4th battalion border regiment ww2

were evacuated. When the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot amalgamated with the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot, to become The Border Regiment in 1881 under the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Armed Forces, four pre-existent militia and volunteer battalions of Cumberland and Westmorland were integrated into the structure of the regiment. The German invaders over-ran Rennes on Tuesday 18th June and currently I have an account of their initial arrival and occupation in translation. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not Mr Hutchinson has written the article which was then sent it in to BBC Radio Cumbria, Carlisle. As casualties were left for my attention, I and my orderly marched at the rear of the column and, rather than be left behind, we carried the casualtys pack ourselves as well as our own, and it sometimes happened that I arrived at the midday or evening rendezvous with two 80 lb. was called upon to reinforce the area. had come out with the withdrawal from Europe, not through Dunkirk but further west through Cherbourg and Brest. The Border Regiment was a line infantry infantry regiment of the British Army, which was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot and the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot. Just at this time the dingdong battles with the Japanese in the Maungdau/Buthidaung area of the Arakom District in Burma flared up and the Bn. 4 March 1915 : sailed from Avonmouth for India. vessels en route by sea to Tobruk. In 1857 they fought at the Relief of Lucknow. We were actually on the train on Christmas Day, 1944, and it stopped all day at Delhi Station platform. whose name, curiously, was the same as mine, Capt. packs on my back. Gaya is supposed to be the birthplace of Buddha and there is an interesting Buddhist temple there, although India was at that time largely Hindu/Moslem and Buddhism associated more with Ceylon and countries further east. This article was written by my father to record his personal experiences of WW2. The BBC is not responsible for the content of any external sites Here we took over from 2/13 Bn. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. 1st Battalion spent the 1920s in India, Aden, England and Shanghai, prior to postings in Belfast and Palestine during the 1930s. Again, the problem is finding the right person. We arrived at Avonmouth Docks in Bristol and embarked on the liner Orontes. After the war the two regular battalions served in Germany and Italy, before I Border was posted to Palestine in 1947. 11th Sikh Regiment, 4th . 2nd Kings Own and 2, 4 and 9 Border all fought in Burma as explained in the beginning of this article. They were highly thought of by the Australian troops and the commander, General Leslie Morshead. As patrolling was the means of harassment of the Japanese, I will describe one patrol, which I accompanied. It would seem reasonable therefore to assume your Mr. Hutchinson and his comrades transited through Rennes shortly before. 18 It was redesignated '1st Battalion, The South Saskatchewan Regiment, CASF' on 7 November 1940, 19 and on 15 December 1940 it embarked for Great Britain. I met here one Sheikh Hamoudi, who was a friend of Lawrence of Arabia, and Glubb Pasha. The regiment captured an Imperial Chinese Dragon Standard which hangs in Kendal Church, and was awarded the Dragon as a regimental badge. It is no longer possible to leave messages here. Fighting in the Forest continued for two days in support of the 5th Sherwood Foresters. The Territorial Force (later Territorial Army) was formed in 1908, which the volunteer battalions joined, while the militia battalions transferred to the "Special Reserve". The HQ of the battalion was in Kendal, then in Westmorland. As we rested before finally stepping up onto the track, a Naga hillman came up and said Japani. We had a difficult, but frail, L. of C. back to Brigade H.Q. We immediately realised that we were almost caught in an ambush, so, at the double, we made for the rice paddy fields at the side of the track in the direction of a secondary jungle area 100 yards or so lower down. It remained in Britain re-equipping until April 1943, when it took part in the landings in Tunisia. There seems to be some accounts in the Public Records Office about what happened. Men of 1st Battalion, The Border Regiment, at Arnhem, 20 September 1944. After the obvious withdrawal of the Japanese, the column moved westwards to Ukhrul and here then operations were complete. As I am a volunteer story-gatherer, and no doubt because I have done some research about the war in France, I was asked to type it out and post it to the website. The 4th and 5th landed with the Army in the Crimea in 1854 and fought at the Battles of Alma and Inkerman. We set sail down the Bristol Channel on 21st March. However, as I was in the Cumbria Archives Office today I went to check a reference book I knew was in there with a little about 4th Border Regiment in WW2 ('The Story of the Border Regiment' by Philip J. Shears). I've left a message for Jemma, the co-ordinator for the Radio Cumbria volunteer story gatherers, asking for your question to be passed on to Mr Hutchinson, and if he has further details. The 2nd Bn The Kings Own and the 1st Bn The Border Regt fought in the Boer War and both were present at the Relief of Ladysmith in 1900 and in the battles before the Relief. The 11th and 12th Borderers, New Army "Service" battalions, were referred to as "Pals" Battalions because they were predominantly composed of colleagues. As the troops were pretty tired from lack of sleep and the exertions of the two days march, I doled out a dose of Benzedrine tablets, which had a miraculous effect in shrugging off the inertia. When we had an airdrop, with five days rations, our packs weighed 80 lbs., which, along with the troops equipment and weapons was a considerable weight to carry up and down the hills. We now proceeded towards the concentration area at Column H.Q. was attached to the 4th Battalion Border Regiment, as Platoon Commander of 12th Field Company RE . It was after the last battle that the enemy finally broke and made for the . 