War diary for 65th Medium Regt. states on the 8th June 1944 '' disembarked and proceeded to assembly area KNEE FRANKIE''. Does anyone know of this assembly area and its location? John
Many thanks for your reply. The 65th Medium Regiment were in support of the 51 (H) Division during the Normandy campaign. Dad was wounded and evacuated on the 13th June and the War Diary shows on this date ''Fire plan fired in support of 51(H) Div.'' The entry on the 11th shows them in support of the Black Watch,at Breville, the only entry on the 12th reports on the accidental death of gunner Paton. I don't know for definite where dad's regiment and his battery 222 were on the 13th itself. I would really like to know where my dad was wounded, would you have any information that would help? Regards, John
65 Medium Regiment was one of many artillery units deployed around Colleville-sur-Mer where the Periers ridge protected them from observation from the South and East. RHQ or unit location is "Colleville" - which occupies most of a grid square. You may need the battery war diaries to work out exactly which troop was where.
Sometimes it's worth checking the War Diary of the higher formation of which the Regiment was a part - in the case of 65th Medium Regiment this was 4 AGRA. In my research into 9th Medium Regiment RA, for example, it was 9 AGRA War Diary that gave me information I wanted. On one day the Regiment were shelled with 1 killed and 6 wounded. The Regiment's War Diary says nothing but 9 AGRA diary records it! Makes no sense. Part of the problem is I think that the batteries in a medium regiment operated separately from each other and from RHQ.