I’m new at this. But I am finally starting to trace my father’s footsteps across Burma. The books explain that 4th Field Royal Artillery became part of 5th India Division along with RWK’s etc. 5th India Division was divided into three brigades (9th Indian Brigade,123rd Brigade and 161 Brigade) My question is this. Would elements of 4th Field RA become attached to all three brigades? Or just one? Any help would be appreciated. The reason for this question is because Dad spoke of being with the RWK’s in Burma. So I believe as part of 4th Field RA he was with them in 161st Brigade in the Arakan and Imphal. Any help would be appreciated.
I am hardly an expert on the RA, but I think "it depends". My understanding is that the artillery of a division might be kept concentrated or could potentially be split off to support a particular sub-unit and that wouldn't be a permanent arrangement. The general term would be that a regiment, battery, etc would "come under command" of another unit. My own reading is mainly about anti-tank regiments and there a battery of an infantry division's AT regiment might be assigned to support one brigade and then another one with relatively little time in between.
Many thanks Seroster. The way Dad spoke about his experiences in Burma (occasionally) made us think he was permanently with the RWK’s.... So you can imagine our shock when we got his papers and it showed he was with the 4th Field RA. He even mentioned being on Kuki Piquet with B Company RWK’s during the Siege of Kohima. So I am currently scratching my head!!!
Welcome to the forum Tony. It sounds like your dad might have been part of a Forward Observation party attached from his RA regiment to the RWK. As Seroster says, the field arty regiments of a division were 'divisional' troops, concentrated or split up to support its infantry brigades or battalions as operations required. However, it is possible that your dad's regiment primarily supported a particular brigade, and that your dad's battery primarily supported a particular battalion within that brigade - the RWK. I can offer an example from the research I've done on my grandad's regiment in Burma, 130 Field Regiment. 36 Indian Infantry Division went in to Burma with two infantry brigades (the 29th and the 72nd) and two field arty regiments (the 130th and the 178th). In both the Arakan and North Burma, 130 Field spent the majority of its time in support of 29 Brigade and 178 Field in support of 72 Brigade. Furthermore, each of the three batteries in 130 Field was often in support of a particular infantry battalion from 29 Brigade. Forward Observation parties from the batteries would be on patrol with companies of their assigned infantry battalion to call in fire from the guns. Possibly the situation was the same in 5 Indian Division, which could explain why your dad talked so much about the RWK. More clues can be gathered from unit war diaries. You'll want the diary from your dad's regiment, and it's possible that his battery kept its own diary over some periods (sometimes these are filed separately, sometimes kept as attachments to the main regimental diary). If the research gets hold of you you can dig much deeper! I found divisional HQRA diaries useful (Headquarters, Royal Artillery, sometimes referred to as CRA - the small unit in charge of all arty in a division). You might want 5 Indian Division's HQRA diary, and also the regimental diary of 4 RWK to learn more about the movements of the infantry battalion your dad was supporting. Infantry brigade HQs kept diaries too, but I found the 29 and 72 Brigade diaries pretty sparse and not very helpful. Then if you can get to the archives yourself you might want to look at the Divisional HQ diaries, the diaries of other infantry battalions in the brigade, and even the diaries of other supporting troops such as the field engineers. I found useful snippets of info in all of these, but it does mean digging through huge amounts of paper!
Thank you so much for your kind help and advice PackRat. I am slowly making progress in understanding what went on. I have currently ordered copies of the 4th Field RA War Diaries and my research will continue. Thank you!
Best of luck with your research, and remember there's lots of knowledgeable and helpful people on this forum to lend a hand should you get stuck. If you already have your dad's service records you could take photos and post them here too - deciphering some of the obscure and barely-legible abbreviations can unlock useful clues. Here's a site that I found very useful in getting a sense of the organisation and day-to-day business of a field arty regiment: British Artillery in World War 2
Many thanks PackRat, this is my fathers card (above) and as you can see its difficult to understand. I know that ‘To XII ‘ was medically unfit, Deolali is mentioned, the transit camp my father was at in India, and I think REFAY was the code for his disembarkation from Greenock in 1943. But the rest is a mystery!
