1st Heavy Regiment RA 1944...Vehicle markings...

Bill F · Mar 4, 2020

That 155mm gun has not been 'straight forward' at all !
Very thin suspension parts attached to sprues, and 3 of the 4 ended up in 2 bits !!! No matter how hard I tried to snip it off cleanly !!
Also some of the parts didn't fit into relevant slots very well...resulting in a couple of pretty small parts becoming fixed at what turned out to be the wrong angle...
The other bit I had bother with...the plate where the gun mounts onto the carriage...had to file that out too...wasnt expecting that...
I guess thats just 'modelling' then...

BobsWar · Sep 11, 2020

Derek Barton said: ↑

Bill, happy to help. I will have to answer these questions in small pieces and there will be a certain amount of guess work in my answers. To deal with the gun tractors first, I have no specific information on those used in 6 Field. For units in Europe in 1944/45 there are 3 possibilities -
CMP Chevrolet or Ford Quad Cab 13
Morris Commercial Mk.3 FAT
Morris Commercial Mk.3/5 FAT

For Germany post war the Bedford RL is most likely. My unit (2 Field Rgt) went to Germany in 1965 with a battery of 5.5 inch and 2 batteries of 25 pdr and our 25 pdr tractors were Bedford RL's.

As to markings, 6th were part of 3 AGRA at the end of the war so presumably, when your Dad joined them, they were still marked for that formation. 3 AGRA carried the badge of 2 Army and an arm of service red over blue with bottom white bar and 174. Tac signs would have been carried.

If you need any further explanation of any of this please ask. More soon.

Derek
Click to expand...

FYI My father said he drove onto the Mulberry at Juno, I always assumed the old Bedford since we had a Dinky toy of that, but I believe he once said it was a US made truck

BobsWar · Sep 11, 2020

Bill F said: ↑

Sounds very interesting indeed...so, to my particular research interests, my dad was posted to 6 Field Regt. RA on 14th August 1945, bit later left Dieppe on 7th Oct. 1945 heading for Toulon,on the MEDLOC train...where they boarded the S.S.Mataroa, 5 days later arrived at Port Said. I have the war diaries for all of this by the way...so until the end of March 1946 he was criss crossing Egypt/Israel/Palestine, seems like a heck of a lot of 'backwards and forwards' !!! First question on that period... gun tractor for the 25 pdr...was it the Ford FAT2 4x4 ??? or something else ? Any idea at all ?? Start of April there seems there were lots of changes...this next bit cut/pasted from my 'research map' detail to save me re-tying with all the relevant details etc.....There were many changes to artillery units and regiments which included 6th Field Regt. RA. On 01.04.1947 6th Field Regiment became 67th Field Regiment and on 10.10.1947 6th Regiment RHA became 6th Field Regiment. Also on 01.04.1947 RHQ 1st Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA was redesignated RHQ 76th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA with 207, 208 and 227 HAA Btys from 1, 2 and 17 HAA Btys, respectively. The relevance of the last bit, on the 14th May 1947 my dad was posted to 76 HAA, Aziza Brks, Tripoli, Libya. I have very little info on what he was doing there to be honest, I know there was stuff going on with the upcoming independence following the Italian occupation. He was there until the 29th September 1947, when 76 HAA embarked for the UK. Im guessing by ship, but have no idea of actual craft/route/ or where they docked ? A very helpful researcher at the RA Archive sent me some info about 76HAA and on 7th October 1947 they are listed at Castle Camps, Cambridge. I have found out this is a former RAF station which closed in 1946...no clue what they were doing there ? 76HAA stayed there until 31st December 1947, when they moved to Albany Brks, Parkhust, Isle of Wight (now a prison !) This move did not include my dad, he was granted 95 days leave until the 7th April 1948 when he was transferred to Section 'B' Royal Army Reserve.
Sorry Derek, that was a bit long winded, but needed to get some details in for my questions...hope that's ok ?
?? So, 6th Fld. Regt. Do you happen to know what 'quads' they were using at all ? And any info you may have for any aos/div/formation markings if possible please...
?? 76 HAA any idea what they were doing there at all ? Anything at all would be very helpful...
Following a bit of 'reserve' and 'TA' ...278 Fld Regt is next for a few years, until being posted to 40th Field Regt BAOR Munster 5th August 1958 (I'm 15 months old at this point !)
QF25 Pdrs again, but, again, I'm guessing here, quads were, or must have been well past their sell by dates, so by my reckoning the gun tractor could possibly be the good old Bedford RL ??
Possibly the very rare Model 'F' or 'W' ?? if that is the case, then markings required again please...
He was there until 21st August 1961, posted to 654 sqn AAC Hildesheim, then later to 652 Lt Ac Sqn AAC on 21st September 1964, 2 months later posted to 6 Flight AAC Middle Wallop where he finished his time in the army June 1966
Thats a lot of info Derek, I really hope I am not imposing on your time, but anything you may be able to help with would be fantastic...
I would be very interested to know when your site is back up and running...if you might like to take a glance over my map I have done so far n my dads movements...let me know, I will send you link.
Thank you in advance...
Click to expand...

BobsWar · Sep 11, 2020

My father seems to have been on the same MEDLOC train since he was also with the 6th Field Regiment. He was photographed a few times including whilst on the train journey; with German children in Altenberge, north of Munster.

BobsWar · Sep 11, 2020

Bill F, I assume the lower photo shows vehicles relevant to the topic of vehicles in the Middle East. I can only identify my father by the way. On the right in photo with the tree and rear of the second photo.

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1st Heavy Regiment RA 1944...Vehicle markings...

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