No.1 (Guards) I.R.T.D. Rotondi, Nr Naples

Good Morning,

I’ve been searching high and low through the forum here and the TNA looking for a War Diary to the No.1 (guards) IRTD at Rotondi to no avail.

Can anyone point me in the right direction / has a copy ?

Thank you,

Gareth

 

Hello Gareth,

Found a couple:

WO 169 - War Office: British Forces, Middle East: War Diaries, Second World War
WO 169/13836. Reinforcements: 1 Infantry Reinforcement Training Depot. Date: 1943 July-Dec

WO 170 - War Office: Central Mediterranean Forces, (British Element): War Diaries, Second World War. Subseries within WO 170 - ITALY 1945
WO 170/7335. 1 Bn. (Guards) I.R.T.D. Date: 1945 Mar.- July

Richard

 

Thanks Richard - I omitted to say that the year I was looking for was 1944 - a key bit of missing information (a result of something springing into my head after getting up and quickly posting thereafter ! Doh !)

 

It will probably included in these two:

WO 170/3823 1944 Jan.- July -1 Inf. Rft. Trg. Depot | The National Archives
WO 170/3823 1944 Aug.- Dec. - 1 Inf. Rft. Trg. Depot | The National Archives

 

Fabulous thank you Gary ! Do you have them ?

 

No, I don't. What are you expecting to find?

The ones I have seen are the number of men arriving and men departing by day. They don't have nominal lists of personnel.

 

Hi Gary,

Hope you’re well, I found this in an old 1946 Welsh Guards pamphlet and wanted to see if there was any reference to it in the IRTD diary.

 

Major The Earl of Lindsey (previously Viscount Garnock) Scots Guards was 2 I/C at Number 1 (Guards) IRTD 1944/45.

He had served as Company Commander, Left Flank Company, 1st Scots Guards in Norway and was wounded in action at Mo I Rana 17/18 May 1940.

He was never fit for active service again and served in various training roles for the remainder of the war.

Steve

 

Dying to try and find out about this …

“No. 1 (GUARDS) BATTALION I.R.T.D.
In the North African campaign an Infantry Reinforcement Training Depot held reinforcements and returned wounded men.
Welsh Guardsmen were held in the Welsh Guards company in No. 1 (Guards) Battalion in that Depot, which was stationed at Phillippeville in North Africa. When the Italian campaign
was under way, the Depot moved to Retondi near Naples and later to Fano on the Adriatic coast.
All drafts of Welsh Guardsmen coming out to the Mediterranean Theatre of War passed through this company. On one occasion a Welsh Guards Company from this Battalion was attached to the Grenadier Battalion in 201 Guards Brigade and was in the line for a short period in Italy.”

I’m wondering if this might have been late 1943 though …

 

So, a company of Welsh Guards under Captain Raymond Buckerbridge served with 2 Scots Guards from 26th January 1944 until 10th February 1944. They were replaced by a company of Scots Guards that had been sent out as a complete unit from the 4th Battalion in the UK.

I was developing a website and used 2 Scots Guards as my 'test unit'. You can see the above covered in the organisation section on the page below:

2nd Battalion Scots Guards - The War in Italy 1943 - 1945

The Welsh Guards officers who served in the company are included in the list of officers who served with 2 Scots Guards in Italy - 2nd Battalion Scots Guards – List of Officers - The War in Italy 1943 - 1945

The war diaries for January and February 1944 are transcribed here - 2nd Battalion Scots Guards – War Diary January 1944 - The War in Italy 1943 - 1945 and 2nd Battalion Scots Guards – War Diary February 1944 - The War in Italy 1943 - 1945

I'm not sure what other links work on that page—I think the Irish Guards does, and there are lots of other pages, but these are hidden as are the menus.

 

Bit of a bump but I’m researching my grandmother,Betty Commerford, who was a YMCA tea lady. She was attached to the 1BN IRTD from 43 through to 45. The first dated item we have is a photo of HQ IRTD Philippeville Aug 1943. Next items are some more photos of her and her pal Nancy in ‘The cork forest near Philippeville’ with a Lt.Col J.H.Moore in sept 43. Then an invite to a dance at the town hall on 18/09/43! This was from Lt.Col Moore and the officers of no.5 Battalion, No.1 IRTD

 

Here are a few more photos that may be of interest

 

Nicholas,

Philippeville was a coastal city in French Algeria (not a colony, a department of France) and is now: Skikda - Wikipedia

Algeria was a rear area for the campaign in Italy and Southern France. Even by VE-Day the US & UK had bases there, from all services.

 

It seems a large chunk of my original post was chopped off! the photos I posted cover it pretty much.
She followed the IRTD to Italy where a few months were spent near Retondi in winter 44, then onto Chennai (?), another dance invite to an event in Bucciano on 5/10/44 before ending up in Fano where the IRTD unit was disbanded and she moved to support the 26th armoured devision more specifically the 16/5 lancers in Austria.

 

Hi,

Thanks very much for sharing these documents.

Steve

 

16/5 Lancers were part of 26 Armoured Brigade - rather than Division.

F