6th Bn 'Royal Scots Fusiliers' - 44th (Lowland) Brigade - 15th 'Scottish' Infantry Division

Hello everyone,

I'm currently researching the actions of the 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers, during the Normandy campaign in 1944.

I'm particularly hoping to connect with anyone who had family members serving in this battalion at that time. If so, I would be very grateful if you could share any information you might have, such as personal stories, photographs, letters, or other related items.

I'm also interested in any general details or facts about the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers as a unit during this period.

Any help or insights you can offer would be greatly appreciated for my research.

Thank you for your time.

Best regards,

Quentin

Link to a Facebook group dedicated to the 6th Bn 'Royal Scots Fusiliers': https://www.facebook.com/groups/681100764460247/

 

Hi Quentin

There's this, if you haven't come across it already: https://www.15thscottishdivisionwardiaries.co.uk/

Adam

 

Quentin,

Welcome aboard.

There is a massive amount of information, details of books, records here.

An online search with: "6th Battalion" + "Royal Scots Fusiliers" + "Normandy" site:ww2talk.com found several threads here, plus a couple for 1940. Dropping th found zero and using: "6 Bn" + "Royal Scots Fusiliers" + "Normandy" site:ww2talk.com found a handful. Then with: "6 Royal Scots Fusiliers" + "Normandy" site:ww2talk.com a small number and with with: "6 RSF" + "Normandy" site:ww2talk.com a few more. There may be duplicates.

Searching The National Archives (TNA) for the subject or unit(s) can identify those who were awarded honours / medals and the existence of War Diaries – which rarely mention individuals soldiers. They do give context and details of activity. Some are available via Ancestry (££).

 

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Hi Adam,

Thanks for your reply! Just wanted to let you know I've already picked up the original War Diary of the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers from the National Archives. My current research is really digging into how the battalion was organized in June 1944 and their first actions at Saint-Manvieu on June 26th. The War Diary has been a fantastic resource.

Best,

Quentin

 

Hello David,

Thank you very much for your response. I will investigate that further. I'm hopeful that I might find some valuable information there for my research.

Cheers,

Quentin

 

I wanted to share with you all a piece of history that I am extremely proud to own. It's a Mk.II helmet belonging to CSM/CQSM Georges Dodds, who served in 'C' Company of the 6th Bn 'Royal Scots Fusiliers'. He was a Company Sergeant Major in June '44 and as far as my research indicates, he may have survived the war. I would be very interested in finding any further information about this man.

Cheers,

Quentin

 

Hi, not sure if this counts as "thread necromancy" but as it's very relevant (and came up in a topic search) it felt better than starting a new one...

I have been researching my grandad's wartime journey across NWE with 6RSF; he was transferred from 13RWF on 18 July 1944 and remained with the Scots right through to demob in January 1946 at Bad Segeberg. In May 2025 I recreated the battalion's journey from Normandy to Schleswig-Holstein (albeit in a week rather than 10 months) in order to be in Bargteheide 80 years to the day after grandad celebrated VE Day there, and I've written a fairly extensive blog about the whole experience at I've Been There – Grandad's War - for both the planning and the write-up I relied heavily on the 15 Div war diaries digitised by Adam Bruce-Watt, but any errors are most definitely mine not his!

Would be interested to hear any feedback, corrections or clarifications. And if I've posted this in the wrong place just let me know and I'll add it somewhere else.

 

Congratulations on preserving your grandfather's record - one comment if I may? In the picture of his medals, the France & Germany star and 1939-1945 star should be reversed to get them in the correct order.
Medal Order

 

Thanks for letting me know! Do you mean the physical order of the actual medals, or that I've simply captioned them incorrectly?

Assuming the former (that they're physically presented in the wrong order) sadly they're not in my possession, but I will mention it to my cousin who has them.

 

Yes, the order, 39/45 star should be first, see the link in my post.

 

Hi Andrew

Great account of your grandfather’s time with 6RSF, which is well researched and written and all the better for you having been on the ground too. I don’t know if you had access to the original WW2 maps (the links from my site have not been working for a while for some reason although they are now) but I noticed that some of the places you were unable to identify do actually appear on the maps. Details as follows:

November:
Slot – see map: MAESYCK sq 6713
Broek – see map: MAESYCK sq 6909
Meitiel - this is just a mis-rendering of Meijel

March:
The battalion was indeed in Turnhout, not Tilburg (definitely my error, which has now been corrected).
EX BUFFALO 1 and 2:
Malsych (as per diary) – this is Maesyck – see map: MAESYCK sq 6379
Houthuizen – see map: MAESYCK sq 5872
Eysden – see map: LIEGE sq 5667
There’s another Eysden a bit further south but it’s not going to be that one – see map: LIEGE sq 5643

April:
Linteler - possibly Linteln, just west of Lavelsloh – see map: MINDEN sq 6424
Dohren – see map: MINDEN sq 8826

May:
Langlohe – see map: HAMBURG sq 6858

I wasn’t able to see Blerick with an accent in the war diaries but it obviously shouldn’t have one in any case.

In relation to visiting Belsen, my grandfather, according to my uncle, said he did go while the Division was in the area and that it was at the time Richard Dimbleby was there. I’d be surprised if there weren’t some visits by 15 Div personnel either to help or just to see for themselves.

Keep up the good work
All the best
Adam