Another one if you dont mind chaps - Leonard Leach died 12 10 1944 serving with the above buried Assisi War Cemetery , have the usual family details but nothing else, anyone add to his pen picture- where/when etc. Thanks Ralph.
The 1st Armoured Division was broken up on September 26th, 1944 and the 2nd RHA formed part of the division until that date. The 43rd (Gurkha) Lorried Infantry Brigade was part of the division until that date and I think that the 2nd RHA was supporting the brigade. After September 26th, 1944 the 43rd Brigade was attached to the 10th Indian Infantry Division and I suspect the 2nd RHA, though now Army Troops, remained attached to the Brigade for the upcoming battles. The Division was involved in the Advance to the River Savio. On 12 October, the Brigade was fighting in the Monte Codruzzo area. Hopefully someone else can confirm this assumption.
in the Second World War 1939-1945 - The Wartime Memories Project - At the outbreak of WW2, 2nd Royal Horse Artillery Regiment was made up of H/I and L/N Batteries. They went to France with the BEF in support of 1st Armoured Division, along side 1st RHA in 1940 and were evacuated at Dunkirk. In 1941 they served with 1st Armoured Division in Greece and with 7th Armoured Division during Operation Crusader in November 1941 returning to 1st Armoured Division in April 1942. The regiment transferred to 8th Army in September 1944 in Italy. In 1958 the Regiment was renamed 2nd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery. So if you find out where the 8th Army was in Oct 1944, the 2nd RHA wont be far away TD
Hello Ralph, Leonard Leach was killed on the Gothic Line. See my website assisiwarcemetery.weebly.com To download Leonard's concentration form, visit the Commonwealth War Graves website cwgc.org. Type in his name and when his details come up click on documentation. The form doesn't name the original place of burial but gives its Grid Reference, 718965. Using The "Coordinates Translator" to interpret the grid reference you will find that he was initially buried south of Canonica, Emilia Romagna, before being transferred to Assisi. Why a large number of men were brought down from Emilia Romagna to be buried in Assisi isn't clear, though the cemetery is on level ground and there was a lot of space. As to finding out what 2RHA were doing on the day he was killed I suggest you ask one of the researchers offering his services on this website to obtain a copy of the War Diary for you, Regards, Vitellino
