99th Buckinghamshire Yeomanary Field Regiment RA

Thank you so much for the tip, that's amazing! Any idea where I can start looking? I'm heading to the Bucks Centre for Studies next week for a root around in some old photos of the rgmt. I shall perhaps ask there. I'm waiting for his service record from MOD as I'm not sure whether he was 393, 394 or 472. He was a Battery Sergeant for most of the war, becoming a WOII towards the end but that is all I know. He never told my family anything about his wartime experience. I saw some bits avout twin knobs in the war diary but as I am working through them chronologically I haven't got as far as that research-wise. However, I would really appreciate the scan!

 

Not sure where that footage might be hiding, I'm afraid. The only reference I have to it is on this diary page, and the film unit is only identified as "Press Correspondent":



393 Bty had only arrived on the Donbaik front a few days earlier, so I can't imagine that the men in my grandad's battery (130 Fd Regt 494 Bty) who were entering their third month in action there were too impressed at the new boys getting to be the film stars!

 

Here's a scan of that photo, and also a map which helps visualise the area. Both of these come from Major-General S.Woodburn Kirby's The War Against Japan Volume II: India’s Most Dangerous Hour Luckily my local library had a 1958 copy with all the original fold-out maps, as from what I've read on this forum the recent reprints aren't great. Also, the sketch map of FDL Chaung (the Japanese front line which held against everything the British forces could throw at it) with all of the strong-points marked which I found in 99 Fd. Regt's diary for March 43.

Out of all of the maps of the area I've found, I think these three together give the clearest picture of what it looked like and help the war diary entries make more sense.

 

You might find this useful too. Not a great photo, but this map was tucked in the 1943 diary of my grandfather's regiment and has the grid markings that all of the units in the area were working from, so it can help you to work out exactly where events are taking place when there's only a grid ref mentioned.

 

One other interesting find from the 99th's Diary... This is end of a report from the C.O. in the run up to the fourth and final frontal assault on FDL Chaung before the British retreat. The artillery officers were repeatedly telling higher command that a preliminary bombardment against the enemy line was pointless as most of their bunkers were impervious to the howitzers and 25-pounders, and all it did was warn the Japanese that an attack was coming. They were over-ruled and the attack failed with heavy casualties, just like the last three.