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines (2/4th Marines) is an infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps.The battalion, nicknamed the Magnificent Bastards from the Vietnam War, is based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California and is a part of the 5th Marine Regiment and 1st Marine Division. The training was severe and, apart from the tactical training, consisted, quite frequently, of marching up to 40 miles a day with full equipment. In 1947, 1st Battalion moved to Palestine. It was against a Japanese occupied village named Phakedzumi. Pte. Unfortunately, this book doesn't specifically mention the train incident that your uncle lost his life. National Army Museum, Royal Hospital Road, London, SW3 4HTRegistered Charity Number: 237902, The Kings Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster). Whilst we were there, we received the news that, on its return from its exploits behind the Japanese lines in Burma, Gen. Wingates Chindit force of one brigade was going to be absorbed into what became Special (Chindit) Force India. By now part of the 6th British Division, the 4th Battalion of the Border Regiment were moved back to the Western Desert. In 1918 these were linked to county regiments.[9]. Raising of the Regiment. Between the wars the regiment was to serve in Ireland, India including the North West Frontier, Burma, China, Egypt and Palestine where Border and Kings Own were involved in the Arab Revolt of 1938-39. Heavy casualties resulted, with 27 killed and I had 97 wounded pass through my R.A.P. Thanks to the step-like formation of the paddy fields, where we jumped down every few yards, and to the poor marksmanship of the Japanese, we arrived without any casualties in the jungle area, for the Japanese opened up with everything they had rifles, machine guns, mortars and grenades. 1st Battalion was again in Burma on the outbreak of the First World War (1914-18), having returned there in 1910. September 2003. As an example, the three-line battalions of the 4th Borderers were numbered as the 1/4th, 2/4th, and 3/4th respectively. H.Q., which was replied to by our R.A. batteries. When the breakout came, more aggressive raids began, until they were relieved by the Polish Carpathian Division. The 4th Regt particularly distinguished themselves at San Sebastian in Northern Spain in 1813, where they were instrumental in breaching the wall of the town. Sadly he died on 6th. 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines was constituted in April 1914 during World War I when it was activated as one of the three . Two M.C.s and two M.M.s were awarded for the Phakedzumi Patrol Action. After Napoleons escape from Elba in 1815, the Kings Own crossed from England to Belgium, and by marching 48 miles in 30 hours, took part in the Battle of Waterloo. It deployed to France in September 1939 with the initial British Expeditionary Force, but was evacuated home in June 1940. Soon, other battalions of the regiment were formed. So, men from Cumberland and Westmorland were present at both checks on Rommel and the German Afrika Corps! The regiment's territorial components formed duplicate second and third line battalions. In October 1940 I joined 4 Border at Kington Camp, Hereford, where I had been posted as Regimental M.O., following my officer recruitment training at RAMC Depot, Crookham, Aldershot. The programme in Tobruk perimeter until November 18th, this being early October, was as follows: At early morning and again in the evening, we were subjected to periods of artillery fire in Bn. Again, intensive training was carried out for the next three months and again all enjoyed the amenities, which were just as good as in Hereford. The main duties of the battalion in this situation were the control of and dispersal of mobs and setting up of roadblocks and checkpoints. This was a regimental formation of men drawn from the towns and villages of Cumberland and Westmorland: Carlisle, Penrith, Keswick, Grasmere, Longtown, Brampton, Hexham, Alston and many others. Early in the year, disorders amongst the civil population in India organised by the Gandhi Congress Party resulted in a call for assistance of the military to the Civil Power to restore order. They were small, around 5 ft. in height, but wiry and capable of running up and down hills with heavy loads. So, once again, we moved from Bangalore to the Jhansi-Sangor area of Central India. Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. The column now moved to another hilltop village, Thetsemi, and after many more harassing raids against the Japanese, one night we noticed heavy traffic along a track leading to the Chindwin River crossing into Burma proper. They landed in Sicily, fought in Italy with the 1st Airborne Div. I believe that the Bn. Battalion - A battalion comprised three or more companies and was commanded by a lieutenant colonel. After kitting up we were transported one morning to the dockside in Alexandria and boarded R.N. Stretchers and litters were constructed of bamboo and casualties were evacuated with Nagas acting as stretcher-bearers. 