 13th and reached their objective
some two miles to the east of the town by 9 o'clock
that morning and halted on the road in close column
ready to take up dispositions for holding the ground
gained. At that moment the front half of the column
was attacked by German tanks and the tanks of the
Regimental HQ were knocked out and a number of
the motor company's half tracks brewed up by enemy
tank fire at point-blank range. Dense clouds of smoke
from burning tanks and vehicles added to the general
confusion, which was increased by the fact that the
platoon commanders of the company were forward at
the time getting orders from James Wright and so
were not, with their platoons. Many of the company
managed to get away from the burning vehicles, but
a number were not so fortunate. By about 1 o'clock
the leading squadron of tanks had been overwhelmed
and the enemy had appeared at the rear of the column
in Villers-Bocage itself. Of the whole company only
one officer and thirty other ranks finally returned
during the next few days and we lost Alfred de Pass
and Roger Butler killed, James Wright, Charles Parker,
Bruce Campbell were taken prisoner, and Peter Coop
is missing still.
Meanwhile the rest of the Brigade took up an all-
round position some two miles west, of the town and
dug in. "C"' Company arrived the same. day and
dug in to the north, other machine-guns and anti-tank
guns of the support company plugged various holes in
tlie position. "I " Company were on the Southern
flank and the next day had a very busy time, and the
whole area was fairly heavily shelled and mortared.
At about 8 in the evening the enemy put in an attack
on " I " Company's area and got, quite near to "I"
Company's positions before being seen off
magnificiently by the. company, admirably assisted by
5 RHA firing air bursts over open sights and a
special concentration (the code word for which was
" pandemonium ") laid on by some self-propelled 155's
of the American Artillery who had an O.P. officer
with us.
Although this attack was repulsed with heavy
enemy losses, higher authority decided that the
Division must be pulled back that night to a less isolated
position. It was pitch black that night but the
move was a triumph of good driving and road
discipline, and was completed with the minimum of
enemy interference. Only a few shells came over,
but one unluckily landed on John Foreshew's carrier
and killed him and his crew instantly. " I " Com-
pany had already Had a most unfortunate time in
onicer casualties with Geoffrey May killed and Gerald
Pritty and Dennis Matthews badly wounded, as well
as losing CSM. Jefford also killed.
We were only given a few days respite (with the
exception of the remnants of " A " Company which
was sent. back to refit) and the Battalion was con-
centrated and sent up to fill a gap in the line near
Le Pont Mulot some 4 miles south of Caumont. The
frontage was about 2,500 yards and with only two
motor companies and the support company there
was no depth to the position whatever. We remained
in position for 11 days and found the long hours of
daylight desperately trying. Stand to in the morning
was at 4.15 and in the evening at 10.30. each for an
hour, so that there was no opportunity for a good
night's rest. Still there were certain compensations
in the form of delicious Camenbert and Port de Salut.
cheeses from Bayeux, ggs and fresh butter from the
farm-houses and plenty of Calvados, a highly potent
and lethal form of apple jack which tasted like fire
water.
It was during the time at Pont Mulot that "B''
Echelon, away back near Balleroy, was heavily shelled
at night. " A " Company was there reforming and
re-equipping and Francis Dorrien Smith had just taken
over command. Unhappily Francis and James
Caesar were killed by one of the first shells and shortly
afterwards Gilbert Talbot commanding H.Q. Com-
panv was also killed. It was a desperately tragic
ffair and the Battalion suffered a loss of exceptionally
able and experienced officers whom it will he indeed
difficult to replace.
We were relieved at Pont Mulot by the Glosters
and went hack to Ellon, some five miles south of
Bayeux. for two weeks. We spent the time pleasantly
enough and the motor companies tried various themes
in conjunction with the tanks to decide on the best.
method of advancing with the tanks in close country
Eric Sargeant joined us from home to take over "A"
Company and shortly afterwards "A " Company was
brought up to strength with a large batch ot rinforce-
ments. .
Early on the 17th July we came under command
of 8 Corps to take part, with 11 Armoured Division
and the Guards Armoured Division in the hig attack
which was to he made to break out south of Caen.
For this purpose we crossed the Orne, north of Caen
and moved southwards. We had a good view of the
terifficallv heavy bombing of Caen and the enemy-held
villages to the south, when some 7,000 tons of bombs
were dropped. We moved in regimental groups, but
there was much congestion and long delays when no
forward movement, was possible. There was a lot ot
Nebelwerfering, the noise of which often causes much
alarm and despondency, though fortunately the splinter
effect is surprisingly small. But progress was slow
in spite of the air bombardment and artillery barrage,
for well-concealed enemy tanks and anti-tank guns
were hard to dislodge and the armour never succeeded
in gaining freedom for manoeuvre. The weather broke
too and it became plain that the operation would not
succeed. There was a lot of enemy shelling and all
that we could do was to disperse our vehicles, dig
deep and hope for the best. The G.A.F. were also
active at night with an unpleasant kind of anti-
