Infantry assault by 600 (5th battalion, Duke of Wellington's) (West Riding) Regiment - 15 april 1945

Discussion in 'War Cemeteries & War Memorial Research' started by Paul Reed, Jun 6, 2008.

  1. Pete Keane

    Pete Keane Senior Member

    I can help a little with this, I have looked at this unit for a lady whose father served in it.

    The records appear to show the Rgt being disbanded in Feb 45, whereas it effectively became an infantry unit as its AA equipment was taken away. The deaths in April will probably relate to an incident where the Rgt was ordered to attack a defended farmhouse position, which it did with only light-arms.

    There were I recall some 15 soldiers killed and others wounded, the whole thing was a cock-up and unnecessary is the general feeling.

    I can try and find out the full story if it is of use to you.

    Regards

    Pete
     
  2. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    More info on this unit is always welcome!
     
  3. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

  4. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Thought I may as well merge the threads.
    Seemed daft having two on same subjuect.
    Dunno why I didn't do it before.
     
  5. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    Here are the pages of the after action report. The list of the casualties on page 7 make sobering read.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Jul 30, 2019
  6. jonheyworth

    jonheyworth Senior Member

    there are a number, quite a few unidentified, czech army war graves from the period in st omer cem
     
  7. greenbaron

    greenbaron Member

    Will try to consult my copy of the 1st Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade Group War Diary book to find out something more on Czechoslovak participation in this action.
     
  8. greenbaron

    greenbaron Member

    At first we should kno what "The Factory" was...
    Mentioned as "Filature Factory" in the 1st Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Bde Group documents and named "Filature" or "The Factory" by soldiers it was relatively large complex of half destroyed buildings and places able to absorb quite important amount of troops in reinforced positions, automatic weapons (AA MG etc) and even arty weapons... That, who was holding Filature, was able to control and cover by fire large area of flat and partially flooded ground in the vicinity of Dunkirk. Germans were pretty keen to take Filature and they felt it PITA when that was controlled by Allies. The Factory was regularly arty shelled by Germans and it was an objective for offensive patrols and recce...
    On 10. April 45 The Factory was covertly encircled, arty shelled and attacked by Germans, defending FFI Coy was nearly completely taken POWs. That was not only single attack - farms located South and North of Filature were attacked too, FFI defending farms South of The Factory were forced to withdraw, 608. Regt RA, 1. Tank Bn CSIABG and 52. (Indep.) Tank Sqn defending farms North of The Factory successully held their positions. All Allied positions were heavily shelled, units suffered cca 200 casualties but the majority of them were FFI troops taken POWs by Germans. Germans launched cca 600 troops into attack and lost +100 KIA and WIA including 31 troops (incl. 4 officers) taken POWs by Allies.
    An infantry supported by tanks attack was launched immediately to retake The Factory by Czechoslovak brigade, but due to the destroyed bridge(s) and soft (flooded) terrain the objectives were not reached and tanks had to halt 200 m in front of Filature and then to pull back to starting point.
    There was another attempt to retake The Factory by Allies on 11. April 45, unsuccessful again. Although supported by Czechoslovak tanks firing from fixed positions advancing 33. and 51. FFI Regts (although called regiments these units were on limited strength) were not able to move forward under MG fire from The Factory and they pulled back leaving flank of advancing Czechoslovak infantry uncovered...
    As you can see The Factory was important point for defenders and for Allies, too.
    The Factory was held by Germans and used as a base for observers, arty and MG fire on Allied positions, for launching offensive patrols and recce... Major Allied attack to retake The Factory was planned for 15. April 45...
     
    Buteman likes this.
  9. redlynch

    redlynch Junior Member

    43rd (5th Duke of Wellington's) Searchlight Regiment (TA) - Formed in Huddersfield, West Riding 10 Dec 36 by conversion of 5 DWR - consisted of 370,371, 372 and 373 Btys. Reorganised as 43rd Garrison Regiment RA ( 5 DWR) (TA) 16 Oct 43, converted to 600th Regiment RA 1 Nov 44. Post war, reconstituted as 578th (5 DWR) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA (TA) I Jan 47.
    Mike
     
  10. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    CWGC :: Casualty Details

    Name:RICHARDSON, EDWARD
    Initials:EN
    ationality:United Kingdom
    Rank:Lieutenant
    Regiment/Service:Royal Artillery
    Unit Text:600 (5th Bn. The Duke of Wellington's Regt. [West Riding]) Regt.
    Age:25
    Date of Death:15/04/1945
    Service No:268693
    Awards:Mentioned in Despatches
    Additional information:Son of Edward and Winifred Richardson; husband of Iris Clare Richardson, of Taplow, Buckinghamshire.
    Casualty Type:Commonwealth War Dead
    Grave/Memorial Reference:46. C. 20.

