Family Soldiers: 1/4th Essex (WW2) & 25 Field Regiment R.A.(Post-War)

I'm uncertain. The list of battle casualties and decorations is housed in a labelled folder but looks itself relatively unofficial, although it is quite detailed. It seems that the uploader was researching a Private Mulvaney who was killed in the period covered by the November war diary - perhaps for a grave visit with the man's widow.

 

Does anybody here have an Ancestry.com membership? I'm interesting in seeing copies of the photographs and articles posted by:

Frederick Cyril "Bill" Hawkins (1920-2012)

He features in the above documentary about Monte Cassino. The previews here look promising, but I'm not a member:

Frederick Cyril Hawkins Hawkins - Ancestry.com

 

Hi Charley

I have Ancestry membership - not worldwide though - what are you after ?

Perhaps send me a PM with the info and we will see what results

TD

 

I'm delighted to say that the staff at IWM have saved me £70 by uploading the interview to their site. I got in touch and they realised that it had only been left off in error - it should now be available if anybody is interested.

 

Another begging post, I'm afraid. Does anybody here have a copy of the following booklets?


Fourth Indian Reflections: Memoirs of a Great Company
Paperback – 1987
by Denis Blomfield-Smith

Paperback: 69 pages
Publisher: Privately Printed,; 1st edition


Or

The Red Eagles: The story of the 4th Indian Division
Bombay: G. S. Borker 42pp, illustrated, distributed in the UK by Gale & Polden Ltd., Aldershot,

And as a possible quid pro quo, I offer 1/4th Essex's War Diaries to anybody who needs them.

 

For anybody reading about/researching 1/4 Essex and the formations of which they were a part, I now have the following publications and files and am happy to either look up information or upload pages from them if required.

War Diaries:

WO 166/4270 1/4 Essex Regiment Sep 1939 - July 1940
WO 173/40 1/4 Essex Regiment Aug-Dec 1940
WO 173/179 1/4 Essex Regiment Jan-May 1941
WO 169/1720 1/4 Essex Regiment Jun-Dec 1941
WO 169/5011 1/4 Essex Regiment Jan-Dec 1942
WO 169/10208 1/4 Essex Regiment Jan-Dec 1943
WO 170/1386 1/4 Essex Regiment Jan-Dec 1944
WO 170/5003 1/4 Essex Regiment Jan-Dec 1945

WO 169/19006 1/9 Gurkha Rifles 1944 Jan-Dec
WO 169/18968 1/6 Rajputana Rifles 1944 Jan-Jul
WO 169/18970 4/6 Rajputana Rifles 1944 Jan-Aug

And the following are on the way also now available:
WO 169/7611/ 5 Indian Infantry Brigade: HQ 1942 Jan.- Apr., June- Dec
WO 169/14821 5 Indian Infantry Brigade: H.Q. (also contains April 1943 diary, narrative and strength returns of 7 Indian Infantry Brigade) 1943 Jan.- Dec.
WO 169/18845 5 Indian Infantry Brigade: H.Q. 1944 Jan.- Dec.

​The final pamphlet, 4th Indian Signals at Cassino, is by Bill Humble, attached to 1/4th Essex, and it includes his diary entries for the period. He has also recorded an IWM interview, here:

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80012457

 

Hi Charley

I've enclosed a PDF of the official history of 4th Indian Division in Greece (WO 204/8301) which covers 1/4 Essex activities. I hope you find it interesting.

I don't have a lot about 4th Ind Inf Div, I do have SITREPS for HQ 4 Ind Inf Div and HQ 11 Ind Inf Bde for their time during the troubles in Greece. But you need anything else about the troubles in Greece I have tons of stuff.

Could I possibly have a copy of the following files:

WO 170/1386 1/4 Essex Regiment Jan-Dec 1944 (November and December Only Please)
WO 170/5003 1/4 Essex Regiment Jan-Dec 1945 (Just January and February Please)
WO 169/19006 1/9 Gurkha Rifles 1944 (November and December Only Please)
WO 169/18845 5 Indian Infantry Brigade: H.Q. 1944 Jan.- Dec. (November and December Only Please)

I've PMed you my email address. Theres's absolutely no rush.

If you come across any information during your own research regarding personell Killed, Wounded in Action or recommended for Gallantry Medals during their time in Greece I'd love to see it and also update my database.

Many Thanks.
Gus

 

Gus,

Thank you for the Greece document - much appreciated and I'd be interested to have a read. The late '45 diaries are those I've given the least attention to so far as a] my grandfather was sent home before the division moved across to Greece, b] I'm hazy on the political situation. That said, I recall seeing - aside from the usual stuff about movements and casualties - a list of settlements visited with brief notes about their allegiances and moods and (I think) a list of local characters and their respective political positions and influence. I'll double check when I'm sorting out the files to send you.

Despite the fact that my grandfather's face won't be among them, I'm always keen to see photographs of the battalion - do you have anything of them in Greece?

Thanks.

I'm still hunting for a copy of The Red Eagles: a History of Fourth Division of India by K. C. Praval. I've searched all the usual sources and turned up nothing - if anybody has any clues, please spill the beans.

 

Hi Charley

Thanks for helping out with the files. Sadly I don't have any photos of the 1/4 Essex in Greece.

