OK, I'm being dense now (do I hear a chorus of "No Change There Then!" from GWF Pals ) but can someone point me in the right direction so I can get a list of all British units (Army/RM) involved with the D-Day landings please? Many thanks
Hi Lee, I am gradually adding all the details of the dead to these units on: http://www.ddayancestors.com/ Unfortunately PC problems have held me back from completing the site before 6th June, but by the end of June all units will be on line. They all lost someone on D Day, so it is a fairly comprehensive listing - or will be!
Paul, Hope your pc gets better Good job. Lee 5th Black Watch in 153 Brigade landed in the afternoon on D Day as well. Aye MalcolmII
Paul - Many thanks for the link mate & may your PC problems be sorted out ASAP! Malcolm - And many thanks to you too mate! Hows the Ensign Ewart?
Lee, I have posted an example to help from the Gold Beach title I mentioned here - http://wwiiforum.com/index.php?showtopic=2...t=30&#entry2745 Ryan
Originally posted by Lee@May 29 2004, 11:57 PM Paul - Many thanks for the link mate & may your PC problems be sorted out ASAP! Malcolm - And many thanks to you too mate! Hows the Ensign Ewart? Ensign Ewart still good for a pint next time you're up. Aye MalcolmII
Ryan - Thanks mate. Malcolm - Won't be this year mate as I'm hoping to get down to Dartmoor, but I'll give you a shout when I'm back up in your neck of the woods.
To Lee, Can you define what you mean by a unit? For instance, we could say that the British 50th Division landed at Gold Breach and list the three brigades and their nine battalions, which all landed. But this does not mean that the division landed in full on D-day.For instance, I couldn't say if 25th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA, or 2nd Battalion the Cheshire Regiment (Machine Gun), both part of the division, landed on the day itself, in whole or in part, without a lot of research. And I bet that not all the division's workshop sections, ordnance troops, RASC drivers, field bakeries, military police, etc. etc. landed on the first day. So, if you want an absolutely complete list, it is difficult. If you want a list of divisions, brigades and front line battalions, it is relatively easy
Originally posted by angie999@Jun 7 2004, 08:06 PM Can you define what you mean by a unit? Angie999 - I see what you mean, I should have been a little clearer shouldn't I If you could point me towards a list of divisions, brigades and front line battalions that landed on D-Day I would be grateful.
Originally posted by angie999@Jun 7 2004, 07:06 PM To Lee, Can you define what you mean by a unit? For instance, we could say that the British 50th Division landed at Gold Breach and list the three brigades and their nine battalions, which all landed. But this does not mean that the division landed in full on D-day.For instance, I couldn't say if 25th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA, or 2nd Battalion the Cheshire Regiment (Machine Gun), both part of the division, landed on the day itself, in whole or in part, without a lot of research. And I bet that not all the division's workshop sections, ordnance troops, RASC drivers, field bakeries, military police, etc. etc. landed on the first day. So, if you want an absolutely complete list, it is difficult. If you want a list of divisions, brigades and front line battalions, it is relatively easy I'm going off on a tangent from the subject here, but in World War II, were the troops aranged in their divisions, brigades, platoons etc. in the same general way as they are now, or has anything changed? Daniel
Originally posted by Dpalme01@Jun 8 2004, 04:02 PM I'm going off on a tangent from the subject here, but in World War II, were the troops aranged in their divisions, brigades, platoons etc. in the same general way as they are now, or has anything changed? Daniel Basically the same then as now, if you allow for the fact that how these units are made up has changed. For instance, they tend to be lighter in front line troops and stronger in technology now. Also, there has been experimentation. I know that 20 or 30 years ago the British experimented with a brigade structure, neither pure infantry nor pure armour, made up of two armoured regiments and two infantry battalions. Two of these "square brigades" make up a division. I don't know if they stuck to it or whether they are back to a more tradional structure.
Originally posted by angie999@Jun 8 2004, 06:58 PM Also, there has been experimentation. I know that 20 or 30 years ago the British experimented with a brigade structure, neither pure infantry nor pure armour, made up of two armoured regiments and two infantry battalions. Two of these "square brigades" make up a division. I don't know if they stuck to it or whether they are back to a more tradional structure. This was largely based on the 'Brigade Battlegroup' concept used by units like Guards Armoured and 11th (Armoured) Divisions - which itself was based on the German Kampfgruppe. Our ones combined a mixture of armour and infantry (in TCVs), plus mobile fire support from Field Regiments.