    Cemetery:ETAPLES MILITARY CEMETERY

    photo of Richardson's headstone was lost when forum software changed & was replaced by wrong image.

    see headstone photo in this post on another thread >>> http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/16847-royal-artilleryroyal-horse-artillery-roll-of-honour-1939-47/?p=357527
     
  11. Oldman

    Oldman Very Senior Member

    Gunner William Francis YARKER
    1689872, 600 (5th Bn Duke of Wellington’s Regt [West Riding] Rgt,
    Who died aged 30 on 22 April 1945
    Son of Francis and Margaret Yarker, Husband of Worthy Irene Yarker of Harrogate, Yorkshire.
    Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery
    It seems as though Gnr Yarker lost his fight with his wounds possibly after being shipped back to the UK, he was buried in his home town

    IMG_0216_edited.JPG
     
  12. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    NEWBERRY, WILLIAM HENRY
    Rank: Gunner
    Regiment/Service: Royal Artillery
    Unit Text: 600 (5th Bn. The Duke of Wellington's Regt [West Riding]) Regt.
    Date of Death: 17/04/1945
    Service No: 1761526
    Grave/Memorial Reference: Plot 4. Row AA. Grave 26.
    Cemetery: LONGUENESSE (ST. OMER) SOUVENIR CEMETERY
    [​IMG]


    EMBLETON, FRANK
    Rank: Gunner
    Regiment/Service: Royal Artillery
    Unit Text: 600 (5th Bn. The Duke of Wellington's Regt. [West Riding]) Regt.
    Age: 27
    Date of Death: 20/04/1945
    Service No: 11005140
    Awards: Mentioned in Despatches
    Additional information: Son of Frank and Mary Jane Embleton, of Leeds, Yorkshire; husband of Ivy Embleton, of Leeds.
    Grave/Memorial Reference: Plot 4. Row AA. Grave 27.
    Cemetery: LONGUENESSE (ST. OMER) SOUVENIR CEMETERY
    [​IMG]
     
  13. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    Gunner Yarker was initially at ADS Cassell and then shipped back to the UK

    DSCF5209 (Large).JPG

    Gunner William Francis YARKER
    1689872, 600 (5th Bn Duke of Wellington’s Regt [West Riding] Rgt,
    Who died aged 30 on 22 April 1945
    Son of Francis and Margaret Yarker, Husband of Worthy Irene Yarker of Harrogate, Yorkshire.
    Buried Harrogate Stonefall Cemetery
    It seems as though Gnr Yarker lost his fight with his wounds possibly after being shipped back to the UK, he was buried in his home town
     
    Last edited: Jul 30, 2019
  14. Oldman

    Oldman Very Senior Member

    Ramacal
    Thanks for posting the casulty list, it clears up for me why he came back to Harrogate to be buried.
    When I first took the picture and posted it I did not really look at the unit, a little later whilst viewing I realized that the unit was the subject of Paul's post so I added.
     
  15. Geronimo

    Geronimo Junior Member

    Hello all,
    maybe it´s not the right place to post this but...I found this plaque with wall-clock today at a german flea market, seeing the brass engravings had to do with this regiment, i thought I´d post it here.
    As you can see, the last engraving was applied in 1939, I was wondering how it came to Germany and when did it get lost, as it seems to be a regimental piece probably coming out of one of their messes (officers , Sergeants, NCO´s mess?)
    I gave it a gentle clean, but no polish yet, as I am unsure how to treat it. I collect vintage mil. watches and they are left alone with all their wabi!
    [​IMG]

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    Regards

    Jimmy
     
  16. Pete Keane

    Pete Keane Senior Member

    Jim

    There is a Regimental museum, i can dig out the info if you want.

    Pete
     
  17. Geronimo

    Geronimo Junior Member

  18. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    Name: BROWNLESS, JOHN GEORGE
    Rank: Gunner
    Service No: 1606366
    Date of Death: 14/04/1945
    Age: 36
    Regiment/Service: Royal Artillery
    Unit: 600 (5th Bn. The Duke of Wellington's Regt. [West Riding]) Regt.
    Grave Reference: Row E. Grave 14.
    Cemetery: CASSEL COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
    Additional Information: Son of John George and Margaret Brownless, of Evenwood, Co. Durham.

    upload_2020-6-8_14-44-24.jpeg
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2020
  19. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

    Ron:

    If you are writing about the action of 70th Bde (49th Div) in Operation MARTLET (27 June 1944), then I would be a little careful about criticizing the brigadier. I've read a book about the 49th at Rauray (Bowersock, Breaking the Panzers), and if Bowersock is right then the operation was relatively successful. Despite heavy losses in its first battle and the collapse of one battalion (7th or 6th Duke's, I think) the 49th took most (not all) of its objectives and beat off a major German armored counterattack. The brigadier of the 70th Bde (10, 11 DLI, 1 Tyneside Scottish) was E.C. Cooke-Collis ('Red Ted'), who had led 69th Bde of 50th Div in North Africa and Sicily. Cooke-Collis had an excellent reputation in the 50th, and I think he was sent to the 49th to give 70th Bde some experienced leadership. So if there were any problems in MARTLET, I doubt that Cooke-Collis was responsible.

    On Mark Clark, the US 36th Div, and the French Expeditionary Corps, I agree with you thoroughly.
     
  20. jeythompson

    jeythompson New Member

    reference GNR William Francis Yarker, he died of his wounds in Oxford ( he was my paternal grandfather) and is buried in Stonefall Cemetry in Harrogate , my grandmother bought the plot so she could be buried with him later (although as a war grave her death is not marked).
     
    Drew5233 likes this.

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