2nd Batt Gordon Highlanders

Discussion in 'General' started by toddy in iraq (again!), Jan 8, 2005.

  1. toddy in iraq (again!)

    toddy in iraq (again!) Junior Member

    Can anyone tell me the where the 2nd battalion where in 1945/46, I believe they may have been in India or Africa, looking for an excact location about October 45' as i have a picture of my granfather dated then but with no location
    John
     
  2. Kieron Hill

    Kieron Hill Senior Member

    Hi John,

    I found this following information somewhere on the net
    I hope it helps. It dosn't give a precise location but
    someone else on here might be able to help with that.

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    As with the Great War, World War II started poorly for the Regiment. The 1st Battalion entered France early in the war, and fell back with the army towards Dunkirk. The 1st Battalion held at St Valery-en-Caux (1940) in an effort to buy time for the evacuation at Dunkirk. While most of the army was able to escape, the 1st Battalion was captured and spent the rest of the war as prisoners. The faithfulness to the Regiment at St Valery is the stuff of legends. George McLennan (son of the great P/M. G. S. McLennan) was serving as a battalion medic; when the Officer Commanding told him to get to Dunkirk, George refused to go, preferring to go into captivity rather than abandon his wounded comrades. The 2nd Battalion suffered a similar fate. Stationed at the supposedly impregnable fortress of Singapore, it was captured when the city fell.

    New battalions were raised, and the Highland Division (which incorporated the new 1st Btn and the 5th/7th Btn) was dispatched to North Africa just in time for El Alamein. Sprinting along the Mediterranean coast, 1st/Gordon arrived at Tripoli first. From North Africa the Division moved on to Sicily, but was then returned home to prepare for the mass invasion of Normandy. Three of the Regiment's battalions landed in France in June, 1944, and fought on through to the end of the war. Col Martin Lindsay has written a fine history of the Regiment's march from Normandy to the Baltic in So Few Got Through, available through the Regimental Museum Shop.


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    Battle Honours

    Withdrawal to Escaut • Ypres-Comines Canal • Dunkirk 1940 • Somme 1940
    • St Valery-en-Caux • Odon • La Vie Crossing • Lower Maas • Venlo Pocket • Rhineland • Reichswald • Cleve • Goch • Rhine
    • North West Europe 1940, 1944-1945 • El Alamein • Advance on Tripoli • Mareth • Medjez Plain • North Africa 1942-1943 • Landing in Sicily • Sferro
    • Sicily 1943 •

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    Following World War II, the 1st Bttn remained in Germany for some five years, while the 2nd Bttn remained in North Africa until 1948. The post-war contractions were starting to be felt, and in that year, it was decided that the Regiment should be reduced to a single battalion. A simple ceremony in a gymnasium at Esssen, Germany, marked what many felt was the final nail in the old 92nd's coffin. It could be very reasonably argued that it was actually the 75th that was laid low in 1881 and was finally laid to rest in 1948. Regardless of which view one takes, it was a difficult period of transition for the regiment.

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    Like I said its not a presice location. I've got quite a few pictures
    of North Africa on my website which may help you with identify
    the location and I have just laid my hands on another 80+ which
    I will be uploading onto there in the next couple of weeks.

    Well I hope I've been of some help and good luck with your
    research.

    regards
    Kieron

    my website address is at the bottom of my signature
     
  3. toddy in iraq (again!)

    toddy in iraq (again!) Junior Member

    Many thanks Kieron, at least you have narrowed it down to North Africa for me which is a start.
    checked out your site as well ..Excellent !!

    again many thanks for the info
    John
     

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