Ayrshire Yeomanry-Info Request

Hello all,

I am researching a relative for another elderly relative in the family. Her uncle, and my great great uncle was killed in Italy in 1944.

He was Thomas Alfred Lauderdale, killed on the 26th June 1944. No. 941343 He was part of the Ayrshire Yeomanry 152 field regiment and was a gunner.

I would also like to know where he would have been previously. Anything would be a huge help and greatly appreciated.

I would like to know how he was killed, or specifically where or the battle? They do not know any of this information as it wasn't talked about over the years. I do know he is buried at Assisi War Cemetary with the quote "A shining star gleams on this grave, for the son we loved and could not save."

Many Thanks

Andrew

 

Andrew,

Welcome to the forum.

The Ayrshire Yeomanry has a history called The Proud Trooper. Your great-great-uncle is listed in its roll of honour but he is not marked as 'killed in action'. That may simply be an omission as Perugia was just behind the front line at the time of his death. Unfortunately, there is nothing in the text that provides a clue.

The two ways forward are:

1) Apply for his service record: https://www.gov.uk/r...service-records. I believe a copy of the CWGC entry will suffice as proof of death. This will tell you who he was with and when.

2) Get a copy of the regiment's 1944 war diary WO 170/972 (or just the June section for starters, maybe) from the National Archives at Kew. If you can't make it yourself, a couple of our members Drew5233 and PsyWar.org offer a very competitive copying service. Critically, they endeavour to copy the appendices and attachments which sometimes yield useful information. The worry is that he may not have been mentioned in the history because his fate wasn't mentioned in the diary, but it is the best bet.

 

Andrew

Think you will find that the 152nd AY's fought with the 6th Armoured Division from Algiers on and crossed into Italy in the Jan 44 where they took part

in the Operation Diadem - after Rome they crossed over with XIII Corps to the US 5th Army - fighting around Orvieto -Perugia - Trasimeno etc where he was
probably killed- no cemeteries available he was taken over the Valley to Assisi

The 151 Ays also landed at Algiers with 46th Div -but landed at Salerno with X Corps and were in Egypt resting when he was killed..

Cheerss

 

Andrew

Goggle for 6th Armoured Division to read of many of their battles and check Divisional troops for 152 AY's

Cheers

 

Here my summary of the service of the Ayrshire Yeomanry to give you a head start:

The Ayrshire Yeomanry (Earl of Carrick’s Own)

RHQ
6, Citadel Place, Ayr
Precedence
7
Royal Artillery
15 February 1940
Battle Honours
None

Lowland Area, Scottish Command – 3 September 1939 to 15 February 1940
The Ayrshire Yeomanry mobilised on September 1st, 1939 with a horse strength of 593 and the troops assembled at their drill halls. The regiment concentrated at Dam Park, Ayr. On September 29th, 1939 the DADR of Northern Command stated that no more horses would be purchased for the regiment since it was to be dismounted. It trained at Dam Park through the end of 1939, when it was given a choice of conversion. It could convert to a Royal Artillery field, medium or anti-tank regiment or become a Remount Regiment with no future.

