1398166 William Benjamin Spencer – 65 Field Regiment RA – Battery and wartime service?

I am researching my father, 1398166 William Benjamin Spencer, Royal Artillery.

I have his Royal Artillery tracer card, which records a posting to 65 F. Regt. on 7 June 1941. I understand that 65 Field Regiment consisted of 257, 258 and 445 Batteries.

I am particularly trying to establish which battery my father served with.

From what I have been able to establish, 65 Field Regiment subsequently served in North Africa, including Alam Halfa and El Alamein, and later with 56th (London) Division at Salerno and in the Italian campaign. There is already useful discussion of the regiment on WW2Talk. 65th Field Regiment BNAF/MEF thread

Does anyone have access to the 65 Field Regiment war diaries, particularly:

WO 169/4591 – May–December 1942
WO 169/9489 – January–August 1943
WO 169/9490 – September–December 1943
WO 170/948 – January–March 1944

I would be especially grateful for any nominal rolls, battery allocations, embarkation lists, casualty returns or other records which might identify William Benjamin Spencer as serving with 257, 258 or 445 Battery.

I would also appreciate any help interpreting the remaining annotations on his tracer card, which I can upload.

Many thanks,

Jon Spencer

 

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

You will get more detailed information if you get his service record from UK National Archives as the tracer card has a limited amount of information. You will need to provide proof of death.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C19945314

Steve

 

Welcome Jon.

As Steve suggests, apply for his record. There’s a chance you may see his Battery mentioned, among all the other info, of course.

Here’s a thread to get you started and regarding copies of the diaries, see also post #3, posted by Andy, member Drew5233.

If you can’t get to Kew yourself to view them, then Andy offers a copying service at TNA at far better rates than TNA would charge.

65th FIELD REGIMENT - BNAF/MEF

You can also leave a message for Andy in this thread:

Anyone require War Diaries or other files from the National Archives?

Member Gary Tankard also offers a copying service, again at great rates. Many of us here have used both Andy’s and Gary’s services and, trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

 

Welcome,

Your subject's name(s) and number have not appeared here before your thread.

There are four other threads here for the regiment id'd via the Tag system. Use: 65 field regiment ra | WW2Talk At a glance they appear to refer to the North Africa campaign.

Checking the list of War Diaries sought, no-one has posted about them before or since 2012.

There are no known embarkation lists for military voyages. Service Records can show a random, five letter convoy code; this was painted on personal kit and equipment - the number is rarely id'd. His record may show his embarkation port, with a date, but assembling and leaving port can differ. Likewise his disembarkation port can be shown.

Using the reference site: 65 (8th London) Field Regiment RA (TA) - The Royal Artillery 1939-45 and the Wiki entries for the three divisions the regiment was assigned to you can start to assemble a timeline. I only looked at the 56th (London) Division, which shows them assigned from April 1943. See: 56th (London) Infantry Division - Wikipedia Plus: 8th County of London Brigade, Royal Field Artillery - Wikipedia The name Wiki uses it's pre-1924 name, but has a detailed account of the 65th!

The two batteries 257 & 258 were originally based @ St Margaret's Road, Plumstead. By time your subject joined up any geographical link may have ended.

My understanding is that a field regiment although a divisional unit was often assigned to one brigade most of the time. There were six brigades assigned at various times to the 56th.

Ancestry has copied the unit's War Diary for 1942 pgs. 19012-19133 (when in the Middle East). Subscription required. Details from Post 33 by dryan67 in: Ancestry - War Diaries

An online search with: "65th FIELD REGIMENT" site:ww2talk.com id'd a few threads as did: "65 FIELD REGIMENT" site:ww2talk.com

As London can appear in their name I used: "65th" + "london" + "FIELD REGIMENT" site:ww2talk.com that id'd a few more, but just "65" id'd too many options.

Note sure if the searches id'd this: King George visit to Italy 1944 The 65th provided a Guard of Honour when he visited and there may be newsreel of that.

Yes, please scan in the Tracer Card. Guidance on uploading / scanning is within: How to Start a new Thread / Edit Post / Upload Image

Good luck.

 

Here you go David:

 

Joe.

65 Fd Regt RA supported 167 Infantry Brigade throughout their time in Italy - wherever 167 Infantry Brigade went then so did 65 Fd Regt RA.

That should help you trace their movements.

They were with 167 Infantry Brigade at Salerno in Sep 43, the crossing of the Volturno in Sep 43, the First & Second Battles of Camino in Nov/Dec 43, the crossing of the Garigliano in Jan 44 and at Anzio in Feb/Mar 44.

Regards

Frank

 

Another of his artillery cards. Depot troop 12th reg.

 

Thanks everyone for all the information and help. I am beginning to get a far mre detailed idea of my Dad's war experience. All of this really helps. Jon

 

I have the war diaries for September 1943 to December 1944. There are no separate battery WDs available at TNA, and it is unlikely that any nominal rolls show the battery level, unless he was an officer.

 

Gary,

I see from the RA tracer card attached above that this man was on X2 list in November 1942 so he may feature on the weekly field returns in late November 1942. I identified my uncle’s battery in 138 FR from him being listed X2 on his service record and found him on the “personnel desirous of being returned to the unit” part of the other ranks field return.

Steve

 

Hi,
Many thanks for all of this. It has been immensely helpful in putting together my Dad's war experience. I have inearthed two more photos, can I touble you to take a look at them as they may have important information that I do not spot. The pem indicates my Dad.
Many thanks again, really appreciated.
Jon