5th Battalion, The Buffs - Nominal Roll, April 1940

Discussion in 'British Army Units - Others' started by Buteman, Jul 30, 2010.

  1. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    The 5th Battalion, The Buffs left for France on the 19th April 1940 and arrived in Le Havre the following day after a smooth and uneventful crossing. These are the pages of a nominal roll of the officers and men who went overseas:-

    OFFICERS

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    Last edited: Jul 5, 2017
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  2. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    THE COMPANIES THE OFFICERS WERE POSTED TO. OTHER OFFICER'S NAMES APPEAR HERE WHO MUST HAVE DRAFTED IN AFTER THE PROCEEDING LIST WAS PREPARED.

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    Last edited: Jul 5, 2017
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  3. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    "A" COMPANY

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    Last edited: Jul 5, 2017
  4. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    "B" COMPANY

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    Last edited: Jul 5, 2017
  5. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    "C" COMPANY

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  6. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    "D" COMPANY

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    Last edited: Jul 5, 2017
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  7. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    "HQ" COMPANY

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    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Jul 5, 2017
  8. saintconor

    saintconor Senior Member

    Thanks for posting Rob. Whilst not a Regiment I have a particular interest in it does give me a good idea of a Battalion at the time (Number of Officers & men, size of companies etc). Thank you.
     
  9. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Another treasure unearthed. Well done Rob!
     
  10. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    D

    I must apologise and can't claim credit for unearthing it. I would like to acknowledge Forum member JackW for pointing me in it's direction. I found the name of my Friend's Dad in B Company and therefore identified, which of the Buff's Battalions he served with the BEF just before his wounding and capture in May 1940.

    Rob.;)
     
  11. East Kent Buffs

    East Kent Buffs Junior Member

    "C" COMPANY

    [​IMG]

    This is my Grandfathers short account of his life in the buffs in WW2.. I see he was in C Company .. Private J Smith 6289321 If any one has more details on his accounts I would love to hear from you.....

    Joined Royal East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) 15/12/39 at Military Road, Canterbury - 4 months training.

    Joined 5th Battalion, Canterbury by train to Southampton, boarded Boat for Le Havre. Camp at Fleury Sur Andelle, after training taken to Belgian boarder in 3 ton trucks. Over-run by Germans. Approximately 2 weeks made contact with British Officer, returned to England from Cherbourg, landed Southampton, by train to Newcastle by lorry to camp at Wark. Battalion reformed moved to Malvern, after further training moved to Tenby in South Wales for more training in the mountains. Went to Hospital - Pembroke Dock (Bronchitis) returned to Canterbury.

    Joined 2nd Battalion outside Maidstone. Moved to Sutton, Surrey. Went to Liverpool, boarded SS Laconia, called at Freetown, West Africa for refuelling, stopped at Capetown few days allowed ashore, waited off Durban for other half of convoy. Arrived Port Tufic taken into Desert El Alamein, back to Cairo, up to Haifa. Guard at British Consulate Baghdad, onto guard oil fields at Kermanshah, went to Beirut to run leave camp, onto Tehran to guard Churchill at Conference with Stalin and Roosevelt. Onto Basra, sailed to Bombay. Train to Bangalore. Train to Assam, fly into Burma. Wounded at Myitson, taken by plane to Hospital at Chittagong. Return to Battalion at Calcutta, board boat Empress of Canada at Bombay. Home through Suez and Mediterranean, land at Liverpool. Train to Herne Bay, then to Shornecliffe, sent to Dover Castle, then to Guildford for Demob.

    All that took 6 1/2 years.
     
  12. Oldleg

    Oldleg Well-Known Member

    I have just noticed this topic and the omment to say that they were in Fleury Sur Andelle. That village is just up the road from me and I therefore want to learn more about what happened here concerning the Buffs.

    can anyone help me in that respect?
     
  13. Paul Leonard Shipp

    Paul Leonard Shipp New Member

    My father Leonard Shipp 6289128 was in the East Kents (Buffs) in 1940. I have his pay book which he must have kept throughout his captivity in Stalags 20A and 20 B. In it he receives a payment in the Field in 'local' currency (French francs) on 19th April, thats the day the 5th Battalion left for france. Does this mean he, 1. wasn't in 5th Battalion but in the 4th perhaps? or 2, was he part of a advance party for the 5th Battalion? I have a letter he posted from 2 Infantry Base Depot, on the address it says No 6 Coy, the Buffs. This is postmarked 14th May. There is another letter dated 22nd May saying 'no address'. Can you help? Red Cross records show he was captured on 9th June Rouen.
     
  14. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Is there a date on the letter from No.2 IBD ?
     
  15. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    Reposted nominal rolls after they were removed by PBuck!!!.
     
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  16. Paul Leonard Shipp

    Paul Leonard Shipp New Member

    Hi Drew
    The franking on the envelope is quite faded but it looks like 14th May 1940, Field Post Office 81. All he puts in the letter is Sunday.

    So that could mean he wrote the letter on Sunday 21st or 28th April or the 5th or 12th of May.

    The other letter I've got is dated 22nd May No Address, in it he tells his mother not to write back to his old address because he won't get it. Presumably his unit was on the move.
     
  17. Angela Smith

    Angela Smith New Member

    Thanks for posting this, I have found my grandfather on here.
     
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  18. Sam Jones

    Sam Jones New Member

    Thanks a lot for putting these here. My grandad was Douglas Maxwell of HQ Company who unfortunately was separated from his unit in Le Harve and spent most of the next 5 years as a POW. Just starting to look into it but have some bits and pieces and really appreciate you taking the time to post these photos.
    Sam (from New Zealand)
     
  19. Nick Kenning

    Nick Kenning New Member

    Hi everyone. Just stumbled on this as researching my Grandad. Found him on the "D" company E Rose 6289182. I'm looking for what he did and was involved in, If anyone has any information, I'd be very grateful. Thank you.
     
  20. Petr Usher

    Petr Usher New Member

    I've just come into possession of my father's war momentous. His name was T.H. Usher and from the above I can see he was in HQ Cpy. Amongst the many bits and bobs there are a couple of photos of Fleury-sur-Andelle but I can rremember him saying once he was captured near Arras, after Rommel bumped into his unit not knowing they were there. He also left a detailed diary, and map, of the infamous 800 mile march back from Poland. Is there a museum that may want to review what I have ?
     

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