Description
Object description
Memoir (106pp, plus 48pp of photographs, 2013) written in conversation with his grandson, about his service as a Gun Position Officer with 419th Heavy Battery, 52nd (Bedfordshire Yeomanry) Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery (April 1942 – January 1947), covering his early life growing up in Ilford, Essex (1920s), leaving school at 14 as they could not afford the fees, early work at an estate agents then in an ironmongers, the start of the war and being called up (April 1942), training as a transport driver for the artillery at 25th Medium and Heavy Training Regiment, Marske-by-the-sea, Yorkshire, joining the Specialists Squad as a Lance Bombardier (October 1942), getting married (August 1942), applying for a WOSB for a commission, promotion to Bombardier and moving to 123 Officer Cadet Training Unit RA, Catterick, Yorkshire, being commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant and joining 419th Heavy Battery, 52nd (Bedfordshire Yeomanry) Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery, using 155mm guns, in Clacton (February 1944), part of 5 AGRA (XXX Corps, Second Army), preparations for the Normandy Landings, with the chapter from June 1944 to May 1945 being taken from an account written by Lieutenant Albert Leslie Slaughter, based on notes by Bailey and Slaughter as an unofficial Battery War Diary, and with additional comments by Bailey, with details of crossing to France on 10 June 1944, landing at Arromanches-les-bains, firing in support of 22nd Armoured Brigade, moving to the area of Ellon, then Trungy (July 1944), watching the air raids on Caen, promotion to Lieutenant, attacks on Mont Pinçon, guns being worn through use and barrels condemned as being worn out (August 1944), moving to Aunay-sur-Odon, moving North and acting in support of 11th Armoured Division near Ecouche, accidents involving lorries driving into guns in the dark, moving up to the Seine and the Battery being placed under 7th Medium Regiment RA for the advance to the Belgian border, crossing the Somme (September 1944), the reception by the Belgian civilians, coming under direct control of XXX Corps and firing at targets in Hechtel, then variously under 64th Medium Regiment RA, and 11th Armoured and Guards Armoured Divisions supporting both, crossing the Escaut Canal to provide artillery cover for US Airborne troops landing in Eindhoven (17 September 1944), firing into Germany from the Nijmegen area (October – November 1944), moving to Indenboden, then Tilburg (November – December 1944), having to move to Malaise to counter the German offensive in the Ardennes, his Battery engaging German tanks, meeting his brother Don who was serving with the Green Howards, representing the AGRA at a meeting with American gunners, Moving to Eindhoven (February 1945), firing as part of Operation Veritable, the Battle of the Reichswald, crossing in to Germany, firing on Wesel Bridge (March 1945), supporting the Rhine crossing, Operation Plunder, crossing the Rhine and moving close to Bremen (April 1945), joining VIII Corps and moving near to Luneburg, firing on a German train and hitting an ammunition truck (May 1945), the surrender and VE day, moving to Brunswick, and then Luneburg in charge of a prisoner of war camp for German and Italian soldiers, moving to Magdeburg, problems of Displaced Persons camps, moving to the Elbe, 419th Battery being disbanded and moving to 29th Field Regiment RA, moving to the Baltic and taking over a German U-Boat base at Eckernforde, VJ Day, attending a business course at Gottingen University to prepare for civilian life, demob and returning home (January 1947), with throughout details of numbers of rounds fired, fellow officers, casualties, movements, and his thoughts on the situation. The account is illustrated with copies of photographs of fellow officers, men, guns and equipment, of his own Battery, 419th Heavy Battery, and 418th and 420th Batteries, as well as sketches and documents, including his service and release books, a nominal roll of troops and equipment under his command (May 1944), and maps plotting his movements.
Content description
Memoir (106pp, plus 48pp of photographs, 2013) written in conversation with his grandson, about his service as a Gun Position Officer with 419th Heavy Battery, 52nd (Bedfordshire Yeomanry) Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery (April 1942 – January 1947), covering his early life growing up in Ilford, Essex (1920s), leaving school at 14 as they could not afford the fees, early work at an estate agents then in an ironmongers, the start of the war and being called up (April 1942), training as a transport driver for the artillery at 25th Medium and Heavy Training Regiment, Marske-by-the-sea, Yorkshire, joining the Specialists Squad as a Lance Bombardier (October 1942), getting married (August 1942), applying for a WOSB for a commission, promotion to Bombardier and moving to 123 Officer Cadet Training Unit RA, Catterick, Yorkshire, being commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant and joining 419th Heavy Battery, 52nd (Bedfordshire Yeomanry) Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery, using 155mm guns, in Clacton (February 1944), part of 5 AGRA (XXX Corps, Second Army), preparations for the Normandy Landings, with the chapter from June 1944 to May 1945 being taken from an account written by Lieutenant Albert Leslie Slaughter, based on notes by Bailey and Slaughter as an unofficial Battery War Diary, and with additional comments by Bailey, with details of crossing to France on 10 June 1944, landing at Arromanches-les-bains, firing in support of 22nd Armoured Brigade, moving to the area of Ellon, then Trungy (July 1944), watching the air raids on Caen, promotion to Lieutenant, attacks on Mont Pinçon, guns being worn through use and barrels condemned as being worn out (August 1944), moving to Aunay-sur-Odon, moving North and acting in support of 11th Armoured Division near Ecouche, accidents involving lorries driving into guns in the dark, moving up to the Seine and the Battery being placed under 7th Medium Regiment RA for the advance to the Belgian border, crossing the Somme (September 1944), the reception by the Belgian civilians, coming under direct control of XXX Corps and firing at targets in Hechtel, then variously under 64th Medium Regiment RA, and 11th Armoured and Guards Armoured Divisions supporting both, crossing the Escaut Canal to provide artillery cover for US Airborne troops landing in Eindhoven (17 September 1944), firing into Germany from the Nijmegen area (October – November 1944), moving to Indenboden, then Tilburg (November – December 1944), having to move to Malaise to counter the German offensive in the Ardennes, his Battery engaging German tanks, meeting his brother Don who was serving with the Green Howards, representing the AGRA at a meeting with American gunners, Moving to Eindhoven (February 1945), firing as part of Operation Veritable, the Battle of the Reichswald, crossing in to Germany, firing on Wesel Bridge (March 1945), supporting the Rhine crossing, Operation Plunder, crossing the Rhine and moving close to Bremen (April 1945), joining VIII Corps and moving near to Luneburg, firing on a German train and hitting an ammunition truck (May 1945), the surrender and VE day, moving to Brunswick, and then Luneburg in charge of a prisoner of war camp for German and Italian soldiers, moving to Magdeburg, problems of Displaced Persons camps, moving to the Elbe, 419th Battery being disbanded and moving to 29th Field Regiment RA, moving to the Baltic and taking over a German U-Boat base at Eckernforde, VJ Day, attending a business course at Gottingen University to prepare for civilian life, demob and returning home (January 1947), with throughout details of numbers of rounds fired, fellow officers, casualties, movements, and his thoughts on the situation. The account is illustrated with copies of photographs of fellow officers, men, guns and equipment, of his own Battery, 419th Heavy Battery, and 418th and 420th Batteries, as well as sketches and documents, including his service and release books, a nominal roll of troops and equipment under his command (May 1944), and maps plotting his movements.
History note
Cataloguer SJO