Hi all, after having a chat with my cousin he gave me some information on my Uncle. My dads brother. I know this is a lot of a long shot but would anyone happen to know what battalion he was in with this little information. Or even to narrow it down for me. His name was Samuel Joseph Davies and served in the RFA. His unit was sent to Rimini in WW2 and they also liberated a concentration camp(i'm guessing in Germany?).. He also served in North Africa too. His war payroll papers say Royal Artillery CLASSIFIED. < could that mean anything saucey. Sorry there isn't much to go on. My cousin is going to order the service papers as soon as poss but they may take months to come through. I just wanted to try and give him a taster before he gets them. Does this info ring any bells with the knowledgabley knowledged
The RFA ceased to exsist before WW2 started. By 1939 it was either Royal Artillery or Royal Horse Artillery.
Ah right. Royal Artillery then Andy. That's my mistake sorry. The two brothers dad who served in WW1 was Royal FIELD .. Cheers .. Rachel I know it's a long shot but i thought Rimini might narrow it down..
Courtesey of Wikipedia: The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army came into being when the Royal Artillery was divided on 1 July 1899, it was reamalgamated back into the Royal Artillery in 1924. If he was RFA, he would have been a pre-war regular. He may have served through until 1939, or he may have come out before the war but been called back as a reservist. Some British formations went from North Africa to Italy to Austria (I'm sure they would have had concentration/labour camps, too); 78th Infantry Division springs to mind. Rimini seems the best lead to follow as it is quite specific.
Italy is not my thing I'm affraid. Africa fits though as a lot if not most of the British troops in Africa went to Italy. I think some troops were taken away from the Italy campaign and used for the invasion of France etc. Best I can do I'm affraid, I'm sure someone else will be able to help but it will be speculation until you get his service records.
I think he served from 1934 until 1946 and was then put into B section reserve. His payroll mentions signaller and driver too. It was the classified bit that got me wondering. I quite fancied having a James Bond as me Uncle lol .. I've just checked my notes and they do say Royal Artillery.. (not field) That's just me thinking they were the same thing. Thanks Idler and Andy
Rachel Quite a number of British units passed through Rimini after it was finally captured on 23rd September 1944 - like 46th - 56th -1st Armoured Divisions but being Artillery he might have been in an AGRA which was composed of an a amalgam of Artillery units from various divisions so this might be augmented by Artillery units from both 1st and 5th Canadian Divisions -78th Division - the New Zealand and Polish Divisions as well as the Greek bde and at least two - 8th and 10th of the Indian Divisions as by then the 4th Indian Division was on it's way along with 4th British Division to Greece - so you see - there were a lot of people running around Rimini in those days, especially when the whole area was made into a leisure centre -Rimini - Riccione - Cattolica even down as far as Ancona as the beaches were fabulous- and to pick out one chap in that motley crew - well it's a head scratcher - it can be narrowed down a little bit stating that ONLY the 46th - 78th and 6th Armoured divisions went on to Austria - the others to Venice and Trieste.. Cheers
Rachel E Now that we have established that he was in both Rimini and also Austria - and have buttoned it down to three divisions there - we now have the order of battle for those three: - 46th Division :- 70th - 71st - 172nd Field Artillery Regiments 78th Division :- 17th - 132nd - 138th Field Artillery Regiments 6th Armoured Division : - 12th HAC - 152nd Field Artillery Regiment so it is possible that he was in one of those regiments as all three divisions served in Austria for at least eighteen months - and a great time was had by all - especially at the Vienna Tattoo - June '46 with the 78th Division -the Argylls - Irish -Hampshires and the 16/5th Lancers and 1st Gloster Hussars of 6th Armoured ! Cheers
Tom Thanks very much for that info.. At least i can give my cousin something to read up on about the regiments. It narrows it down a fair bit. The service records take so long to come dont they and well.. I'm a bit impatient and i want to run before i can walk.. My cuz will be chuffed that he's got something to get his teeth into.. I remember one thing that he told me the other day and that was that his mum(my Aunty who was in the Army ack ack ? ) had told him that his dad enjoyed the hot weather Cheers Tom Much appreciated Rachel x
Racel - if your Father enjoyed the hot weather - then he enough to get on with in Africa- Italy - and Austria - but the monsoons in NE Italy would have cooled him down a bit as they started just before we got to Rimini in the middle of September - not a nice time to visit that area ! Cheers
