130th (Assault) Field Regiment India/Burma Casualties - Filling in the blanks?

Discussion in 'War Cemeteries & War Memorial Research' started by PackRat, Apr 28, 2018.

  1. PackRat

    PackRat Well-Known Member

    Yes please Steve, it would be great to see those.

    I found just a couple of photos in the IWM collection that are captioned as Tigyaing (or Tigyiang). First one is an air drop to 29 Brigade which looks like it was taken from a hill overlooking the town. Second one I think is 130 Field Regiment entering the town (the truck seems to be pulling a gun, 130 Field was the only 36 Division arty unit in the area and I believe the Arm of Service serial ‘42’ indicates the senior arty regiment of an infantry division).

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    An American C-47 aircraft drops supplies by parachute to troops of 36th Infantry Division in Tigyiang during their advance down the Irrawaddy Valley to Manadalay, 1945. (SE 1130)

    11.jpg
    A lorry of 36th Infantry Division enters the town of Tigyiang during the advance down the Irrawaddy Valley towards Mandalay, 22 December 1944. (SE 1019)
     
  2. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Here you go. These are from 2013 when a family contact whose father had been with No. 5 Column on Operation Longcloth, took a trip to Burma and retraced her father's footsteps. There is also a very poor quality image of the main thoroughfare at Tigyaing leading to the river taken in March 1943 by a member of 5 Column:

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  3. PackRat

    PackRat Well-Known Member

    Some great pictures, thank you. Getting across that wide river must have been a daunting task.
     
  4. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    I believe there are (were) several large sandbanks in the vicinity, but still definitely a difficult and hazardous crossing point.
     
  5. PackRat

    PackRat Well-Known Member

    A small and long overdue update, in memory of the late Chris Harley.

    Thanks to his tireless work, William Barnes (BARNES, William, 1082940, Gunner, Killed in Action on 30th December 1944) will be correctly commemorated with his comrades on the Rangoon Memorial.

    Gunner William Barnes | War Casualty Details | CWGC

    RIP, Chris.
     
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  6. Skoyen89

    Skoyen89 Senior Member

    Hi Packrat

    I am trying to find out more about Gunner Frederick Reggie GRINT RA who was awarded a MID (LG 16 Dec 1943) whilst serving with 130 Field Regt. He was from Norfolk and seems to have been a radio operator. Do you have anything in your records which can shed any more light on this?

    Cheers
    Skoyen89
     
  7. Skoyen89

    Skoyen89 Senior Member

  8. PackRat

    PackRat Well-Known Member

    Grint.jpg

    Hi Skoyen,

    The only trace of him I can find is on this embarkation list. It's dated 4th Feb 1944, when the entire 36th Indian Division was moving by rail from Poona to Calcutta to act as reserve for Second Arakan. All I can add for certain is his service number and battery, I'm afraid:

    960650 Gnr. F. R. Grint, 316 SP Battery

    316 Battery was 'SP' at this point as it had been re-equipped with Priests for the amphibious assault on Akyab (cancelled when the Admin Box situation developed). 316 had been a traditional field battery with 25-pounders until August 1943, and fought in the Arakan with 14 Div and 26 Div from late Jan 43 to May 43. After a brief rest at Ranchi, it spent the rest of 1943 in Combined Operations training with 36 Div at Poona.

    Last year I trawled through WO-373-91 searching for MiD citations for 130 Field, but only found one in the whole file. Possibly significantly, it has 'Award Mention L.G. 16/12/43' written on it, the same publication date as your man. The actual date of the action it was awarded for was 7th April 1943, so possibly Gunner Grint was 'mentioned' on or around the same day. That approximate date would make sense for Grint's MiD, as 5/6/7 April was the Battle of Indin, when the Regiment fought a vital rearguard action for 6 Brigade to break out of Japanese encirclement. 'C' Troop of 316 was temporarily detached from the Regiment at that point and in support of 55 Brigade on the other side of the Mayu Hills, though it was involved in some equally desperate fighting.
     
  9. PackRat

    PackRat Well-Known Member

    That's my book so I couldn't be a fair judge! It was published on Amazon a few months ago. I've had some kind messages about it from other relatives of the 130th, though, so hopefully it can at least be classed as 'not terrible'.

    By coincidence, Gnr T. J. Grant (directly above your F. R. Grint in that list) is the father of Jim Grant, who generously supplied a photo of the Regiment's memorial plaque in Ayr for the book.