personnel bomb. Bill Apsey was, unfortunately,
wounded by a mortar bomb and he will he a sad
loss to " I " Company. Norman Griffiths ("B"
Company) and Tony Crassweller (" I '' Company)
were both slightly wounded by shell splinters. Peter
Luke, who had been second-in-command "B " Com-
panv, took over " I " Company.
Meanwhile a new plan had been evolved which
placed the Division under command of the Canadians,
through whom we were to pass on their reaching
their second objective in the hopes of a break-through
in the direction of Falaise. Unfortunately, the Cana-
dians were held up and the Brigade found itself in
the earlv morning on an extremely exposed slope within
some 3,000 yards of the enemy. The inevitable
reaction on the enemy's part was not long delayed
and the Battalion suffered some casualties before less
vulnerable positions could be found. Nevertheless,
the number of untenanted reverse slopes was all too
small and considerable overcrowding again resulted.
Once again some days of inaction followed with
shelling by day during which we lost Robin Birch,
and air bombing by night until we were relieved by
a Canadian Motor Battalion. We were delighted to
leave the Caen area with its open corn-fields and
destroyed villages which had a most depressing effect
on everyone. The bridge at Caen had been repaired,
so we drove through the town and could see the
full extent of the devastation caused by the air
bombing. On the 30th July we found ourselves
back again in Ellon and delighted to be back among
the green and fertile pastures of the Bocage country.
But it was not for long, for on the 1st August we
returned to 30 Corps and were on the move again in
the direction of Villers- Bocage and Aunay-sur-Odon.
5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoons had replaced the Sharp-
shooters in the Brigade and we were shortly to lose
our universally admired, respected and beloved Briga-
dier Hinde, a blow from which the Brigade took
long to recover. While in addition to this, it was
decided to change the Divisional Commander, Bobby
Erskine, and his loss was felt deeply throughout the
Battalion, whose good friend he had been for so long.
For the next two days the motor companies were
fully occupied with their armoured regiments pushing
forward in dfficult country against determined enemy
rearguards. Aunay itself had been bombed com-
pletely and utterly flat with the sole exception of the
church-tower, which still stood an erect and gloomy
sentinel over the devastation.
We were then moved from the Aunay area to a
position west of the main road from Caen to Falaise,
and the Division became part of the First British
Corps of the First Canadian Army. We moved east-
wards and took over a small bridgehead near Livarot.
There was another river obstacle a few miles ahead
and the Battalion was ordered to seize the one bridge
that was supposed to be intact at Fervacques. In the
failing light " I " Company were hastily mounted on
tanks and succeeded in rushing and capturing the
bridge. The rest of the night they had a good harvest
ambushing enemy vehicles, some of them horse drawn,
who were unaware that the use of the bridge had
been denied them. The most satisfactory prize was
the capture of a German cook's lorry with a hot
breakfast destined for the German garrison. How-
ever, the enemy were not prepared to give up
Fervaques without a struggle. and in the evening a
vigorous infantry counter-attack was put in. "A",
" B " and " 1 " Company Commanders had taken up
their headquarters in the local chateau, a splendidly
constructed building with walls at least five feet thick.
There was a prodigious expenditure of small arms
ammunition on both sides, but a well-timed and well-directed
direct fire. by the gunners and a generous use of
•5 Browning by " I " Company's Scout. Platoon and
plenty of MMG fire from "B" Company proved
decisive and the attack was repulsed.
The advance continued with the object of forcing
the enemy into the big loop of tHe Seine, south-west
of Rouen. and involved much clearing of woods and
orchards in which all the scout platoons especially
had satisfactory bans of prisoners, and booty.
We crossed the Seine on the 31st August, and by
last light were well on the way to the Somme. We
kept going all night, although at one moment the
whole of our column had to turn round in its tracks
on a narrow road owing to an alteration of plan and
route. We, like most of the Army, had run off our
maps and the best that was available was scale
1/100,000 to the tune of about one per company.
A Canadian Armoured Division then decided to use
our narrow centre, line and delayed our progress con-
siderably. However, we crossed the Somme soon
after first light on the 2nd September and pushed on
eastwards, by this time we could only raise maps
of scale 1/250,000. and the dificulties of navigation
sensibly increased. The enthusiasm of the local
inhabitants was prodigious in this part of France
and Company Commanders (and perhaps even the
C.O.) from their Olympian seats in their half tracks
could not help but envy the DR.s, so vulnerable on
their lowly machines to the embraces of the local
ladies. Prisoners were becoming a considerable prob-
lem and often outnumbered many times those who
had taken them. But the Maquis were very active
and helpful and always ready to take them off our
hands and it was a real pleasure.
The Maquis were particularly useful in Lillers,
which was cleared and held by 1st R. Tanks and " C "
Company. Unfortunately John Young, who was com-
manding their Scout Platoon, was wounded on the
way there and Norman Deveson killed in the street

