The Forest of Dean Section of the Gloucestershire regiment

Hi all

Apologies if this is off topic, but can anyone point me toward any useful links about the Forest of Dean section of the Gloucestershire regiment in World War 2. Any websites or helpful books or anything at all. I know there is a Regimental association.

Cheers from downunder

Post reply

3675 views

Hi again,
it's nice to see your still posting given the interesting events of yesterday on the cricket field ;-)

I'm NOT an expert at all, I suspect other members such as Harry Brook know far more than I do, hopefully he'll see this post. However I am very interested in all things military and particularly the Glosters since learning my mum's cousin died as part of the Dunkirk rearguard fought by his 2nd Battalion of the Glosters, the 5th Bn were also there. Because it's more recent than WW1, say, its more difficult to research the official Records of WW2 soldiers if not a close descendant. However I've still never heard of an "official" FoD element of the Glosters in WW2, as there was in WW1 and the WW2 Home Guard, but then again I've not really researched it that much ?. I have seen records(below) of another Forester who died the day before my ancestor, and from the same 2nd Bn, so perhaps that was the FoD element of the Regiment ?.
http://www.sungreen.co.uk/Mitcheldean-Dean-Glos/Pte_M_W_Burns_Glos_Regt.html

This site is a great guide to researching soldiers who died in WW2.
http://www.ww2cemeteries.co.uk/research.htm

The Regimental Museum website is;
http://www.glosters.org.uk/research/
For WW2 see this page
http://www.glosters.org.uk/textonly_timeline/6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldiers_of_Gloucestershire_Museum

This unofficial site may also help you.
http://www.glosters.org/

Regimental Association (The "Rifles")
http://www.rgbw-association.org.uk/forest.htm

This pdf file contains information about the various military archives of Gloucestershire.
http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=11841&p=0

I can strongly recommend you browsing and enquiring on the speciallist forums, I've found them very helpfull indeed and have never attracted spam email etc etc. This was excellent for me.
http://ww2talk.com/forums/index.php

Such forums often have Unit Diarys, for example, so one can discover where and what your ancestor may have been doing and, perhaps, how be died (or hopefully not).
Also carefull use of search engines including a surname & unit may often yield excellent results, thats how I found the above forum in the first instance, researching the Wars is a very popular subject and has resulted in many such forums, personal sites, etc etc. These are particulary good as the official route of enquiry for WW2 is via the Ministry Of Defence and even for close decendants can apparently be a very timeconsuming & difficult process.

Hope this helps, if you have more specific info such as a name etc I'll be happy to try and help more.

Take care, Jeff

Post reply

3918 views

Hello!

Interesting times in cricket indeed!

Thanks for all the great links. I'm sure they'll be helpful.

(also really enjoying your Lions at the moment. Good strong Welsh representation there)

Cheers downunder

Post reply

3538 views

Hi yes interesting times indeed, not sure I'd want to be an Aussie fan at the mo !. The Kiwis struggling too at this moment. Personally and unlike many Foresters I prefer round ball football to the eggchasing, altho from my viewpoint despite being a Jones with Welsh blood most of it is English so thats my loyalty when it comes to the rugby etc; my 70s youth was "scarred" in that respect with the great Welsh sides invariably beating the English. I used to watch it on tv in my friend's house in the Forest, they were Evans' but mum was English, so always an exciting day for us kids !. My friend eventually chose to play for Welsh Students altho he also qualified for the English, as he was studying & playing for Swansea at the time. Nowadays I suspect he'd only have to live somewhere for a few weeks to "qualify" for their national side in these "modern" times, crazy methinks, ho hum...

Anyhow, I've added a few more tips since you read my post, hope they help.
atb Jeff.

Post reply

3542 views

The more competitive the cricket is the better! I have a clear memory of my late grandfather bemoaning the introduction of green-and-gold cricket clothes for the Aussie team in the late 70s/early 80s. Aussie cricket he said was doomed!

I watch both kinds of rugby - union and league. Lots of British league too because so many of the Aussie players go over to you.

Thanks for the added links. I've already been able to narrow down some possibilities.

Post reply

3497 views

When you say the Green & Gold do you mean the onfield strips, surely the Green Blazers & baggy caps are traditional ?. I too dont like the colours, but then again I'm sure Cricket Australia would argue the commercial benefits etc have been proven to work. But doomed ?, he was right, the Aussie team of the late '80s onwards were pretty ordinary... !! ;-) He'd have been very pleased to be wrong I'm sure !

