Hi Guys. Could anybody tell me where the 2nd Ulster Rifles were located during the period November 39 - February 40?
Hi# From the official history, Now came the first casualty to the Battalion on active service. Rifleman Borza was found dead in his billet suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. The first air-raid warning which the Battalion had in France occurred three days later and officers and men noticed that the French sirens were different from the British variety, and the warning sounded more like the All Clear. General Georges, the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces on the Western Front, paid a visit the same day. Happily enough, he was followed by the first issue of battle-dress to the Battalion. There were more air-raid warnings on November 4th. Then, on November 11th, the anniversary of the official end of World War I, all leave was cancelled in view of a report that the Germans were planning to attack Holland and Belgium. Almost simultaneously a letter from Brigade, marked " Urgent," and " Secret," was received by the Commanding Officer. On being opened it turned out to be an announcement that Miss Gracie Fields, the comedienne, was to entertain the troops in the neighbourhood. The next V.I.P. to inspect the Battalion was the Chief of the Imperial General Staff-then General Sir Edmund Ironside. The inspection took place at Ulster Fort. The weather was still rainy, though occasionally there were fine days. Football and digging alternated during this peculiar period. Now came the inspection by His Majesty, King George VI, on his birthday (December 6th), and the Battalion was delighted when the Monarch remembered Second-Lieutenant Charles Sweeny, whom he had decorated with his Military Cross in a Dorset field shortly before the Battalion left for overseas. He also showed warm approval of the Royal Ulster Rifles regimental flag on Ulster Fort. Next day a Lieutenant reported from the London Irish Rifles on the new exchange scheme. From now onwards the weather began to get cold and there was a read touch of winter about the three days' divisional exercises -at Frevent. By Christmas, when a party for three hundred and seventy-five children was given by the Battalion, the frost had set in with a vengeance. The roads were as slippery as glass. The first officer casualty occurred on January 7th, when Captain P. J. Ashton was accidentally killed. A silver thaw set in towards the second week of February, followed by snow and more frost. The start of March saw a Brigade exercise. By this time, leave to the United Kingdom was well under way. The weather was still cold and the waiting period before the balloon went up became more and more tense. Borza CWGC - Casualty Details Ashton CWGC - Casualty Details Regards, Graeme