Do you happen to have a photo of Gen "Ginger" Hawkesworth amongst your collection? He was sent over from Italy, with his 10 Corps HQ staff, in Dec 44, to help Gen Scobie and Gen Arkwright sort out the communist insurgency happening predominately in Athens and Piraeus.

My Dad's boss, Brig Arkwright (photo attached) was promoted to Major Gen. during the troubles and ordered by Gen Scobie to hold the center of Athens and Piraeus/Faliron until reinforcements arrive from Italy and Egypt. ARKFORCE consisted of just just 4 Infantry Brigades, 2 Independent Parachute Brigade, 23rd Armoured Brigade, 139 Infantry brigade and 3rd Greek Mountain (Rimini) Brigade who were acting as Infantry and had just 25 Sherman Tanks and a handful of armoured cars.

Gus

 

I certainly don't have anything digital, but there might well be a photo in one of the books I own. Also, although I could be imagining it, I think he may have mentioned in Hugh Mainwaring's, Three Score Years and Ten with Never a Dull Moment. I'll look this evening. I presume you have checked Scobie: Hero of Greece by Henry Maule.

 

Have scoured the books - well glanced and flicked pages through the likely suspects - but I can't see any reference or photographs of Hawkesworth, sorry.

Have you seen this? By the way:

http://www.shiny7.uk/Shiny7diary1945.html

Edit:
http://www.glosters.org.uk/collectionitem.php?id=7661&from=&to=&category=&campaign=&keywords=brig
http://www.glosters.org.uk/collectionitem.php?id=7663&from=&to=&category=&campaign=&keywords=brig

Two images available here. Alas, they're small and watermarked unless you buy.

 

I've had more than my fair share of luck with this research - not to mention a considerable amount of help - and good fortune has struck again. My aunt has discovered a small stash of army paperwork, photographs and ephemera, some of which I'll upload:

First up, the man himself in Blighty in, presumably, late '39 or early '40, alone and with his pals (as the caption has it):





Most importantly of all, this appears to have been pinned in his sleeping quarters:



Which suggests he was a member of B-Company, 11 Platoon, No.5 Section - which tallies with other photographic evidence.

Then we have his crossing of the equator having departed Sierra Leone for the Middle East:



And a couple of shots which - to my eyes - seem to be Egypt:





This last one - by coloration alone - seems to belong to the era after Alamein when the battalion was back in Egypt (when battalion-wide 'official' photographs were taken):

More ephemera and photographs of comrades to follow...

 

Entertainment in Sierra Leone.

Flesh on these bones:

 

Deleted

 

Tantalisingly brief article here, but of interest:

 

Update

In addition to the files above, I now have copies of the following should anybody wish to consult them:

WO 169/18971: M.G. Bn. Rajputana Rifles - Date: 1944 Jan - Sept.
WO 169/19004: 2/7 Gurkha Rifles - Date: 1944 Jan - Dec.
WO 170/1371: 2 Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders - Date: 1944 Jan - Dec
WO 170/1421: 6 Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment - Date: 1944 Jan - May

 

Anybody turn up anything more about this place? It looks as if Tom was here with the battalion on July 6th 1941. Apparently a very large number of troops passed through the city en route to North Africa.

More information here:
Facts About Durban - Postcards



Edit: Looks as if he was likely hanging around in these fine establishments (curfew 23:59 O.R.s; 02:00 Officers!):

 

Gus.

I have a photo of Hawkesworth when he was commanding 46 Inf Div if you are still looking for one.

Out in Italy at the moment but will be back on Sun.

Regards

Frank

 

Has anybody read this?

In the Shadow of the Cotton Tree: A Diary of the Second World War - Sierra Leone. by Jack Rillie.

In 1940, John Archibald McKenzie Rillie - serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps and newly married to Betty - was posted to the African city of Freetown in Sierra Leone. This is the first publication of the writing and the poems, drawn in the main from his diary and the notebook in which he collated much of his war-time verse, that mark his experiences in the sixteen months that followed. In the words of his editor, and grandson, Alasdair Soussi, it is an 'expressive, outspoken, sometimes raw and uncomfortable account of a bygone age'. The later reflections of Jack Rillie, the by then greatly admired and influential university teacher, on this period - and on his life prior to the war - are presented in a brief introduction, "A Young Life Recalled". With a foreword by Andrew Hook and an afterword from Marshall Walker; reproductions of photographs and letters; and even a list of books Jack read while in Sierra Leone, the man who inspired so many is revealed both for his formidable scholarship and his love



His service appears to overlap with 1/4th Essex's & 161st Infantry Brigade's time in Sierra Leone.

I'd be grateful if any genealogy/records boffins could figure out which RAMC Unit Rillie belonged to so that I can check the dates.
_____________________________________

I won't pinch the images without permission, but there are some good 1940 photographs of Sierra Leone here:

http://deja-vu.ca/stories_my_father_told.htm

And a good number of other interesting pictures of various places (plenty of naval interest).

 

It's not a very crisp image, but pictures of 1/4th Essex in Italy are few and far between.

Near Cassino.



Edit: there is some disagreement about whether this is 1/4th Essex (as the newspaper says) or 1/5th Essex--both were in Italy.