Help for a beginner - Durham Light Infantry

D Company, 6 DLI under capt Fenner, where equiped with Folding light weight cycles, so may be an avenue to explore

 

no cos that was 3rd Div area, the Bailey went up near Horsa Bridge on the Orne not the Caen Canal.
I too thought that chap had Polish beret & cap badge.

He did say he met polish soldiers at the bridge, that may be them.

Edit: englandphil- thanks, i'll see what i can dig up.

 

Do we know where 18 DLI served - they might have been at the Sword end?

The proximity of the Bailey had me doubting that it was Pegasus Bridge but I've seen a GOODWOOD-related sketch map that shows Euston Bridge (presumably a Bailey) close to Pegasus.

Edit: Apparently, Euston was a later codename for the Pegasus/Horsa bridges.

 

The more I look at it the more I think that chap is Polish (His cap badge looks too big for anything British) and there is a officer on his right (pistol lanyard).

 

Private Smart, Hi and welcome.
I see you are being royally served by our resident experts here, and it's not surprising. Your 'intro' was spot on for getting above average interest on this forum.
You have been offered some great leads and advice, the Service Record should be a goldmine. Love the pics you have posted - any more?
I know the Caen/Hottot/Tilly/Villers Bocage area quite well (used to have a cottage very near there) but there are many better WW2 history experts here for those areas than I. If you get the chance, after a little more research I would recommend a 'following in the footsteps' tour. Normandy is a fascinating place for any with an interest in WW2 and with your family link it should be very special.
Will follow this thread with interest.

Mike

 

May well be some information that will help in here The Wartime Memories Project - The Durham Light Infantry

 

Pte Smart
now thats more like it - his discharge certificate shows his service number which indicates he joined in the June of 1943 - which is borne out by his service of one year and 282 days - and that in Feb '45 he was found " ceasing to attain physical requirements" - and thus discharged at York Demobilisation dept - ( for Northern Command) two months later..
as Verrieries states - he boarded a troopship for the NWE on 3rd June '44 which places him in either 6th - 8th or 9th Battalions of the DLI - which made up the 151st Division of Gazala fame in the desert in 1942 -and entered battle immediately on landing - with their bikes !
If I may suggest that while waiting for Glasgow to come up with the facts - you buy the book by Patrick Delaforce - "Monty's Northern Legions" - ISBN 0- 7509 - 3556 -1 it's by Sutton Publishing and a good account of all 50th and 15th Scottish Divisions in that campaign until the 50th were disbanded by Monty who claimed that the 50th "has suffered enough" from before El Alamein.
It's agood read and anyone should be proud to have served or whose realtives know someone whoserved with the 50th Tyne and Tees Division.
Cheers

 

wtid45 - thankyou, hopefully if i get his battalion number i will be able to find some good stuff on there. My mother is calling her brother tomorrow so hopefully he may know which battalion he was in.

MikeL- I will hopefully get hold of his service record which would be a very interesting read i'm sure. As for the tour you stated, that was going to be one of my questions, was there any sort of organized tour of ww2 sites. Thankyou for that.

Edit: Tom - I shall definitely be buying that book, sounds very interesting. So its down to them three DLI battalions, that makes things a little easier considering i never had a clue yesterday.

 

Pte Smart - further to my last post - the DLI's in the 151st Bde - the 69th Bde was made up of 5th Green Howards - 6th Green Howards and the 7th Green Howards wheras the "junior" bde was the 231st which was commanded by Brig Roy Urghquart who led them on Malta and in the Sicily Campaign before taking over 1st paras for Ahrnem -this was made up of 1st Hampshires - 1st Dorsets and 2nd Devonshires... th 4/7th Dragoons were DD(Duplex Drive) tanks which meant they were "swimming" Tanks and could follow closely to landing troops
Cheers
PS - the 10th and 11th Battalions of 49th Division didn't land until 9-12th June

 

Do we know where 18 DLI served - they might have been at the Sword end?

The proximity of the Bailey had me doubting that it was Pegasus Bridge but I've seen a GOODWOOD-related sketch map that shows Euston Bridge (presumably a Bailey) close to Pegasus.

