War Diaries for 'CC' Battery, 5th RHA 1940 to 1944

Discussion in 'Royal Artillery' started by Gerboa, Apr 22, 2014.

  1. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake All over the place....

    The 7th Armoured division were a bit of a law unto themselves and were seen to fumble in Normandy. All the theatre grids, meteor and uncle target stuff.was Home army and introduced to the Western desert partially by Montogmery';s gunner Kirkman and then by 1st Army. .It may be that the 7 Armd Div Gunners had developed their own strongly entrenched habits, which focused on the panache polish and professionalism of their Regiment's RHA traditions. After all two of the .gunner VCs were from their regiments and no units had been as continuously engaged. Indeed 5 RHA were one a very small number of units which had served in France in 1940 and North Africa and Normandy. .

    There is a book called "the Quiet Gunner" based on the papers of a Richmond Gorle, ho lasted a week as SO2 RA in HQRA 7 Armd Div in Jiy 1944. He had been 2IC of 126(?) Fd Regt (51 HD) in Africa and Sicily and certainly had sand under his shoes. Gorle claims that he was not wanted by the CRA who demanded an officer who had served in 7 Amrd Div before - and the reason was that its own fire discipline codewords with apples referring to incoming rounds and cigarettes to smoke. There is a comment ion the Regimental history of one of the medium regiments that after serving in DS to 7 Armd Div they were thankful to be returning to their own AGrA. I don't know how much there is to this. "organisational culture" and local procedures are far harder to study than the drikll book solution. The techniques mentioned in the pre D Day training does indicate that the Regiments were thinking about their own adaptations of drills rather than slavishly following Larkhill.

    Unit experimentation is not necessarially a bad thing. (though Gorle obviously thought the RA 7 armd Div experience a nightmare. he resigned 24 hours before the CRA resigned after EWrskine was sacked) Joihn Buckley and Terry Copp have argued that the individualistic approach that the British and Canadians took to doctrine was a strength. (Though there are obviously some real problems with allowing n formations to have their own fire control codewords at odds with the rest of the army !)

    .

    That is an interesting question.
     
  2. alasdair59

    alasdair59 New Member

    Hi all, reading the above thread on 5th regiment RHA, as I am trying to find a copy of k battery war diary for May 1940. Does anyone have a copy or information regarding their movements?

    My great uncle was Kia on the Dunkirk beach, 25th May 1940 and I am trying to piece together his movements.

    Thanks, Mac
     
  3. idler

    idler GeneralList

  4. alasdair59

    alasdair59 New Member

    Many thanks!!
     

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