I haven't been able to find much in the way of pictures/photos/accounts on the internet for this regiment. I'd be especially interested to see photos; Does anyone here have a particular interest in this unit? Many thanks as always,
Ethan Just the fact that the 8th Battalion was converted to Armour in 1941 and became 145th Regt RAC.....at the same time the 9th Batt became 146th RAC and that my late wife's brother in law - Capt. Frank Donkersley served with the 1st battalion at Dunkirk - El Alamein - and I believe D Day ...but no pictures -sorry about that Cheers
My Dad met some of the 1st Bttn chaps on 14th/15th March 1943 as he/his mates were about to skedaddle from the Bou Arada area.
Richard The first Batt of the Dukes were held back after Dunkirk with 1st Div and took part in Torch of North Africa then on to Italy where they did well at Anzio...and along with 5th Div took off for France / Palestine- never could figure out which went where after Italy Cheers
I know Drew has an interest, particularly in their 1940 incarnations and I've read some war diaries of the 2/6 and 2/7 as they fought in some of the places I was researching - do a search and you'll come across the material, including Drew's usual excellent photos of war diaries. Tim Lynch's excellent book, "Dunkirk 1940 - whereabouts unknown" has some excellent material on the 'labour' battalions including the DWR. You don't say where you are based but their regimental museum is in Halifax - they have an audio collection and did have an excellent archivist, very helpful.
I was at Salerno CWGC cemetery tipping my hat to the Duke of Wellington only this morning. Regards FdeP
Ethan Are you referring to any particular battalion in your original post because I believe two battalions of the DWR fought with the 49th Division in Normandy and, indeed, had already been involved with the 'Polar Bears' for some time?
What Battalion if any are you interested in ? I did have quite a lot of the units war diaries but at a guess, I'd say I only have the BEF ones left. The Regiment has a excellent history published circa 1950's that's worth a look too. http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=barclay&bt.x=0&bt.y=0&sts=t&tn=duke+of+wellington+regiment