h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Dear Peter

I hope you are well. At last I have dycyphered the various abbreviations and terminology of my GrandFather's article.

In 1940, he served briefly in the 1st Bucks Battallion of the Ox and Bucks LI, a rifle brigade unit.

In 1941, he transferred to the Glider Pilot Regiment, which in the present I believe is called the AAC or Army Air Core (no more specifics here.)

Lets hope this helps us on our quest to find more information, as I fear we still remain in the land of the blind haha

Take care

Nabil

Nabil

You have to look at the broader picture to understand your grandfather's service.

German operations in 1940 first showed the potential of airbourne landings. Following from this, Winston Churchill minuted "We ought to have a corps of at least 5,000 parachute troops", the development of British airbourne forces stemmed from Churchill's expressed wish.

Following the first use of airbourne troops in February 1941 in Southern Italy (a failure, all 38 paratroopers were captured) and the lessons learnt, the 1st Parachute Brigade was formed under Brigadier Richard Gale. This brigade consisted of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Parachute Battalions and No.1 Air Troop.

Now this is where your grandfather comes in. During the autumn of 1941 an infantry brigade was converted into an airlanding brigade. It included the 2nd Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and the 1st Battalion of the Royal Ulster Rifles, and was commanded by Brigadier G. F. Hopkinson. In early 1942, when the 2nd Parachute Brigade was formed, they all became part of the newly constituted Army Air Corps. A little later, the 3rd and 4th Parachute Brigades were also raised.

In June 1944 the Order of Battle of the 6th Airlanding Brigade, under Brigadier H. K. M. Kindersley was the 12th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, under Lt-Col R. Stevens; the 2nd Ox & Bucks Light Infantry, under Lt-Col M. W. Roberts; and the 1st Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles, under Lt-Col R. J. H. Carson; they manned 146 gliders.

Get used to the ordinary army formations. In descending order they are: Army, Corps, Division, Brigade, Battalion, Company, Platoon, Squad. A rough rule of thumb is that there are usually 3 of each lower formation in a higher formation, for example, 3 battalions in a brigade and 3 brigades in a division. Apart from the squad and the platoon, each formation has a Headquarters and defending HQ troops. The chain of command is important, otherwise you end up in chaos. A General Officer i/c of a division does not give orders to a Lt-Col i/c of a battalion, nor to companies and platoons. The General i/c Division gives orders to his three Brigadiers i/c Brigades; they in turn give orders to their three Company Commanders, and so on down the chain to the squad. This is why, and one of the reasons why, a squaddie, though excellent witness he may well be to a particular action in his sector, usually has no idea of the overall picture and can give little away if captured. The reason why PoWs are valuable is that they allow intelligence staff, at brigade and divisional level, on both sides to build up the all-important Order of Battle.

But I am digressing

All the best,

Peter

Hi Nabil

I've just remembered that Steve Wright (U230412), a fellow WW2 Researcher, is an expert on gliders.

He runs a website here http://www.gliderpilotregiment.org.uk/

Peter

Grey Owl

What Peter has said is true, and I have a photo of men the who have "won" thier wings, (1st Bucks)while being inspected by HRH The Dutches of Kent 1941.

Perhaps you dont know this, I am not sure! Some of the men (1st and 2nd Bucks) went to Thame Park for "radio communication training", one of the many homes of SOE = MI9

A lot of the Bucks men worked post 1941, geographicaly from Thame, Aylesbury Princes Risborough, to High Wycombe, as a docking station in a radio relay. This old radio relay still exists roday,yes today, between Naphill near High Wycombe and Obernkirchen Germany. (not a secret)

The last radio tower to be demolished was in Princes Risborough (near Brooke Road). But the NATO link still continues via Whiteleaf Cross.

Regards

Touchstone

Peter

Thanks for your help It's good that all the different types of service has some logic, otherwise we would all be lost!!

One question, what in the name of hell would happen if there was a conflict of orders between the army formations? Evidently, during WW2 there would have been some communication problems and perhaps at some point the instructions of the different formations may have conflicted. I imagine the Department of War would sort out such a problem? Or the alternative governmental division.

Thanks again for your help.

Nabil

Touchstone

Thanks for your interesting message I did not know some of those details, so it was very educating to learn this.

Thanks

Nabil

Grey Owl

Glad the information was of interest to you.

If you live near Aylesbury in Bucks, go to the county archives, here you will find other intesting information on the 1st Bucks Battalion, and other Buckinghamshire Battalions.

Regards

Touchstone

Touchstone

I actually live in Bedfordshire, but due to the lack of hopsitals there in 1983, I was born in Aylesbury!!! haha So I may as well go and check it out, thanks again for your help

Regards

Nabil