I am trying to track the movement in the UK of a WW2 soldier with the 21 Anti-Tank Reg RA. I've linked below an extract of his service record and I recognise some of the place names, but not others I think they are: 1940 - France 1940 - Bardney, Lincs 1941 - Woodhall Spa, Lincs From 1942, I can't make out the name(s). Can anyone help? Also, in 1943 he's attached to the Southern Command PT School. At this time I think Southern Command was based in and around Salisbury. Just a few months later he was recorded as at 'Kimberley Park' and I don't know where that would be. Any help would be gratefully received! Thanks Phil
21 Anti tank regiment were part of the Guards Armoured Division which was in Southern Command, and took part in Ex Spartan in March 1943 part of 2nd Canadian Corps. There seem to be two (and maybe more) Kimberley Parks. One in Falmouth and the other near Wymondham in Norfolk. Have you checked the 21st Anti Tank Regiment War diary?
By way of an update, I've certainly found one of the place names. I could see it was 'Bruton' but have now discovered that the Guards Armoured Division HQ was (for a period through 1942) at Redlynch Park near Bruton in Somerset. The 21st Anti-Tank Regiment seems to have been based out of Okehampton, at least for part of 1942. The Division relocated to Kimberley Park, Norfolk, in March 1943. So this only leaves one name in the list which looks like 'Bourton'. It could be a shortening of Bovington I suppose, but I'm not convinced...
Possibly: Bourton on the Water Cotswolds Not far from Little Rissington (RAF) Lots of WW2 Military camps army and RAF in the area. Google Maps Museum is the sort of place some of the members might like. Looks like a military motorbike by the paint colour on the edge of a photo. Old cars toys etc.
After a lot of reading, I've confirmed that the final name I was trying to establish was definitely 'Bourton'. The location is a hamlet near Devizes, Wiltshire, on the edge of Salisbury Plain. The only reference I found to this was in a book called ‘Raymond Williams’ by Fred Inglis (1995). Raymond joined 21st Anti-Tank Regiment in 1942 and the book records that the regiment was 'encamped on the edge of Salisbury Plain at Bourton' on the 20th of June 1942. A week later, on the 28th of June 1942, the Regiment moved to the Royal Artillery Practice Camp in Okehampton, Devon.