fighting, but a good number of prisoners were taken.
Germans continued to try to filter back into Lillers,
and it was unfortunate that we should have been
ordered to push on and so leave the inhabitants to
the risk of German reprisals. The only consolation
was that the Maquis were by this time both numerous
and well armed, and it is to be known that they were
able to give a good account of themselves.
That evening we pushed on to the La Bassee Canal
near Bethune. but our intended centre line was never
finallv cleared of enemy and so we moved the next
day through Bethune, which by then was reported
clear, to Mazingarbe near Lens, where the Battalion
rested for a few days and tried to catch up on some
much needed maintenance. "A" Company was not
so luckv and joined the remainder of the Brigade
who by then had moved up to the area of Ghent.
By the 8th September we were on the move again,
passed to the east of Lille, crossed the frontier into
Belgium. through Tournai to south of Termonde.
We found the Belgians even more delighted to see us
than the French, and were met everywhere with a
happy admixture of eggs and enthusiasm. Belgian
beer was there for the asking, and made up in quantity
what it lacked in quality.
We pushed on towards Antwerp and stopped to
hold St. Nicholas, a delightful old town some five miles
west of Antwerp. Here we were joined by "A"
Company and 5th D.G. who had taken part in the opera-
tions round Ghent. The population were beside them-
selves with joy at tlie disappearance of the the "Moffe,"
tlie Flemish word of disaffection for tlie German, and
could not do enough for us. 'The local White Brigade
were busy rounding up collaborators of both sexes,
shaving the heads of the women and making the
men get on their hands and knees and scrub out
Nazi emblems from the pavements before clapping
them into prison. In fact an enjoyable time was had
by all. and we were sorry when we were ordered to
move on to a village five miles north of Malines.
Here we celebrated the Regimental Birthday with the
aid of casks of beer from Malines, and most people
managed to get into Malines for a few hours.
The Battalion was then ordered to join the Lorried
Infantry Brigade in holding a stretch of some 20 miles
of the Albert, Canal. We were well spaced out but
had the canal between us, and the enemy and things
on the whole were reasonably quiet. After this we
returned to our own Brigade which was split up,
5 D.G. with "A" Company going off to join the
53 (W) Division and 5th RTR and "I' Company
joining the 15 (S) Division. The rest of us moved
up to the Meuse-Escaut Canal north of Moll where
we took over the defence of the canal. Here the
anti-tank platoons of the support company parked
their anti-tank guns and took over, as ordinary riflemen,
aided by the machine-gunners, the defence of a
large factory area bordering the canal. When the
Germans finally pulled out, Michael King with some
of his platoon, accompanied by a Belgian Officer,
went off on a special patrol. This involved com
mandeering bicycles from some most, reluctant
onlookers who could hardly be prevailed upon to
part with such valuable articles. The party was
then ferried across the canal and bicycled to Rethy
some four miles north of the canal and there organized
civilian bicycle patrols in all directions, and when
these had reported, the patrol bicycled back with
some really valuable information.
On the 24th September we crossed into Holland
and moved up to Eindhoven and then on to St.
Oudenrode. Just to our north there was acute centre
line trouble: a German column had cut the road
and brewed up a number of 3 tonners. But the
situation was later restored and we moved on to
Dinther and Heeswijk where we were joined by "A"
and "I" Companies. The enemy were rather accurate
with their mortars and we were not sorry when we
were relieved and moved north to Heesch. some
eight miles east of s'Hertogenbosch.
We stayed in the area of Heesch for three weeks,
our task being to prevent any eastwards thrust by the
enemy which might have cut the centre line of the
troops in the area north of Graves and Nijmegen.
We were spread over a wide front and there was
much night patrolling to be done. "A" Company
had a highly successful battle when a night attack
of battalion strength was put in against their positions
in the small nearby village of Geffen: they drove the
enemy off with gusto and heavy losses to him, and
George Burder won a richly deserved M.C.
We left Heesch on the 20th October, the Battalion
coming under command of the Lorried Infantry
Brigade (131) whose task it was to protect the left
flank of the 53 (W) Division which was attacking
