Hello, I'm afraid I won't be be able to reply to anyone so I will give as much information as I can. I recently received a photo of my Granddad and he is wearing a uniform with W.YORK printed on the shoulder. He is in jungle uniform and has a Black Cat on his arm which I found out was part of the 17th Indian Division and that he was in Burma. I was trying to find out how my Granddad came to be in the Indian Division? - Was it made up from other divisions and if so how do I find out which ones? And also what does the W.YORK on the shoulder mean? I have been looking for this information for ages now and I'm just really confused and getting no where - so many thanks in advance for any help.
Welcome to the forum. W. York mean that his regiment was the West Yorkshire Regiment, in his case 1st Battalion of the Regiment. 1st West Yorkshires served in 17th Indian Division from the start of war in Burma in 1942 until the end in 1945. It was the longest serving British unit in the Division. Before that battalion was stationed in India were it served a way back before the ww2 started.
Here is a summary of the formation of the 17th Indian Division from one of my books on the Indian Army: 17th Indian Infantry Division As the ‘Red Eagle’ 4th Indian Infantry Division epitomised the Indian Army in the West, the ‘Black Cat’ 17th Indian Infantry Division was probably the most famous Indian division to serve in the East. It arrived in Burma shortly after the opening shots were fired and remained active until well after the end of the war in the same theatre. Its service career began as a mechanised division intended for the Middle East and it went into operations in Burma handicapped by this same organisation. Its service in the early Burma campaigns led to its reorganisation as a Light Division and the 17th was the only division to fight under this new organisation. The later part of its service was undertaken in a new mechanised-air portable organisation that was indicative of how divisions would fight in the post-war era. It was fortunate to have the same division commander throughout the majority of its service. Major-General D. T. Cowan took over at the height of the first Burma campaign in early March 1942 and commanded the 17th until June 1945. The 17th Divisional Headquarters was raised at Ahmednagar or ‘Nagar’ located around 70 miles northeast of Poona on June 1st, 1941 and its three brigades, the 44th, 45th and 46th, were formed the same day. Its nine infantry battalions were all raised during the first and second major expansions of the infantry, which took place in the summer of 1940 and in February 1941. HQ 17th Indian Infantry Division - June 1941 - Ahmednagar 47th Cavalry - Poona - Divisional Cavalry HQ 17th Indian Infantry Division RA - Ahmednagar – Raised June 1941 – No units HQ 17th Indian Infantry Division IE - Ahmednagar – Raised July 1941 – No units HQ 44th Indian Infantry Brigade - Poona 6th Battalion 1st Punjab Regiment - Raised 7 August 1940 at Benares 7th Battalion 8th Punjab Regiment - Raised 7 August 1940 at Nasirabad 6th Battalion 14th Punjab Regiment - Raised 7 August 1940 at Baroda HQ 45th Indian Infantry Brigade - Ahmednagar 7th Battalion 6th Rajputana Rifles - Raised 1 February 1941 at Delhi 4th Battalion 9th Jat Regiment - Raised 15 July 1940 at Jhelum 5th Battalion 18th Royal Garhwal Rifles - Raised 1 February 1941 at Lansdowne HQ 46th Indian Infantry Brigade - Ahmednagar 7th Battalion 10th Baluch Regiment - Raised 10 October 1940 at Benares 5th Battalion 17th Dogra Regiment - Raised 1 February 1941 at Jullundur 3rd Battalion 7th Gurkha Rifles - Raised 1 October 1940 at Karachi The first two months were spent in assembling the battalions in Ahmednagar and Poona and initial training for mobilisation, which took place in August. The division then began a further round of training and take in men to bring the battalions up to full strength. Training was in open, mechanised warfare for an eventual move to Iraq in early 1942. Battalions were a mix of regulars, reservists and recruits. Transport, equipment and weapons arrived in sufficient quantities during the early months of formation with the exception of Bren guns and battalion anti-tank equipment. Even as the battalions were taking in more recruits each shed an average of 250 men over the first six months to help other battalions form and also to provide training cadres for the regimental centres. The most severe shortage was in British officers with only about three regulars per battalion; the rest were made up of Emergency Commissioned Officers (ECOs) who were generally inexperienced in military operations as well as in the language of the troops they were to command. The division assembled in November 1941 at Dhond, east of Poona although the focus of training remained on open warfare. Divisional mobilisation on December 1st, 1941 confirmed a commitment to Far East operations possibly in Burma or Malaya. The 45th Brigade was the first to move and left Kumbargaon Camp on December 10th for Bombay. The brigade arrived on December 17th and embarked for Malaya four days later, effectively leaving command of the division. It was not until December 25th that the 44th Brigade began to train in jungle warfare on moving to Diksal. This was short-lived since the brigade embarked on January 8th, 1942 to join the 45th Brigade in Malaya where it arrived on January 25th. Both brigades were lost when Singapore was captured on February 15th, 1942. The division was now down to a single brigade, the 46th. To further break-up the division, the 17th Divisional Headquarters was sent to Rangoon, Burma, where it arrived on January 9th, 1942 without its remaining brigade and its cavalry regiment. Still without its engineers or artillery and short on motor transport, the division was hastily moved forward to Moulmein on January 17th and assigned the 2nd Burma Brigade from the 1st Burma Division and the independent 16th Indian Infantry Brigade. The 17th was tasked with stopping the Japanese advance up the Tenasserim coast and the defence of Moulmein and the Kawkareik sector. The 46th Brigade left India on January 11th and arrived in Rangoon a day before the division left for Moulmein. It was moved by rail into a reserve position on the Bilin River with the 60th (Madras) Field Company, less one section, a few days later as part of the division The West Yorks did not join the division until February 5th, 1942 in Burma but served with it through the post-war period except for a period in March-May 1942 when it served with the 7th Armoured Brigade.
Hi everyone I hope you are all doing well. I am researching my father’s history during WW2 and would very much appreciate anything that can the confirm the info I have. Ernie “Lucky” Luxton served with the Black Cats in Burma. He was “reserved occupation” and was building MTB’s on the Isle of Wight early in the war. Until he punched a bullying Sergeant, he was a Bombardier (a 3.7 AA gun?) with two-stripes. His brother Tim was captured and died on the Burma Railroad. I have been told that my dad was an army boxing champion in India during the war, and would like to check that out. I guess that he would have been bantam or flyweight during that time. Any info and site references apart from the obvious would be very useful. Thank you very much. My sister planted a Pride of India tree in Roath Park, Cardiff after his death in 1994. I will try to get hold of a photo. Best regards, Steve Luxton