Here goes with an OOB of down to battalion level, which I do not claim to be complete, or that all of these landed in full on D-day. I have included the Canadian landings for continuity: Airborne (left flank) 6th Airborne Division (Maj Gen R N Gale) 3 Parachute Brigade 8th & 9th Battalions, the Parachute Regiment 1st Canadian Parachute Regiment 5 Parachute Brigade 7th, 12th & 13th Battalions the Parachute Regiment 6 Airlanding Brigade 12th Battalion the Devonshire Regiment 2nd Battalion The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles Divisional troops 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaisance Regiment RAC 6th Airborne Divisional Engineers 53rd Airlanding Light Regiment RA 6th Airbourne Divisional Signals plus members of the Glider Pilot Regiment (attached to the division for the landings) Sword Beach 1 Special Service Brigade 3, 4 & 6 Commandos (Army) 45 Royal Marine Commando 3rd Division (Maj Gen T G Rennie) 8 Brigade 1st Battalion The Suffolk Regiment 2nd Battalion The East Yorkshire Regiment 1st Battalion The South Lancashire Regiment 9 Brigade 2nd Battalion The Lincolnshire Regiment 1st Battalion The Kings Own Scottish Borderers 2nd Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles 185 Brigade (was the main part of the brigade group tasked with taking Caen) 2nd battalion The Royal Warwickshire Regiment 1st Battalion The Royal Norfolk Regiment 2nd Battalion The King's Shropshire Light Infantry Divisional troops 3rd Reconnaisance Regiment RAC 3rd Division Engineers 3rd Division Signals 7, 33 & 76 Field Regiments RA 20 Anti-Tank Regiment RA 92 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA 2nd Battalion The Middlesex Regiment (Machine Gun) 27 Armoured Brigade 13/18th Royal Hussars 1st East Riding Yeomanry The Staffordshire Yeomanry Juno Beach 3rd Canadian Division (Maj Gen R F L Keller) Canadian 7 Brigade The Royal Winnipeg Rifles The Regina Rifle Regiment 1st Battalion The Canadian Scottish Regiment Canadian 8 Brigade The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada Le Régiment de la Chaudière The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment Canadian 9 Brigade The Highland Light Infantry of Canada The Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders The North Nova Scotia Highlanders Divisional troops 7th Reconnaisance Regiment (17th Duke of York's Royal Canadian Hussars) 3rd Canadian Divisional Engineers 3rd Canadian Divisional Signals 12, 13 & 14 Field Regiments RCA 3 Anti-Tank Regiment RCA 4 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment RCA The Cameron Highlanders of Ottowa (Machine Gun) 2 Canadian Armoured Brigade 6th Armoured Regiment (1st Hussars) 10th Armoured Regiment (The Fort Garry Horse) 27th Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrook Fusiliers Regiment) Gold Beach 50th (Northumbrian) Division (Maj Gen D A H Graham) 69 Brigade 5th Battalion The East Yorkshire Regiment 6 & 7th Battalions The Green Howards 151 Brigade 6, 8 & 9th Battalions The Durham Light Infantry 231 Brigade 2nd Battalion The Devonshire Regiment 1st Battalion The Hampshire Regiment 1st Battalion The Dorsetshire Regiment Divisional troops 61st Reconnaisance Regiment RAC 50th Divisional Engineers 50th Divisional Signals 74, 60 & 124 Field Regiments RA 102 Anti-Tank Regiment RA 25 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA 2nd Battalion The Cheshire Regiment (Machine Gun) Attached independent brigade (became part of 49th Div, August 1944): 56 Infantry Brigade 2nd Battalion The South Wales Borderers 2nd Battalion The Gloucestershire Regiment 2nd Battalion The Essex Regiment 8 Armoured Brigade 4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards 24th Lancers The Nottinghamshire Yeomanry 12th Battalion The Kings Royal Rifle Corps (Motor) 47 Special Service Brigade 41, 46 & 47 Royal Marine Commandos Additional units 79th Armoured Division, a.k.a "Hobart's Funnies" (Maj Gen Sir P C S Hobart) Elements of this division landed at all three beaches 30 Armoured Brigade 22nd Dragoons 1st Lothians and Border Horse 2nd County of London Yeomanry (Westminster Dragoons) 141 Regiment RAC 1 Tank Brigade 11, 42 & 49th Battalions RTR 1 Assault Brigade RE 5, 6 & 42nd Assault Regiments RE Divisional troops 79th Armoured Divisional Signals 1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment I am indebted to a number of sources for this OOB, notably: Hastings, Max, Overlord (1984) which gives a full OOB for 21st Army Group during Operation Overlord. If I missed any or made any errors please let me know.
To Lee, Can you define what you mean by a unit? For instance, we could say that the British 50th Division landed at Gold Breach and list the three brigades and their nine battalions, which all landed. But this does not mean that the division landed in full on D-day.For instance, I couldn't say if 25th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA, or 2nd Battalion the Cheshire Regiment (Machine Gun), both part of the division, landed on the day itself, in whole or in part, without a lot of research. And I bet that not all the division's workshop sections, ordnance troops, RASC drivers, field bakeries, military police, etc. etc. landed on the first day. So, if you want an absolutely complete list, it is difficult. If you want a list of divisions, brigades and front line battalions, it is relatively easy Some parts of units also landed who were not supposed to. My Father serving with 5th Camerons, 51st HD landed D-Day afternoon approx 12 hrs early. Wading ashore chest deep in water after his landing craft hit an under water obstacle. 5th Camerons were split into 3 landing parties, D+1, D+7 & D+14. Just to prove that probably no complete battalion or "unit" landed together.