Tony A few observations. 161 Ind Bde flew to Dimapur, and from there elements, including 4 RWK, went on to Kohima. 4 Fd Regt flew to Imphal with the rest of 5 Ind Div, and fought there, not at Kohima. Your father seems to have been on the x(ii) list (that is - in hospital) from 06/04/44 to 10/07/44, which encompasses almost the entire period that 4 RWK were at Kohima, as well as the heaviest fighting around Imphal.
I’m pretty sure that all of the remainder of 5 Div didn’t fly into Imphal as the 2nd West Yorks were the last unit to travel down the main Dimapur Imphal Road before it was cut on 30th March starting the Siege of Imphal. Maybe some of 4 Fld Regt stopped off at Kohima on the way through as well and got stuck there. I have found mention of another small party from a unit based near Imphal being caught up in the fighting at Kohima but no mention of this in any of the Orbats or books about Kohima that I’ve read, so it’s quite possible your father was there too and then got hospitalised for whatever reason. 4 Fld Regt were however definitely at the Siege of Imphal being based at some of the time at Sengmai. Lionboxer
I think you're right on your interpretations so far - x (ii) being evacuated beyond the Regimental Aid Post due to illness or injury and REFAY being the draft code for his particular group of men going overseas. I believe 28 DAYS LIAP is Leave In Addition to PYTHON, PYTHON being the scheme to repatriate men with long overseas service back to the UK. The Part II Order columns refer to associated paperwork that has been long since destroyed. Is this the only part of his record that you have? There should hopefully be other surviving documents such as his Service & Casualty form. If you got this from somewhere other than the MOD then it would be worth going through the process to get the full set as they can reveal much more detail: Get a copy of military service records The 4 Field Regiment diaries will hopefully give you more clues. The amount of information recorded in war diaries varies wildly - with luck the 4 Field diary keeper was one of those who noted every little detail rather than one who did the bare minimum to comply with War Office requirements. The 4 RWK diary should let you work out the exact movements of B Coy to see how those tie up with your memories of your dad's recollections, cross referenced with his service records and 4 Field's diary. A couple of chaps on this forum do very reasonably priced diary copying services should you need them.
I am so grateful for all your help. Dad always told us the he was with the West Kents at Kohima, he even mentioned being on Kuki Piquet with Winstanley during the siege. He also recalled arriving at the flooded airfield at Dimapur with there guns strapped to the Dakota aircraft. So you can imagine the shock when we got his military papers and saw he was with the 4th Field RA! When I stated reading up on the siege, I was told there was no 4th Field RA during the siege! My brother and I couldn’t believe he would have made this up, he was never that sort of person. So, when I discovered that 161 Brigade of 5th Indian Division had contained The RW Kents and elements of 4th Field RA in the Arakan during the attacks on the “Golden Fortress, there seems a glimmer of hope. On the 1st April of this year 161 Brigade were dug in at Kohima. But, on the 2nd April, 161st Brigade are ordered to return to Dimapur. Realising the folly of this instruction and the imminent danger from the advancing Japanese, 161 Brigade are then ordered back to Kohima. So on the 5th April (the day before dad was marked as XII), while the Japanese launched another attack, the leading battalion of 161 Brigade, the Royal West Kents, managed to scramble back to Kohima. Apparently the remainder of the brigade were unable to get in, before the Japanese encircled the garrison. Dad always said that he was at the siege of Kohima. But his military card shows on the 6th April 1944 he was “XII’’ . Meaning he was ‘ non-effective’ on medical grounds, I know that dad suffered with sinus problems, a carbuncle and kidney stones while in Burma. So how can this be explained? The only explanation I can make is that dad was in 161 with the RWK’s at this time and did manage to get back to Kohima with the RWK”s on the 5th. The following day he would have been one of the ‘non-combatants’ at the hospital, encircled by the Japanese. None of dad’s ailments would have rendered him incapable of fighting in a situation like this. All I need to do now is find the evidence. Once again thank you for all your help. .
