65 years ago today – the Ground Forces

Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Horrocks

The Airborne Forces were only half of Monty’s plan for Operation Market Garden.

As the 3 Airborne Divisions landed around Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem, the ground forces of the British 2nd Army would break out of their bridgehead at Neerpelt, and ride like hell up the single highway, linking each city. The plan was simple in its theory. They had to punch a hole, and drive up the road as fast as possible, and in Monty’s words, ‘pay no attention to what was happening on the flanks’.

Sadly, what was a very simple plan in theory became woefully inadequate in practice. Due to Eisenhower’s lack of material support for Market Garden, there was only enough resources to support one Corps, XXX Corps, to make the main attack. Therefore, their flank would be horribly exposed, as there was nowhere near enough supplies to maintain VIII and XII Corps. Contrary to Monty’s orders, XXX Corps would have to be very wary about what was going on its left and right. What effect would this have on its orders to reach Arnhem in 2 to 3 days?

XXX Corps had performed gallantly since D-Day. In particular its commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Horrocks, was one of the most gifted and talented British commanders of the Second World War. Seriously wounded in North Africa, he would probably have risen to greater heights had the effects of his wounds not recurred so often. A protege of Monty, he seems to have had a talent for galvanising his subordinates into doing exactly what he wanted. Horrocks was played brilliantly by Edward Fox in the film Bridge too far. Horrocks hed a briefing at Leopoldsburg, in a cinema. ‘This a story you will tell your Grandchildren – and mightily bored they’ll be’, began the ever charismatic Horrocks.

XXX Corps consisted of 3 Divisions, 2 of which would be particularly prominent in the coming battles. The Guards Armoured Division was an armoured unit based around the British royal Guards Regiments. As a result it consisted of highly disciplined, mainly regular troops. However, it was also subject to strong regimental rivalries – infantry and armoured elements from each regiment would only work with each other, for example. This was all very well for regimental harmony, but in the thick of battle when time was of the essence, could be a serious handicap. There were also doubts as to the Divisions commander, Major-General Alan Adair. Monty had attempted to have him removed before D-Day, but had come up against too much opposition from the influential Guards. The Guards would spearhead the breakout.

The 43rd Wessex Division was an infantry Division, recruited mainly from the south west of England. Its commander, Major-General Ivo Thomas, was known – not affectionately – as ‘Butcher’ Thomas, for his lack of regard for his mens lives. They had trained extensively for river crossings, and as a result were placed on standby in case any of the bridges were blown, or if the territory proved too difficult for tanks.

Monty had assured Browning that XXX Corps could do the 60 miles in 2 days. This was an astonishing prediction – and counted on there being very little opposition, and the Guards and Wessex Divisions driving hell for leather. Big risks were being taken in launching the operation, and by the Airborne troops at Arnhem. Big risks would be needed to make the link up succesfully.

But would Horrocks characteristic drive and dynamism rub off on his subordinates?

Family History #4 – WW1 Servicemen

Passchendaele

Last time we looked at how you can find out about ancestors who served in the second world war, from 1939 to 1945. This time around, we’re going to go back even further, and find out about ancestors who served and fought in the first world war, between 1914 and 1918.

About 6 to 7 million men served in the British Army during the Great War. Unfortunately, many army service records between 1914 and 1920 do not exist as they were destroyed by German bombing in 1940. Only about 2 million survived. Therefore, you have about a 40% chance of finding any individual soldier’s records. Those that do survive can be viewed online at Ancestry.com, for a fee of course.

As well as service records, there are a set of medal index cards held by the national archives, that record campaign and gallantry medals awarded to individual soldiers. These give you details of a persons regiment, where they served, and what medals they were entitled to.

As well as individual service records, if you know which regiment and/or battalion somebody served in, you can find that unit’s war diary online at the national archive’s website. These ae very detailed, giving information about the day-to-day activities of a unit. They tell us about the time the troops spent in the line, rest and recreation, and particular battles, often including combat reports and casualty lists. They add a lot of depth and colour to an individual service record.

For men who joined the Royal Navy up to 1923, which will include most men who served in the first world war, their service records can be obtained from the national archives website. These records are slightly more spartan than their army counterparts, and consist of a few basic personal details, and a list of ships and shore bases, dates and ranks. They also contain information about training courses, disciplinary action, and an annual assesment on the seaman’s conduct.

Once you have an idea of what ships a man served on, you can then go away and have a look in your local library for some books about particular ships and battles, or you could simply have a bit of a go on google. Naval History is well worth a look, as is battleships and cruisers.

The Royal Air Force wasn’t founded until 1918, but prior to this Royal Flying Corps men were part of the Army, and Royal Naval Air Service personnel served under the Royal Navy. These service records are all in the National Archives.

If your ancestor died during the war, their details will probably be found on the Commonwealth War Grave’s commissions website, where they have an online debt of honour register that you can search. Each entry details a serviceman’s basic details, unit, service number, age at death, date of death, often some information about the deceased’s family, and the location where the person is buried or commemorated. Any or these pieces of information may help you locate other information. It really is like piecing together a jigsaw.

It is also well worth checking out with any regimental museums, or the Royal Naval Museum or RAF Museum. The RN Submarine Museum also has a lot of information about submariners. Try looking on amazon too, most regiments or services have official history’s about their time during the first world war.