Does anyone know when in October 1940 the 1st RHA arrived in North Africa, and at which port? Thanks.
It arrived at Suez on 23 October 1940 with ‘A/E’ and ‘B/O’ Batteries under command and moved to Beni Yusef to train.
Do you happen to also have its geographical movements through to 1943? I'm finding it very hard to follow.
Not surprised. It spent this time being shuffled between Armoured brigades at the height of the Brigade groups experiment. . According to the big book of orbats it was part of 2nd Armd Brigade group 26 Feb - 26 Mar 1941 (in the defence of Cyrenecia) then fell back to Tobruk, where it stayed until after crusader, under command of 9 Australian Div and then 70 div. 9 Feb - 7 July 1942 it was part of 4th Armd Bde Group, and took part in the Gazala battles 2 Aug - 12 Sep 1942 it was part of 22 Armd Bde Group 13 Sep 1943 - 27 May 1943 10 Arm,d Div The exact locations should be in the war diary of 1 RHA or the relevant formation.
This is not complete but here are some more details: It arrived at Suez on 23 October 1940 with ‘A/E’ and ‘B/O’ Batteries under command and moved to Beni Yusef to train. It joined 7th Armoured Division on 23 November 1940 and then came under command of 7th Support Group for its first action in the desert. The regiment was engaged at Sidi Barrani with ‘A/E’ Battery with 7th Armoured and ‘B/O’ Battery engaged at Sofafi Camp. ‘E’ Troop advanced with 8th Hussars and were engaged at Buq Buq. ‘B/O’ Battery rejoined 4th Armoured Brigade and crossed the frontier on 13 December 1940. By 15 December 1940, Chesnut Troop was in action with the 3rd Hussars at Fort Capuzzo and ‘B/O’ Battery was closing in on Bardia. . It was reorganized on 24 December 1940 with ‘A’, ‘E’ and ‘B/O’ Batteries, but this did not take effect until after it rested and refitted. The regiment left 7th Armoured Brigade and rejoined 7th Support Group on 21 December 1940. ‘B/O/ Battery was with 2nd Rifle Brigade blocking Bardia and ‘A/E’ Battery was with 1st King’s Royal Rifle Corps enfilading Bardia-Tobruk road. The regiment covered the attack on Tobruk on 20 January 1941 and then attacked Mechili with 4th Armoured Brigade and attached to 2nd Rifle Brigade. The regiment transferred to 2nd Support Group on its arrival in the desert and was attached to 3rd Armoured Brigade from 26 February until 6 April 1941. It withdrew on 1 April leaving ‘B/O’ Battery as the rearguard under 3rd Hussars at Antelat. The battery then joined 5th Royal Tank Regiment. The regiment then withdrew into Tobruk under HQ RA Tobruk Fortress after 6 April with both batteries. The regiment remained in Tobruk during the entire siege and breakout. On 17 December 1941, it turned over its guns to 107th Royal Horse Artillery and moved to Tmini before returning to Tobruk and Cairo. It joined 4th Armoured Brigade in Egypt on 9 February 1942. The brigade left Egypt on 22 March 1942 and moved into Libya. It withdrew over the frontier with the brigade on 17 June and moved back to the Alamein line with the brigade. It came then reformed in Egypt and came under command of 22nd Armoured Brigade in Egypt on 2 August, remaining with it until 12 September. It then joined 10th Armoured Division in Egypt and served under the division until 27 May 1943. It was reorganized on 3 April 1942 with ‘A’, ‘E’ and ‘B’ Batteries. It also incorporated ‘ZZ’ Anti-Tank Battery from 2 June until 8 September. The regiment left Egypt on 21 December 1942 for Palestine and left Palestine on 11 January 1943 for Syria. It remained in Syria until 11 November 1943. It served under 10th Armoured Division until 27 May and under 9th Armoured Brigade Group until leaving Syria.
I've just come across these details in the war diary of B/O Battery (WO169/1436): "18 December 1941 Battery handed over all equipment to 107th R.H.A. and withdrew with Regiment to Pilastrino, inside the Tobruk perimeter. 19 December 1941 Regiment moved to EL ADEM. 20/21 December 1941 Started on two-day march, in South African A.S.C. Convoy to Railhead at BIR HALATA, South East of Sofafi. 22 December 1941 Advance Party started off by road from railhead, main party boarded train at 1800 hours. 24 December 1941 Battery de-trained at Giza Station and proceeded to Beni Yusef. 28 December 1941 Regiment moved to Almaza Camp. 30 December 1941 50% of the Battery was sent on seven days leave." After all those months cooped up in Tobruk I bet the 7 days leave was pretty wild! Regards Tom
