Mailed Fist Unit insignia of 6 Armoured Division WW11 I have given this a seperate thread as it is a follow on from Tommyjack's post and placed for Tom Canning as this shows the Thumbs Up sign as they entered Austria
From Osprey's British Battle Insignia (2) 1939-45: "6th Armd.Div. (sign erected by the divisional provost at the Austro-Italian border after the Axis surrender. The thumb of the gauntlet flicked up and down electrically!)"
Tuesday 15th. May 1945 Over the border at Thorn into Austria. Everything changed. Marvelous scenery. My first contact 'proper' with the German race. We are told 'No Fraternisation'-- quite unnecessary. Good pic, but don't remember seeing it when my mob raced up North. Ron
Oldman - The "finito" was premature as we had to wait of the Russians getting back to their sector lines at the Semmering Pass - miles away - for three weeks - then Tito's mob moved in for another ten days - before we could move up to Knittelfeld and Judenberg to start rounding up the bad guys - never did see that sign as the Division was broken up later -we moved up from Villach/ Sanct Veit - but it proved that some M.P.'s had a sense of humour.......they kept it well hidden later ! Cheers
I will always remember a quote from my Grandfather regarding how great the 6th armoured was as a division. The Guards, like a few units, were shipped to the 58th Black Cat Division at the end (probably something to do with the 6th being used in a reserve role in the Argenta Battle).... The poor 58th just couldn't compare apparently.
56th Black Cat Division You know... Ive got a serious problem with that number. I've been walking around calling the 96th panzer grenadiers the 98th for the last month...
Paethon Talking of guards the Oldman's mob rafted the Guards Armoured along with the Derbyshire Yeomanry accross the river Po before the NZ engineers built a bailey bridge. I will if I remember look it up for you
Tom Sorry you did not see the sign, my Oldman and 6 Armoured headed for Klagenfurt area, I beleive their billets were near the race course/track. from there it was demob and his Engineer Squadron broken up and disbanded.
My late father was transferred into the 6th Armoured Division on the 22nd May 1946. I do not possess any information on his movements, just the bare minimum on the service record. Regards Tom
Oldman - yes that's about right as a lot of units were broken up at Klagenfurt - nice town though for holidays etc as it on the Worther See with many smaller scenic villages around the lake..... Pheathon - you are right about having trouble with numbers - the 6th Armoured - far from being in reserve at Argenta - were the prime movers in surrounding the remnants of the German army BEFORE they could escape over the PO - then the 16/5th Lancers went on to meet the Americans coming from the Bologna area.....then the chase began to round them up before they could get home- 56th and the Kiwis'went on to Trieste - the 6th Armoured - 78th and 46th Divs went through Udine - Villach - then spread out 46th to Graz - 78th to Spitall - 6th up the centre to Knittelfeld - Judenberg - after the Russians went away . Cheers
Smudger - I may be all wrong of course - that can happen - I think that the 6th Armoured had been broken up by that time as your father joined 17/21st lancers who had been sent to Greece - 16/5th stayed in Austria - Lothian and Border Horse were dismantled and replaced first by 4th Hussars - who went back to Trieste - and 2nd Gloucester Hussars came out from the Uk - by that time we were the army of Occupation under Lt.Gen. (Windy) Gale -the para whose widow set Hampton Court on fire by smoking in bed.. the Queen was N0T amused ! Cheers
Tom Canning My fathers unit also went through the Udine area on the way to Austria, lost 23 killed in a bridging accident on 9 May 1945, they are buried at Udine CWGC cemetery. I beleive they were supporting the 61st Infantry Bde and the Guards at that time
Oldman - they were obviously with 6th armoured with 61st and Guards at Udine - got a big shock at Udine - many months later when visting the Naafi on signing the visitors book - I momentarily forgot my home address but on looking up a few names I came across the address and so finished signing - THEN did a double take -- it was my brother Larry - he was stationed at Malta but played soccer for the RAF and had been playing the Army at Udine the day before I got there - we did get to-gether though in Vienna when he and a pilot flew a bomber from Malta to Vienna - just to visit me - we wrote a joint letter to the parents - they couldn't believe it - gave them a very happy surprise ! Cheers
Pheathon - you are right about having trouble with numbers - the 6th Armoured - far from being in reserve at Argenta - were the prime movers in surrounding the remnants of the German army BEFORE they could escape over the PO - then the 16/5th Lancers went on to meet the Americans coming from the Bologna area.....then the chase began to round them up before they could get home- 56th and the Kiwis'went on to Trieste - the 6th Armoured - 78th and 46th Divs went through Udine - Villach - then spread out 46th to Graz - 78th to Spitall - 6th up the centre to Knittelfeld - Judenberg - after the Russians went away . Cheers Hi tom, I know what you mean. The 6th was released from reserve for the breakout at Argenta, the chase you're reffering to, I was reffering to the initial phase and wasnt implying they were in reserve the entire spring offensive.
Pjheathon shouldn't worry about it - the 6th deserved a rest as they had been messing about over at Arrezo for weeks on end after a long trail from the Liri Valley - Narni - Terni - Orvieto - Perugia - Arrezo then as Infantry in the tall hills during the winter and the tea ration was running out... Cheers
Tom Thanks for that fantastic snippet about your brother it must have made you do a double take, my father was down in Palastine in spring 43, used to drive past his brother every other day and could not officially acknowledge him. The day he got permission to visit him he reached his barracks and was sat talking to him for 5 mins when the Redcaps came in and told him to return to his unit. Didn't see him again till 1947
Hello, My Father was with the 2nd Lothian and Border Horse in N Africa, Italy and Austria and I'm interested in checking the map you've put together for the 2nd Gaurds as they were also part of 6th Armoured I believe - so followed similar route. I can't open the link from your message - shown below: Operational route of the 2nd Bn 1942-1945 (maps) Could you let me kow how to gain access to the map? cheers, Graham
drgmarshall welcome on board, if you cannot open the map then PM (personal message) the member asking them to forward you a copy or the info you require. To PM go to persons name and click on it
