2nd Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment

Guys,

I recently came across a box of letters from a relative that were written during World War Two. I was intrigued byt these and have set about researching the gentleman and i intend to produce a small packet about him for the family to take with us to Italy when we go to visit his wargrave in Assisi late next year.

So far i have requested his service record from the MOD, and have been to the regimental museum (extra helpful), have written a rough time line, worked out theatres/operations he was involved in, and i have worked out (as far as i can without the service record) what war diaries to go and read in the PRO (these i will re-visit when i have the service jacket)

His details are

14207343
Private. Norman D. Gratwicke
Age 30 years
KIA 10/10/44

Here is a pic of him


now a couple of questions...... the first to do with what he did....

In this letter the address is clearly visible in the top right


What was S (or 1 - i cant tell!) company, carrier platoon, 2nd btn The Hampshire Regiment? - is this carrier as in bren gun carrier or similar??

What could the M.E.J stand for? on some letters it says C.M.J

Also how do i work out what medals he would have been entitled to?
Would this be in the service record?

From the entry in the regimental roll he was in the General Service Corps initially then transferred to the 11th Battalion (Jersey Militia) on the 26/02/1942, but he was killed in action in Italy on 10/10/1944 and was listed as in the 2nd battalion, The Hampshire Regiment, as part of the 128th Brigade. So he must have been moved into the 2nd battalion at some point (i suppose the service jacket will tell me more)

So from what i can work out from Battalion History and dates, he was in North Africa in november 1942 as part of operation Torch and was involved in the Battle of Tebourba and Hunt's Gap, then he was in Italy (Operation Avalanche??) from sept 1943 as part of the 128th Brigade landing at Salerno and this was were he spent the most of the rest of his war, except for a period in 1944 (march 44 - june 44)when the battalion was removed to egypt for training and to be brought up to strength. They then returned to italy for the assualt on the Gothic Line. Seems the rest of his time was Periods of combat and R+R interspersed. He died 10/10/44 which was around the time the 128th brigade were crossing the River Fiumicino (in appalling weather - echoed in his letters and the war diaries).

By looking at various websites and talking to the museum it seems he was (probably - but i dont know) entitled to The 1939-1945 War Medal, The 1939-1945 War Star, The Italy Star, The Africa Star and maybe the Defence Medal but im not sure on any of these though, can any of you shed any light?

Apologies for the long post,

Many thanks for reading it

Ed

 

MEF = Meditterean Expeditionary Force?

I did some 2nd Hamps stuff when they were in the Guards Brigade in 1940...I took several pictures of where a couple of there HQ's were and they are posted in a BEF thread.

Regards
Andy

 

^^^ Do you have those pictures?

And know locking at it it does indeed look like MEF, what could the CMF stand for then?

Many tahnks for your help, will see what direction a support company takes me......

cheers for the medals link

Ed

 

Diane mentioned to me that it maybe Middle East Force - I think she may be correct

The pictures are in the link below. There may be a mention of a Lt Halliday in there too who was the Battalions Intel Officer in 1940.
http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/ww2-battlefields-today/16839-walking-footsteps-british-expeditionary-force-2008-2009-a.html


See previous post ref MEF

 

that is a lovely photo.
try and get this book.
Royal Hampshire Regiment. 1918-1954 - Naval & Military Press



Yep, got that, its very good and where most of my info has come from!

That certainly makes sense Regards the MEF CMF - it fits with where he was during the war.....

Many thanks guys! Superb bits of info, it seems to me the smallest bits can unlock the whole thing!

 

Ok, glad you got it , saves me scanning stuff from it then.


Middle East Force [M.E.F.], Central Mediterranean Force [C.M.F.]
BBC - WW2 People's War - Army Post Office WW2

Cheers, yeh its a really informative book!

Thansk for the link to that clears it all up!

 

Typical Infantry Battalion Formation:

 

that makes a lot of sense, bren gun carrier rings a bell, its been mentioned to me in the past.

He died, as reported to me by a relative hand-me-down tale, becasue the gun he was firing misfired and he was killed by the richochet. Is this likely? was there any guns known for this in WW2?

Perhaps he was killed by a richochet from a bullet and its got blurred over time

 

I've fired the Bren and I can't see how you could be killed by it unless you was at the pointy end. Jamming yes but richochet - No. That worsd wouldn't be used in a stoppage.

 

I've fired the Bren and I can't see how you could be killed by it unless you was at the pointy end. Jamming yes but richochet - No. That worsd wouldn't be used in a stoppage.

perhaps he got killed by a richochet then, his service jacket might tell more on that i suppose

 

My late uncle Sammy Park was in the Royal Hamps and I found three photos in the family album. Sorry, no captions.

 

Glad this has been bumped, fascinating stuff!

I've found quite a few Portsmouth lads in my list of Portsmouth's WW2 dead served in the Hampshire Regiment, and 13 were killed in the 2nd Battalion from Tunisia to Italy.