4th Durham Survey Section 42 PDF version, 681.5 KB Footnotes GO 155/05. Our force consisted of two platoons and a headquarters platoon. During these engagements the H.Q. To find out more about how we collect, store and use your personal information, read our Privacy Policy. Not in any way belittling the heroic battles fought around Kohima by the 2nd British and 7th Indian Divisions, the harassing operations by 23rd Brigade of which 4 Border Regt. By then, they were surrounded. L/Cpl. In October 1941, they were taken by destroyer to Tobruk. It went on to serve in many British Army campaigns until 1958, when it was merged into The Kings Regiment (Manchester and Liverpool). This regiment was formed in 1881 by amalgamating the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot and the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot. Both predecessor regiments were affiliated with counties just south of the English-Scottish border, in what is now Cumbria, and so the new unit was named The Border Regiment. All volunteer battalions were renumbered to create a single sequential order. The 4th Battalion of the Borders were given the task of clearing the woods that were partially held by the Germans. The terms of the BBC Peoples War website have been read and understood. In the advance into Burma, 2 Border crossed the Irrawaddy on February 13, whilst in April, 1945, 9 Border fought in the battles for Meiktila. The whole of the 70th Division became engaged in the fighting on Sidi Rezagh and El Duda. On the subject of the environment, I would like to make a comment here on the conditions in which the columns were operating. This infantry regiment was created in 1881. We spent one week in the fleshpots of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay and the second week we spent at Krishnaraja Sagara in Mysore State. Here a lot of the time was spent in processing Greek refugees, who had travelled from German-occupied Greece through Turkey to Syria, and were being sorted out for referral to the Greek authorities, in exile, in Egypt. Exactly how many were killed in this evacuation I am unsure, but all together, with the Lancastria, other ships and on the trains it must have been 2000+. An account of the visit is contributed to WW2 Peoples War. As the war progressed and further horsed regiments were . 1940 1945 This story has been placed in the following categories. The Brigade now moved into Imphal and was thereafter moved by truck to railhead at Dimapur. and A.E.R. The 8th U.S. Infantry reactivated in 1947, assigned to Ft. Ord, California, remaining assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. On the 1st December 1945 the Battalion amalgamated with the 4th Battalion, taking on the name of the latter. They were referred to as the New Army or Kitchener's Army. This infantry regiment was formed in 1959. Platoon killed 30 Japanese and wounded 10 more and suffered two casualties only. After some delay, the 4th Battalion left the port and moved to Rennes by rail. Bangalore was a fine town and the climate was temperate for India. The fighting took place in Picardy, Artois and finally in Normandy. moved off at 4.55 followed by 5th Btn and arrived in bivouac at 6pm. entrained in a railway tunnel in Malvern presumably for security reasons, although the whole town knew that we were leaving for overseas. If I get a better reply I've got your e-mail and I will send a message to you that way. Most of the content on this site is created by our users, who are members of the Often for this kind of enquiry I've asked at the Town Hall and someone there can usually know where to start or who to contact. This would have prevented later train traffic. Moved to billets in Blackpool. We carried out our diversionary attacks but the 8th Army never appeared. This was carried out by C Company. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE 4th Bn. He was R.M.O. The regiment lost over 7,700 men during the war. Pte. It served on the Western Front until November 1917, when it was sent to Italy. 10th Parachute Battalion 11th Parachute Battalion 2nd (Oban) Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery, RA 4th Parachute Squadron, RE 133 Parachute Field Ambulance, RAMC 1st Airlanding Brigade Brigade Headquarters 1st Battalion The Border Regiment 2nd Battalion The South Staffordshire Regiment 7th (Galloway) Battalion The King's Own Scottish Borderers . There appears to have been strict censorship in operation at the time. The 34th fought with General Burgoyne and was present at the disaster of Saratoga. David G. Thanks for taking the time to read the article about the 4 Bn Borders in WW2 and your most interesting question. Archive List > United Kingdom > Hereford and Worcester. Leaving the desert, the 70th Division, including the 4th Battalion The Border Regiment, were now went to India and Burma. RECORDS DOWN TO 1805. Obtaining information from official sources seems to be quite difficult. The troubles at Gaya were not serious and we returned to Ranchi after two weeks. This immediately changed the role of 23rd Brigade. Todays regiment incorporates the history and traditions of three former regiments. No ground action was experienced by the Bn. Repatriation to the U.K. had begun for those with three years and eight months overseas service, so the strength of the battalion was gradually diminishing. that day. From Brest, they went by ship to Southampton, where they arrived on the morning of June 18th 1940. Two whole Divisions, plus many lines of communications and troops were drawn into battle with the Germans. 41 The battalion was disbanded on 4 April 1946.

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