s'Hertogenbosch. The Battalion was not heavily
engaged. though John Poole and lan Bancroft had a
good indirect shoot with their Vickers on to some
enemy positions on a canal bank. We then returned
to the Armoured Brigade and moved westwards to
cut the northern roads out of Tilburg. The motor
companies went with their armoured regiments and
did good work patrolling and clearing woods. The
Brigade was, however, held up beyond Udenhout by
a strongly defended position in front of some woods
at a cross-tracks near De Heidebloom. The plan was
for "I" Company to put in an attack with the
riflemen riding on the tanks of the tanks of the 5th DG
The attack was to be preceded by a heavy concen-
tration of artillery and supported by covering fire
from John Poole's Vickers machine-guns. Unfortu-
nately, when still some 300 yards from their objective,
several of the troop carrying tanks got bogged : one
went up on a mine and another was knocked out
by an anti-tank gun. The attacking infantry came
under heavy spandau fire and had no alternative but
to gain the temporary shelter of a small wood. Later,
" I " Company went in again in a different place
followed by "A" Company, and there was a very
satisfactory bag of some 120 prisoners.
We had 48 Hours much needed rest before taking
over the town of Ramsdoncksveer, which lies some
1000 yards south of the River Maas, from the 51 (H)
Division which had just captured it. The take-over
had in fact to be partly postponed until darkness
owing to enemy interference, but was satisfactorily
completed during the night. The enemy were just
across the canal in the adjoining town of Getruidenberg
and there was much mutual shelling, mortaring
sniping and patrollng, which ended up considerably
to our advantage. Finally, the Poles came up trom
the south and captured Getruidenberg and we were
relieved partly by them and partly by the Canadians,
and moved back to Belgium again to the area some
way south of Venlo.
While we were at Ramsdoncksveer, Bill Jepson-
Turner went home to the Training Battalion for a
rest, and Cyril Suter who had been second in command
of " " Companv took over "C " Company. Gilbert
Williams came out from the Traming Battalion and
became second in command to " B " Company.
We arrived at Neeroteren. a small village a few
miles from the Maas just opposite the narrowest point,
of the Maastricht appendix, on the 13th November.
We were all in comfortable billets and with no opera-
tional commitments, settled down to a rest and a
good time. After some days the matter of training
began to rear its ugly head and Company Commanders
were invited to make out a training progrramme for a
fortnight This was clearlv tempting providence too
far and just when we were thinking we might spend
Christmas in peace and comfort we were ordered to
move across the Mass to take over from the Guards
Armoured Division who were holding the villages of
Nieuwstadt and Holtum, two miles north of Sittard
and on the German-Dutch frontier.
We arrived there on the 1st of December and took
over with one motor company and part of the support
company in each village and one motor company and
the rest of the support company in reserve. The
enemy was disagreeably close to our F.D.L.s only
200 yards at one point and was quite aggressive in
his patrolling and accurate with his shell- and mortar-
hre. We suffered occasional casualties from shelling,
especially at Nieuwstadt, but gave back a good deal
better than we got. Shortly before Christmas the
Germans sent over a lot of leaflet shells containing propa-
ganda leaflets and Christmas cards. They were mainly
fired from 105 mms and as ill luck would have it,
one of the empty metal containers had a direct hit on
Eric Sargeant's H.Q. in Nienwstadt and killed Gilbert
Williams, Eric's second-in-command, and wounded the
Gunner OP officer and two signallers. It was the
most tragic luck and cast a gloom over the Christinas
festivities.
Everyone spent Christmas as best they could and
there was some enjoyable if impromptu parties.
Shortly before Christmas David Clive, who had returned
to the Battalion from Brigade H.Q. and became
second-in-command of the support company, went
off to Rheims and came back with excellent stocks of
champagne. The PRI produced some good Christ-
mas fare and the NAAFI. some beer and brandy,
so there was no lack of alcoholic encouragement.
As we bring this letter to an end with the close
of the year we hope that we shall read this letter
when it. appears in the CHRONICLE, with our feet on
the marblepiece of our respective homes, back in the
one and only street many of us ever want to live
in -Civvy Street.