    It's not really a traditional regimental history. It's a memoir of my grandfather with the 139th (Lewisham Gunners) at the Escaut and Dunkirk, blending into the story of the 130th when he was posted to them in summer 1940 then following the Regiment right through the War to demob. I've tried to strike a balance between eyewitness accounts from the front and 'proper' academic history. Since there was no restriction on my page count and I had a lot of spare time over the last couple of years, I drew in material from the infantry, tankers, engineers and flyers working in direct cooperation with the 130th, and went on some tangents about the intelligence operatives, propaganda units and air supply sections supporting them. It concentrates heavily on their part in 'Cannibal' and the North Burma campaign with the American/Chinese NCAC, as the 130th found themselves in some odd predicaments and so little has ever been written about those operations. I think the overall narrative hangs together and makes for a decent read, but it's hard to be impartial!

    Not sure if it's of any great help, but here are some pages from the mid-April 43 period of the book, when the other MiD I found was awarded and a fair number of MMs and MCs were being dished out to the 130th. The actual Battle of Indin of 5/6/7 April takes a few chapters to cover. I'm really grateful to you for finding those documents about Sjt. Grant in the Royal Sigs 'missing' file a couple of years ago (posted P1 of this thread), as they were the source for the first paragraph below:

    240.jpg 242.jpg 244.jpg 246.jpg
     
  10. fmax

    fmax New Member

    Hello PackRat

    I’m trying to find any information on Robert Milne, who was with the 130 field regiment.

    Any information you can provide is greatly appreciated.

    also, just came across your book in this thread… will check it out.

    thank you
    fmax
     
  11. PackRat

    PackRat Well-Known Member

    Hi fmax, welcome to the forum.

    I can't find a Robert Milne on the hospital lists and nominal rolls I have, but unfortunately not many of those files got saved so they only cover a few snapshots in time. Closest match is this man, mentioned on a railway embarkation list taken when they moved back into Arakan, Burma in Feb 1944: 1126488 Gunner G. Milner

    Do you have any more information on Robert? Any personal stories, photos, letters or service records? They might give an idea of when he joined the 130th and which campaigns he went through with them.
     
  12. fmax

    fmax New Member

    Thank you for getting back to me, PackRat

    His service number was 892493 and I believe he was a wireless operator.

    beyond that, I don’t have much more information to hand, at the moment I’m afraid.
     
  13. AB64

    AB64 Senior Member

    His tracer card

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  14. fmax

    fmax New Member

    Thank you, AB64. This is incredible.
     
  15. PackRat

    PackRat Well-Known Member

    Good find AB64. If I'm reading that tracer card right, he was with 60th LAA Regt in India until the regiment was disbanded, then transferred to to the RA field branch and posted to 130 Field Regt in October 1944. (the X List (2) entry indicates a short period of illness in June 1945 - 10 days away from the regiment)

    In October 1944 the 130th was preparing for service in north Burma with 36th Division - the only British formation in General Stilwell's American/Chinese NCAC. The regiment's light howitzer battery (494) was airlifted in that month and went into action near the old Chindit stomping grounds around Mawlu. Some of the regiment's forward observation teams and signallers also flew in to assist a Chinese artillery group, which was short of technical staff.

    Most of the 130th was stuck in Assam however, waiting for the Ledo (Stilwell) Road to open so they could get the 25-pounders into Burma. Idle gunners were temporarily press-ganged by the US Air Force as 'packers and kickers' for air supply runs - helping to load Dakota aircraft, then riding in the back over the dangerous 'Hump' route to kick the packages out as the plane circled over jungle drop zones. The 25-pounder batteries (315 & 316) and Regimental HQ got underway along the Ledo Road in early November, and by the 19th the entire regiment was reunited and in action with 36 Division at the Battle of Pinwe. The 130th was then constantly engaged in north and central Burma until May 1945

    No hints as to what battery Robert was assigned to on the tracer card, unfortunately. If it is possible for you to apply for his full service records, those would reveal which part of the regiment he served with.
     
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  16. fmax

    fmax New Member

    Amazing!! Thank you so much for the explanation and background, PackRat. Genuinely very grateful. As per your advice, I intend to apply for his service records and will share anything I find, with the hope you maybe can shed a little more light on the his time.
     
  17. PackRat

    PackRat Well-Known Member

    You're welcome, hopefully service records will give us the clues to work out his exact journey. If he spent that whole period with the 130th it was a long one - from Shillong in Assam, up through Ledo then down past Mandalay to Meiktila. There are some threads on the forum about the best way to apply for records,the wait for them can be long but they're the only way to find out more. He enlisted pre-war (during the big expansion of the TA it looks like) so there are a lot of years of service to explore.
     
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