Green Howards Transfer to Royal West Kents in Italy 1943

Hi All,

I’m wondering if the Green Howards and Queens Own Royal West Kent experts can help me out.

One of my uncles served in WW2 in the General Service Corp, then the GH before transferring to RWK, being wounded in Italy and POW in Germany.

He was Pte. Eric Hill 14573566 and we have some original papers though I have not yet requested his full record from the MOD. His medals for WWII are the 39-45 and Italy Stars, Defence and War Medals.

We have some information on his service but not the battalion number for either GH or RWK.

TA/General Service Corps 1 Apr 43
Green Howards 13 May 43
Overseas/North Africa 14 Nov 43
Transfer to RWK 24 Dec 43
Wounded 27 Dec 43
Confirmed as POW 24 Mar 44 (report from Rome)
Repatriated 12 May 45

The POW list shows him as POW number 132676 at Stalag VII-A, Moosburg.

He would have conducted his infantry training with the GH, and I suspect that he moved overseas with a draft of reinforcements, or is there a GH Bn. move that coincides with the date above?

A transfer/re-badge of a number of GH to RWK to replace casualties would stand out in a war diary, so that will be an avenue to pursue.

From the info above, is it possible to identify which GH and RWK Bn’s Eric Hill served with?

Thanks and Regards, Steve

 

Steve.

In Italy in Dec 43, you have:

GREEN HOWARDS

1 GREEN HOWARDS were part of 15 Infantry Brigade, 5 Infantry Division.

RWK

1 RWK were part of 12 Infantry Brigade, 4 Infantry Division.

6 RWK were part of 36 Infantry Brigade, 78 Infantry Division.

Regards

FdeP

 

Here are the WD refs at Kew:

WO 169/10218 1 Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment) 1943 Jan.- Dec.

WO 169/10238 1 Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment 1943 Aug.- Dec.
WO 169/16298 1 Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment 1944 Jan.
WO 170/1419 1 Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment 1944 Feb.- July, Oct.- Dec.

WO 169/10242 6 Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment 1943 July- Dec.
WO 170/1421 6 Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment 1944 Jan.- May

Cheers
Andy

 

5 RWK in 21st Indian Brigade in 8th Indian were also in Italy..

best

 

I know that Eric was wounded on 27th Dec 1943 in Italy with RWK, so I searched on the CWGC site for RWK causalties in Italy between 20th and 31st Dec 1943.

Of the 17 deaths recorded, all are 5th Bn. RWK. 16 out of the 17 were on 28th Dec 43, and the other on 30th Dec. While not a scientific analysis, this does seem to indicate that only 5th RWK were in the firing line at the time that Eric was wounded.

So until I get further evidence, I think that it is reasonable to believe that Eric was with 5th Bn when he was wounded. After hospital he could have transferred to another Bn prior to his capture in early April 1944, so more work to be done.

Regards, Steve

 

Steve,

Without wishing to suggest undue research before you get clear definition via the service records' route, here's a link if you wanted to read some overview of what the 8th Indian Division were up to on the east side of Italy during the autumn/winter of 1943/44.....

http://www.ourstory.info/library/4-ww2/Tiger/triumphs01.html

for future ref, if required:
WO 169/10241 - 5 Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment 1943.
WO 170/1420 - 5 Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment 1944


best

 

Thanks bexley84, that is an interesting read, and I have noted the war diary refs.

Regards, Steve

 

All,

The mystery has been resolved as I now have a copy of the detailed account of his life written by my relative!.

He trained with the Green Howards, moved to North Africa, then Italy where the replacements were assigned to different regiments. Eric was wounded by artillery fire when the RWK went into Villa Grande, so that puts him with 5th RWK as suspected. While he never mentions the Battalion number, he does refere to the 8th Indian Divison and the other infantry units serving with that Division and his is very specific about Villa Grande. The date is out by a day but that is not unusual and can be confimed by the war diary when I see it. After hospital he mentions that he returned to his platoon, though he did not know many people, so I am content that he returned to 5 RWK. He was later taken POW while in an OP behind enemy lines!

Thanks for everyones help with this.

Regards, Steve

 

Im trying to find out about the battalion after 25.11.42 at them moment but fruitless as so far. Anyone have any links to transfers and unit diaries ?