Edit: Apparently, Euston was a later codename for the Pegasus/Horsa bridges.

Ver sur Mere/Arromanche/Grays sur mere/ Cousell sur Mer initially

 

Verrieres- I was just reading on your website about the durham light infantry on D-day and saw this,

The Durham battalions headed for the beaches (Gold) at 1100hrs the first wave of Durhams hit the beaches many found the weight of their equipment a problem and many were nearly drowned

Reminded me of my granddad nearly drowning i didn't realise it happened to many more. Must of been terrifying.

 

Just a thought but there are quite a lot of greatcoats in that bridge photograph which doesn't suggest Normandy in June to me.

 

D Company, 6 DLI under capt Fenner, where equiped with Folding light weight cycles, so may be an avenue to explore


This was my initial thought as well this was my uncle Bills company I have a company photograph taken on the morning of the 3rd June from Col Fenner (as he was at the time of receipt) unfortunately there does not seem to be a match for Pte Smart (or any other close resemblence) however he could have missed the photo call.
Are we still assuming Pte Smart was part of the DLI at this period in time as his paybook gives him only as being discharged from that unit , which brings us to the photograph at the bridge.......Greatcoats? June or September/October 1944 later in the campaign...Arnhem? Gheel? The 50th Division was broken up with the majority of 6th and 8th DLI joining 9DLI (Sole surviving battalion in NWE)amongst others as reinforcements..is it fair to assume that at least at the time of discharge he was then with 9DLI? Or am I confusing things more.

 

no cos that was 3rd Div area, the Bailey went up near Horsa Bridge on the Orne not the Caen Canal.
I too thought that chap had Polish beret & cap badge.


Sorry out of my depth a little with regards to other regiments but this is an interesting point bearing in mind one of Pte Smarts `other` regiments were the Lancashire Fusiliers....were 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers on or near the Orne? I believe they too were broken up for reinforcements in August 1944?(unverified 60% sure but hopefully someone will confirm or put me right)

 

I didn't think of that, maybe he was with a different regiment on the landings. Would he of changed regiments before he saw active service or would that not of happened?

Edit: I just remembered my mother saying to me the other day that he landed on arromanches beach.

 

Pte Smart, there are many 'organised' tours of Normandy you could sign up to, and very good most of them are, but if you get details of specific battles/sites your G/F was at you might have to arrange your own tour.
There are many threads here with advice about Normandy battlefield tours and some members run tailor made tours if enough people are interested in particular sites etc. Too many threads or members to recommend but try using the search function on this forum when you get more info about particular units,landings, battles, locations etc. Some excellent contacts for 'specialised' tours can be found through this forum, but get the basic searches eg Service Record done first or you can easily get drawn down a wrong alley.

Mike

 

Service record is my number one priority for sure, its the Glasgow office i write to right?

I'm just trying to find out what i can in the mean time as patience isn't my best virtue.

I've sent an email to my uncle so hopefully i may learn something new. I'll keep you posted.

 

Verrieres -
I too would asume that he was discharged from 9th DLI in Feb '45 as the other 6th & 8th Batts were broken up with the 50th disbanding - the 9th went on to join 7th Armoured inf Bde as there is a mention of them in Churchill's Desert Rats -NWE - pp 180- "" An attack on Harburg started from Jesburg with 5th RTR - 9th DLI - I company 1st RB......."A" coy DLI took the village of Maschen and "B" coy took Hiltfeld... the next ten days the Durhams patrolled the vast woodlands...and "A" coy captured a platoon of Hamburg Police .....that was very close to the end in April/May '45..

The reference to the other regiments MIGHT have been training units OR a switch from one or the other to make up the establishment for a landing battalion !
Cheers

 

Hi all again.

I've just remembered something i was told a long time ago that my grandfather was in Holland at one point and upon a little research i've just seen the DLI were part of operation Market Garden which took place in the Netherlands, the objective was to capture bridges and since he told me he helped capture a bridge the pieces SEEM to fit. This isn't 100% so i'm not going to hold my breath, i should find out a bit later what battalion he was in for sure.

I found this site as well that has been helpful.
Wapedia - Wiki: Durham Light Infantry