 

Just one question: do you know who was commanding 1st Battalion at this time?

Is anyone able to answer this one for me?

Many thanks.

 

Sorry, I couldn't find a note of it.

 

Lt Col AGV 'Victor' Paley

 

When I managed to get it in a word document I sent a copy to Daniel Taylor. This was his reply:

"I believe this account was in the RB War History. I came across it in the Library at Sandhurst in about 1996. Whilst interesting, I don't think it adds much from our point of view [NOTE: 'our' point of view being related to Villers Bocage] in that the author was clearly with Btn HQ In my estimation the most likely author was Victor Palsey, the CO.
One of the few officers not mentioned is Chris Milner - he was the officer mentioned but not named - who returned from Pt 213. This is particularly interesting as he was made company commander straight after VB. I'm pretty sure he got his MC near Ghent. In any event, all manner of officers are mentioned by name including quite junior ones, though I'd admit that it was frequently because they had been wounded or killed.
I had the impression (implied but never explicit) that Milner and Palsey did not get on. Milner said that on his return, Palsey's first reaction was, "What the bloody hell have you done with A Company?" Also, Milner referred to Palsey as Nuf-nuf - a nick-name given him on account of his cleft palette. It's not the sort of thing I'd have expected to be passed to me (at the time a serving lieutenant and therefore quite junior) unless there was some animosity - gripes usually go up rather than down the food-chain."


He also sent a copy of the RB Oficer returns before Villers Bocage and after.



Return of Officers 1 APR 44

1st Btn Rifle Brigade
Lt Col AGV Paley OBE CO Victor
T/Maj The Hon MG Edwardes MBE 2i/c
T/Maj JC Watt Support Coy Comdr John
T/Maj WJ Apsey MC I Coy Comdr Bill
T/Maj JEL Wright A Coy Comdr James PoW 13/6
A/Maj BW Jepson-Turner MC C Coy Comdr Bill
T/Capt GSW Talbot HQ Coy Comdr Gilbert
T/Capt FA Dorrian-Smith Coy 2 i/c Francis
T/Capt PAC Luke B Coy 2 i/c Peter
T/Capt GS Pritty Coy 2 i/c (I Coy) Gerald WIA 14/6
T/Capt CF Milner A Coy 2 i/c Christopher
T/Capt AM Parker Adjutant
T/Capt GC Johnston Tech Offr
Capt EC Dudman MBE QM
Lieut WPL Rogers Pl Comd
Lieut RS Warwick Tpt Offr
Lieut JW Bourne Sig Offr
Lieut DE Burnett-Stuart Int Offr
Lieut CE Christian WTO
Lieut JD Bates MC Pl Comd
Lieut GT May MC Pl Comd (I Coy Geoffrey KIA 14/6
Lieut RM Butler Pl Comd (A/T Pl) Roger KIA 13/6
Lieut CH Melville Pl Comd
Lieut DCW Watkin Pl Comd
Lieut JJ Poole Pl Comd (MG) John
Lieut TJ Foreshaw Pl Comd
Lieut DM King Pl Comd
Lieut CB Campbell Pl Comd (A Coy) Bruce PoW 13/6
Lieut ABR Hopwood Pl Comd
Lieut DH Matthews Pl Comd(I Coy) Dennis WIA 14/6
Lieut IP Bancroft Pl Comd (MG) Ian
Lieut AN Mather Pl Comd
Lieut AW Green Pl Comd
Lieut NB Griffiths DCM Pl Comd (B Coy) Norman
Lieut JR Baker Pl Comd
Lieut J Averill Messing O
Lieut AP dePass Pl Comd (A Coy) Alfie KIA 13/6
Lieut CGA Parker Pl Comd (A Coy) Charles PoW 13/6
Lieut JNK Young Pl Comd
Lieut PC Riviere Pl Comd
Capt WF Carpenter RAMC RMO
Not listed:
Lt P Coop Pl Comd (A Coy) Peter MIA 13/6