Royal Artillery Service
The regiment chose to convert to a field regiment of Royal Artillery and it was retitled The Ayrshire Yeomanry Regiment, Royal Artillery on February 15th, 1940. It remained at Dam Park until April 15th, 1940, when it was split into two. 151st (Ayrshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, R.A. (T.A.) was formed on April 15th, 1940 at Dam Park, Ayr from ‘C’ Squadron and half of ‘A’ Squadron. The batteries were formed as ‘A’ and ‘B’ Batteries. It moved to Kemback Camp, Cupar, Fife on September 15th, 1940 and joined the 46th Infantry Division there on September 16th. The regiment moved to the Borders area in early December 1940 at Kettleholm with ‘A’ Battery at Annan and ‘B’ Battery at Lockerbie. It remained there until after the New Year and then moved to Fakenham, Norfolk with the division. ‘C’ Battery was formed on January 14th, 1941. The batteries were named ‘P’, ‘Q’ and ‘R’ Batteries on March 11th, 1942 and numbered 123rd, 124th, 125th Batteries on January 1st, 1943. The regiment occupied the West Down Camp, Tilshead on two occasions and at one time was on the Kent coast in defensive positions. It left the 46th Division on May 10th, 1942 and moved to join the 11th Armoured Division, which had just moved from Yorkshire into the Surrey and Sussex area vacated by the 8th Armoured Division. The regiment joined the division on June 1st, 1942 and was located at Newmarket on January 6th, 1943. It later did exercises with the division in the Stanford battle area of Norfolk. It also did shoots at the Larkhill range in Northumberland. It moved north with the division in March 1943 to Victoria Barracks, Beverley, Yorkshire. After Exercise ‘Eagle’, the 11th Armoured Division moved to the Aldershot area. The regiment embarked for France with the division on June 8th, 1944 and sailed on June 11th. It landed in Normandy on June 13th and served with the division in North-West Europe until the end of the war.
152nd (Ayrshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, R.A. (T.A.) was formed on April 15th, 1940 from ‘B’ Squadron, HQ and half of ‘A’ Squadron of the Ayrshire Yeomanry Regiment, R.A., which moved to Kilmarnock on its raising. In mid-July 1940, ‘A’ Battery (less ‘C’ Troop) was warned for service in the Orkneys and Shetlands. The Orkney Group consisted of ‘A’ Battery HQ and ‘B’ Troop while ‘A’ Troop went to the Shetlands. The Orkney Group supported the 15th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders or the 7th Gordon Highlanders and was first located at Eidford Farm near Kirkwall. It later moved to Quoydandy Camp. The Shetland Group was located at Sumburgh areodrome and joined the rest of the battery in the Orkneys in April 1941. At the end of October 1941, ‘A’ Battery sailed from Stromness to rejoin the regiment at Kilmarnock.
The 152nd Regiment at Kilmarnock took on an operational role in September 1940 with two troops at Sighthill Baracks, Edinburgh and detachments at Polmont and Turnhouse aerodromes. RHQ then moved to Eastfield Camp and ‘C’ Troop to Montrose. ‘B’ Battery moved to Caithness on November 9th, 1940. When ‘C’ Battery was formed on January 14th, 1941, it moved to Strathmore and RHQ moved Achavarn. The regiment supported the 227th Infantry Brigade from February 1941 until November 1941. It moved to Essex in November 1941 with RHQ at Thronwood Camp, Epping, ‘A’ Battery at Theydon Bois, ‘B’ at Hornchurch and ‘C’ at Hereford and supported the 223rd Independent Infantry Brigade. The batteries were named ‘P’, ‘Q’ and ‘R’ Batteries on March 11th, 1942 and numbered 126th, 127th, 128th Batteries on January 1st, 1943. After exercises at Larkhill in May 1942, the regiment was selected to join the 6th Armoured Division. It moved north to Doonfoot, Ayrshire and came under command of the 6th Armoured Division from June 15th, 1942. At the end of summer 1942, it moved to Ayr Racecourse and remained there until it sailed from Greenock with the division on November 14th, 1942. It landed in Algiers on November 22nd, 1942 and fought with the division in North Africa through May 1943. At the end of the North African campaign, the regiment moved to Hammamet and then to Robertville near Phillippeville in June 1943. It concentrated at Constantine with the 1st Guards Brigade in November 1943 and was there until February 18th, 1944, when it left for Italy. It arrived in Naples on February 20th and served with the division in Italy until May 8th, 1945, when it entered Austria for the rest of the war.

 

Dryan

The war inItaly ended on May 2nd 1945 with 78th - 46th and 6th Armoured moving into Austria - 6th had to wait three weeks for the Russians to move out of position - then Tito took over for

another week shortly after 6th was broken up and many units scattered - otherwise - spot on

Cheers

 

Thanks for all of the help so far!

I have found out via a relative that he was killed with a landmine, so this fits with what you were saying.

Can I ask what kind of work could he have been doing in his service/at the time? He was a Gunner and part of the Royal Artillery.


Thanks again,

Andrew

 

Andrew


since the 152 AYS was a field regiment they would have been equipped with 25 pounder guns with 5 - 6 men per gun and various drivers etc - hard to know what he was actually doing in

the Regiment.his service record might show what he did- or the diary…

cheers

 

Owen
………and the mailed fist of 6th Armoured

Cheers

 

Thanks for that! A nice photo!

 

Hello all

I am new to this site. I am doing some research on my late father, Owen Peter Smith, known as Sonny Smith or OP. He was a sergeant cook in Ayrshire Yeomanry during WWII. He was at RHQ in Eckernforde and demobbed from there at the end of hostilities. He died in 1953 of a fatal accident at the Yeomanry club in Citadel Place, Ayr, so I really never knew him.

I'm heading off to Eckernforde next week, so if anyone has any information, old relatives who perhaps knew him, ...well goes without saying that I would be very grateful if you would contact me.

Hopefully,
Olwen

 

Hi Dryan
I have just picked up again on research of my dad who was in Ayrshire yeomanry, as above. He died at 6 Citadel place Ayr in May 1953 well after his service years but I am very interested in anything you might have to tell me.
I will post several phots in the coming days.
Olwen

 

The summary I posted above is about all I have on the Ayrshire Yeomanry. The details were taken from this book that I viewed at Cornell University library back in the 1990's.

Steel Brownlie, Major W. The Proud Trooper: The history of the Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick’s Own) Yeomanry from its raising in the Eighteenth Century till 1964. London: Collins, 1964.

I found a reasonably priced copy on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/Proud-Trooper-Ayrshire-Carricks-Eighteenth/dp/B00B580IYO

 

Personally I would contact the Ayrshire Archives.
I researched the Worcestershire Gunners via Worcester Archives finding that a number of men had deposited documents there in the 1980's and 90's.
There was a huge surge of interest for the 50th Anniversaries of WW 2.
You really need to go in to go through their catalogues then archive boxes, as the staff don't have a clue about things military. You can see this now that NA have taken on the Service Records.

Ayrshire Archives - Ayrshire Archives

Ayrshire Archives | The National Archives