When my mother was a girl, she and her mother were living in Chiddingfold, Surrey, England, and were visited regularly by two Canadian soldiers whom they called Nelson and Napoleon. Mum does not remember their real names; she does remember that they did not return after Operation “Jubilee”, the Raid on Dieppe in 19 August, 1942. On reading Six Years of War by C. P. Stacey, I have found that they may have been a part of 2nd Division, and thus could be members of: 4th Infantry Brigade, The Royal Regiment of Canada The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry The Essex Scottish Regiment 6th Infantry Brigade Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada The South Saskatchewan Regiment 14th Canadian Army Tank Regiment (The Calgary Regiment), or any of the light AA and field artillery detachments, engineers or administrative units. Mum also remembers that the Regiment concerned had a Pipe Band, which used to play outside St Mary’s Church in Chiddingfold on Sundays. Would anyone be able to tell me which Regiment this could possibly be, and where the Regiments mentioned above were stationed in the months prior to the raid on Dieppe? Thank you, in advance, for any help. Mark
I checked the war diaries for the units in 4th and 6th Brigades. The units were located in Sussex in May 1942, then moved to the Isle of Wight from June until the Dieppe raid in August 1942. Similarly, 14th Canadian Army Tank Regiment was also in Sussex then IOW.
Thanks for checking the diaries, obviously my assumptions are making an ass out of me. Would you have any idea of possible Regiments? Chiding fold is not far from the Suffolk border, here is a link to a map: http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?q=chiddingfold+surrey&mkt=en&FORM=HDRSC4. Would you mind double checking places for me? Thanks again for looking. Mark
I scanned through some more Canadian war diaries for the period you mentioned. 1st, 2nd and 3rd Canadian Divisions were in Sussex at the time. The 5th Canadian Armoured Division was at Aldershot. There were many non-divisional units scattered throughout the country, but I do not have war diaries for most non-infantry, non-armour units. I did find one unit that was located in the Chiddingfold area during the end of 1942. It was the 2nd Battalion Royal Canadian Engineers. You can find its regimental history here: https://archive.org/details/2BattalionRoyalCanadianEngineers
Canadian Camerons were quartered in Delville barracks, Aldershot, January 1941. They moved to Newhaven spring 1941 then onto Isle of wight, spring 1942. 1st batt' Ottawa Camerons were at various places in Surrey, early 1942 they were at Limpsfield Chart then to Paxhill park, Jukly found them at Winston house, Steyning. After training in Scotland they returned to Slinfold, near Horsham 1st January 1943.
Perhaps another avenue for you to explore is Dunsfold aerodrome, this airfield was built in 1942 by the 2nd Bn Royal Canadian Engineers and is only a couple of miles from Chiddingfold. Have a look at these links: http://www.dunsfoldpark.com/about-us/history.html Also some history and photos here: http://www.waverley.gov.uk/planningdocs/wa20080788/Appendix%2012_Cultural%20Heritage%20and%20Archaeology.pdf The Harrier jump jet was developed and built at Dunsfold and they could often be seen during their test flights from the road that runs alongside.
