Hello, I believe my grandfather William James French, who died before I was born,served with the 160 Independent Field Battery during WW2. I believe the 160 joined the 57 Field Regiment in June 1943 in Tripoli. I know very little else about him other than he apparently served under Montgomery as part of the Desert Rats. Can anyone help me out with where I can find out more about 160 Independent Field Battery and what they did during WW2. Thanks Steve
Steve. After the Sicilian Campaign, 57 Fd Regt RA landed at Catanzaro Marina in the toe of mainland Italy on 28 Sep 43 as part of 6 Army Group Royal Artillery. An AGRA is a grouping of Medium, Heavy and Field Regt RA. These units are allocated to Corps to Divisions in order to bolster artillery fire for specific operations or campaigns. 57 Fd Regt RA then advanced with Eighth Army up the east coast of Italy including the Battle of the River Sangro in Nov-Dec 43. In Feb 44, 6 AGRA were moved to Cassino. After the Fourth Battle of Cassino in May 44, they advanced east of Rome and, in Aug 44 were transferred to support the US Fifth Army in the battles of the Gothic Line above Florence. Regards Frank
I have what I think is his service number although this is 7 figures not 8. I will try and order his service record, which will hopefully help.
Alot of WW2 army numbers have 7 digits. Check where the one you have fits in here. Army Number Block Allocations
160 Field Battery was originally part of 174 Field Regt. 174 was formed from 8 Defence Regt in Jan 42 at Driffield, Yorkshire. It consisted of A, B & C Batteries. The batteries were re-lettered in Mar 42 as P, Q & R Batteries & then numbered in Jan 43 as 159, 160 & 161 Batteries. The Regt served with 55 Infantry Division in the UK. In Jan 43 the batteries became independent & 174 Field disbanded in the March. 160 Battery became part of 57 Field Regiment in June 1943. The rest of its history is as in #2 above.
Might be an idea to obtain his service record to ensure he served in the units you believe he did - only available from the MOD via these forms Request records of deceased service personnel TD
