Hi As the title says I’m the grandson of Douglas Brough MM ( army no 3653900 )and would like research his war service. I have his original red certificate of service booklet and a letter from the Royal Armoured Corps, Manning and Record Office, from shortly after his death in 1981 , listing his units, and his medal citation. I have received excellent help from members of 4 Reconnaissance Regt regarding the action where he was awarded the MM. I would be very grateful anyone could advise me how to research is earlier war service, he was a professional soldier enlisting in 1938 into the Prince of Wales Volunteers with whom ,he served in the BEF from 5.10.39 until evacuated from Dunkirk on 31.5.40. He also received a gunshot wound to his hand at some point in the war, is there a way to research when this occurred? Many thanks Andy
Andy. This is where the action took place. I have the original Italian Army maps somewhere if you want to which house the citation is referring to. I see that he was originally nominated for the DCM but it was downgraded to an MM. 10 Inf Bde of 4 Inf Div had just secured the last ridge before the River Marrechia and 4 Recce Regt were probing the valley floor in anticipation of 2 NZ Div passing through and taking up the lead. Regards Frank
3653900 does not appear in the casualty lists, this could mean that he was not wounded seriously enough to leave his regiment. HOWEVER there is 3653700 Pte D F BROUGH of the 1 Bn South Lancashire Regt wounded France 1.6.40. If the lists have a misprint they normally get corrected later on but can't see another entry in this case. You need his service records, as per #2 above.
Hi, Welcome to the forum. For the past 20 years UK MOD have provided copies of some of the original documents from a man’s service file rather than the summary document you received. It doesn’t usually include any medical documents but is far more detailed than the summary and is well worth the £30 fee. If you are prepared to wait to apply until after 1st April you won’t have to send the fee with your application. Under their new system MOD will request the fee when they turn up the file. Good Luck Steve
Hi Tony that would have been him at Dunkirk the day he was evacuated, he received a perforated eardrum amongst other injuries when his first evacuating ship ( he said it was a destroyer, but how accurate that is as I was only ten at the time and we were both watching the old Colditz series). Was bombed and sunk and had swim to another vessel. He then served in the UK with the South Lancs before volunteering for the reconnaissance corps on 27.12.41. He was posted to 4 Recce Regt on 24.10.42. He went to North Africa, with them on 13.3.43 until 26.12.43. And then in Italy until the end of the war. Returning to the UK in march 46. I remember seeing the wound it was between the thumb and index finger, I can’t remember which hand. He said he received it in a scuffle with a German officer, who was behind a door when he entered a house.
Many thanks frank, yeah I saw the initial DCM recommendation being downgraded to a MM. Crossing through a minefield while part of a 5 man foot patrol. He advanced alone to a house, finding a German officer and a soldier, serious wounding, at least the officer. Returning to the patrol , under spandau fire, he killed 2 German soldiers. Before taking out a spandau ( so MG34 or MG42 at 35 yards when the mg bullets were piercing the walls) by leaning right out of a top storey in full view of the spandau, armed only with a Thompson sub machine gun. The house was blown up by antitank gun fire, killing two of the patrol. One of the dead soldiers, died not knowing he was to receive a MM for an action the previous month. Do you have any idea of what the opposing German unit was? All I can find was that the 29th Infantry Division was in the area.
Yes please frank it would be great to try and identify exactly where the incident took place to see if anything , identifiable is still standing. I would like to visit the location, then pay my respects to the 2 patrol members killed, who are buried at a cemetery a number of miles north.
Casualty lists were published regularly for the British army in all theatres, 3653700 Pte D F BROUGH was recorded in list No. 231 for the 24 hrs ending 9:00 am 14 June 1940. I can not find any record for 3653900, which leads me to the conclusion that either there was a misprint somewhere, or that there were two soldiers with a similar name and similar service numbers. As I said the casualty lists do contain errors but these often get corrected in later editions, as more information comes to light, not found in this case. His MM citation is under 3653900 and if the official information you have has this number then I would lean towards an error in the casualty lists. If you apply for his official service records, as post #2 above, then, assuming he was transferred out of his unit to a hospital, it should be recorded. More information on the lists here: Casualty List No. 1
Cheers Tony He was definitely wounded at Dunkirk, so that Pte DF Brough with a service number where the only difference is between a 7 and 9 in a service number is a bit too much of a coincidence. On return from Dunkirk he was in the UK ,transferred to the Recce Corps and didn’t go back overseas until 1943 when in 4 Recce he was shipped out to Tunisia. He fought up through Italy for the rest of the war. So that must have been where he received his hand wound. I’ll request his war records because like many he didn’t mention his service to his 6 children. I as the 1st grandchild back in the 70s when it was Ok for 10year olds to Army mad, appear to have got the most out of him while watching Colditz !
