Hi, I'm trying to find details of the following, ie exact locations, were soldiers billetted on site or with locals, is anything remaining, what type of training, etc. The only info I have, for my Grandfather 2nd Bt Cheshires, follows; Leicester - June 1940 to October 1940 Skegness - November 1940 to December 1940 Evercreek, Somerset - January 1941 And additionally a holding Batallion at Whitley Bay which I presume wasn't a training centre but a holding are for troops waiting to ship out to the BEF. February to April 1940. Thanks in advance Dave Walters
I should imagine Whitley Bay would have been a gathering point for the Northumberland Fusiliers, and possibly reservists of other units will do a bit of checking and get back with more.
Just to add, the 2nd Cheshire were 50th Infantry Division so Whitley Bay may have been a holding site for the Division, which was known as the Northumberland Division I think. I know that soldiers, Grandad included, were taken from Whitley to Southampton in May 1940 and even got so far as to board ships to quell the german advance but were taken off again and I think went straight from Southampton to Leicester.
The camp was I believe situated where there is a holiday camp today close to St Mary's Island - later in the war (1943) the camp was used by the RAF as a training centre for Senior NCOs.
The 2nd Cheshires were a m/c gun batt.of the 50th Tyne/Tees Division( Northumbrian was this Division's name in WW1) and went to B E F in Jan.1940.Stayed with this Division until it was was taken out of the Order of Battle in Nov.1944 and returned to UK.
Hi - Thanks for the info guys. To be honest I am fairly well up on the 2nd Cheshires and have been researching my Grandads movements for years, I'm just fine tuning now in preperation for visits and there just doesn't seem to be any info on the locations of WW2 ITC's.
Dave I reckon its Evercreech, Somerset, not Evercreek. Its just outside Shepton Mallet. What details of your grandads time in the 2nd Bn South Lancs do you have? Pete
You may want to contact the member 'Samuelburke' by PM. His father who is still alive served with 2 and 4 Cheshires from 1939 through to being evacuated at Dunkirk. I think he was attached to 2 Cheshires when they did a stint on the SAAR.
Thanks guys. Pete - I'm sort of taking everything one step at a time. I did get the skeleton of everything from Grandad before he had his stroke and could no longer talk, he passed on after three years of near total paralysis - no way for a veteran of D-day to go and heart-wrenching on a daily basis. His time with the South Lancs is the biggest mystery so far. I will get to it eventually but all I have is that he was given a choice of Regiment after the disbanding of the 50th Infantry Division and he chose the South Lancs as he though the base was in Warrington very near to his home in Northwich, Cheshire. Sadly it wasn't it was in North Cumbria at Cartmel. He then shipped to India and did some beach landing training etc in preperation for Burma. Sometime around here he joined the Corps of Military Police (India) and arrived in Java as a peace keeper not long after the war, for us, ended, a couple of bad decisions there gramps. The biggest stumbling block for years was the lack of an army number for him but recently and God knows where it came from his red book just turned up. All the relevant forms etc were sent of today so fingers crossed something more concrete may be recorded somewhere.
A bit of additional detail: Leicester - June 1940 to July/August? 1940: Initially with the Leicestershires' Infantry Training Centre then moves to Blaby - Barmby Moor near East Retford - Hainton Hall and Panton Hall, Lincs. The Leicestershires' ITC at the time of Dunkirk was their Regimental Depot: Glen Parva Barracks in South Wigston. Hainton and Panton Halls aren't very far apart, so it may be that the battalion was split across the two sites. Hainton Hall still exists but Panton Hall was demolished in 1964, according to Google. Their timeline is given as a 'few weeks' in Leicester, then some very quick moves between the other locations. Summer/autumn was the obvious time to get them on anti-invasion duties on the coast. Skegness - July/August? 1940 to December 1940: A Coy initially held the Skegness sector but the whole battalion was concentrated in the town from mid-October as their winter quarters. Evercreech, Somerset - February - May 1941: This was A Coy only. Assuming he stayed with A Coy, knowing which company he was with is very useful as they usually operated independently.
That's excellent - huge thanks as that does seem to narrow him down to A Coy which is something I hadn't been able to achieve so far. It would seem also that this was basic guard duties rather ITC's so again - brilliannnnnt. I do know that when in Evercreech he was billeted with a local couple so next step is tracing where. I'll tie this in with what I have and keep you informed. Thanks again.
Yes- 2nd South Lancs were in India/Burma from 2/44 to the end of the war 8/45 Jusr before that date he joined the RMP and finished his time peacekeeping in Java post war. jainso31