Return of Officers 17 JUN 44

1st Btn Rifle Brigade
Lt Col AGV Paley OBE CO
T/Maj The Hon MG Edwardes MBE 2i/c
T/Maj JC Watt Coy Comdr
T/Maj WJ Apsey MC Coy Comdr
A/Maj BW Jepson-Turner MC Coy Comdr
T/Capt AM Parker Adjutant
T/Capt GSW Talbot Coy Comdr
T/Capt GC Johnston Tech Adj
Capt EC Dudman MBE QM
T/Capt FA Dorrian-Smith Coy 2 i/c
T/Capt PAC Luke Coy 2 i/c
T/Capt CF Milner Coy 2 i/c
Lieut DE Burnett-Stuart Coy 2 i/c
Lieut RS Warwick Tpt Offr
Lieut JW Bourne Sig Offr
Lieut JNK Young IO
Lieut CE Christian WTO
Lieut JD Bates MC Pl Comd
Lieut WPL Royce Pl Comd
Lieut CH Mieville Pl Comd
Lieut JJ Poole Pl Comd
Lieut DM King Pl Comd
Lieut ABR Hopwood Pl Comd
Lieut JV Caesar Pl Comd
Lieut IP Bancroft Pl Comd
Lieut AN Mather Pl Comd
Lieut AW Green Pl Comd
Lieut NB Griffiths DCM Pl Comd
Lieut JR Baker Pl Comd
Lieut CGA Parker Pl Comd
Lieut PC Riviere Pl Comd
Lieut STB Forbes-Adams Pl Comd
Capt WF Carpenter RAMC RMO

 

Excellent - thanks!

 

Perfect. Many thanks for that. Much appreciated.

 

Please see the thread that I have posted on the Unit History Forum - perhaps some of you can help me.

Thanks

 

Immediate

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. On 31st August 1942 at about 1830hrs at Map Ref. 42968774 his platoon was attacked by 20-30 German Tanks. He held his fire until they were at close range and succeeded in knocking out five at least, and damaging others. Although it appeared likely that his position might be over-run he continued to direct the fire of his gun in the coolest possible manner. His gallant conduct and good shooting was undoubtedly largely responsible for preventing German Tanks breaking into the position before it was possible for our own tanks to arrive. Throughout the action which lasted for about three quarters of an hour he was continuously under heavey fire.

Recommened for MM

Gazetted 5.11.42

 

Hi,

I know this thread dates back a few years but I wonder if anyone can help. I am researching the men of my local war memorial. One of those listed is TJ Foreshew who, as I have discovered earlier on in this thread, was killed instantly along with his crew when his 'carrier' was hit by an enemy shell on the 15th June 1944. I'm assuming that the 'carrier' in question was a bren-gun carrier?

Can anyone shed any more light on this individual and his military service?

Regards

Jeff

 

Just found this photo on Getty Images. It shows Carriers of 1 RB crossing (going East) the Canal de Caen à la Mer over LONDON 1 bridge "in July 1944", most probably on 18th July at the start of Operation GOODWOOD. These Carriers presumably belong to the Scout Platoon of one of the Motor Companies, because of the 4" smoke discharchers on the nearside corner:



Michel

 

a
Anyone know the War Diary reference at the National Archives? or if a transcript is on the internet anywhere?
Thanks