Seriously, can I ask why you spoke of a "Forest section" of the WW2 Glosters ?. Was that a guess/hunch or do you know otherwise for fact, I'm genuinely interested as to the makeup of the WW2 Regiment and how they drew & organised their recruits. As I said I've not particularly readup on the history bar whats on the websites so would really love to know your pointofview. If possible please keep us informed of your findings in this respect, thanks.

If you search the web as well as the likes of Ancestry, there are some other specialist Military subscription sites that offer free searches which are worth looking at for clues etc, they are also not too expensive to join for a week or so.
I've browsed these but not "joined" them, so cannot recommend any specific one, suggest try them all.

http://www.military-genealogy.com/index.php

http://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/default.asp

http://military-genealogy.forcesreunited.org.uk/

Also, should have mentioned earlier
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/army-second-world-war-operat...

Good luck !

Post reply

3522 views

The Green caps and blazers are very traditional yes. I'm thinking of when they stopped the traditional cricket whites and used to play in bright colours. It just wasn't cricket any more for my grandad! If whites had been good enough for Bradman, than that said it all!

Talking of the Forest of Dean section of the Glosters was just my clumsy phrasing. I knew that one of the Londoners I've been researching joined the Glosters because he was married to a Bream girl. He was orphaned young so we think he joined the same regiment as her brother and cousins because of the family connections. I've been looking at
London regiments and then we got his daughter's birth certificate and it was the Glosters after all. So I was interested to know which battalion he was most likely to have served in. Also if that battalion would have served at Dunkirk.

I'll certainly let you know how I get on and what I find out.

Thanks for all your help. Much appreciated. You've already helped answer some of our questions and that's great.

Post reply

3486 views

I forgot you asked about possible books. I don't live in the County so searching for Library books is unlikey to be too effective here. I've just browsed a wellknown online sales site (Amazon)and there's several about the Glosters albeit most seem to be WW1 biased, or their famous exploits in Korea. There are some general histories but as they'll cover hundreds of years perhaps not any more helpful to you than the various websites ?. Of all I've seen probably the most relevant to you (you mention Dunkirk) is this from the Regimental Museum itself, although shipping to you adds to the cost at least the money's going into the right funds.
http://www.glosters.org.uk/CDs_and_DVDs/The_Dunkirk_Shield_-_The_Battles_for_Boulogne_A...

Re the Battle for France and the Dunkirk Evacuation I'm sure you know we've just passed the anniversary of that sad campaign. An excellent programme was just aired here in the UK which discussed the actions of the Glosters in some detail, hopefully you'll find it as interesting (and touching) as I did. Luckily it's already been posted on Youtube, hopefully that enables you to view it too.

"Dunkirk, The Forgotten Heroes."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn-B3K4s0Zw

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/7750005/Dunkirk-the-soldiers-left-behind....

Hopefully you may find my earlier posts of interest abt the Glosters & the Battle for France in May 1940, I've included their War Diary excerpts and links to the source websites.
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=39925

Enjoyed chatting, good luck with your researches, and yes please keep us advised to your progress and to any more sources of reference you may find.
eg was there a 3rd & 4th Battalion of the Glosters during WW2 ?...

Post reply

3547 views

The Gloucestershire Regiment in WWII contained the 1st,2nd,5th,7th,10th and 11th Battalions. I'll expand this tomorrow, it's past my bedtime now.

No need now, Harry Brook has done the honours.

Post reply

3456 views

Thanks so much and cheers!

Post reply

3441 views

You are so kind.

Thank you for all this info, which is interesting in it's own right and just the sort of history I enjoy. It gives a real sense of time and place to an Aussie who has ever heard about the campaigns of New Guinea from the veterans who came home.

I've enjoyed chatting too and I will let you know what else comes along.

Cheers

Post reply

3462 views

I believe the only active Battalions of The Gloucestershire Regt. in WW2 were 1st Battalion which served in India and Burma, 2nd in N. W. Europe, 5th which, after returning from Dunkirk, became part of 43rd Regt. The Reconnaissance Corp., and 10th Battalion in India and Burma.
The local Home Guard detachments also wore the Gloucestershire Regt. cap badge. They may have belonged to a numbered battalion.
The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum website offers no help directly on the subject.
In the Great War, WW1, there was a definite Forest of Dean Battalion, raised in 1914 by Harry Webb M.P. - 13th (Service) Battalion (Forest of Dean) (Pioneers) The Gloucestershire Regt. to give it its full title. Although (Forest of Dean) there were large groups of men from other parts of the country.

Forest of Dean FHT Forum

The Forest of Dean Section of the Gloucestershire regiment (General)