MLU FORUM  

Go Back   MLU FORUM > MILITARY VEHICLES > The Gun Park

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 17-11-10, 14:26
A. Phillips A. Phillips is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Ottawa
Posts: 3
Default Ernest Lloyd Phillips - 36th S.P. Bty, 23rd Fd Regt SP RCA

Hello,

I am new to this forum and I am trying to find some information on my grandfather, Ernest Floyd Phillips who was in the 36th SP Battery, 23rd Field Regiment SP, RCA.

I am getting his medals restored and mounted as a birthday present for my dad and both my dad and I have very little information on Ernest and his time overseas. I have found a picture of his regiment with all the men who served with him (your friend Mr. Danter is also in the photograph!), but that is all I was able to find other than his medals.

If there is any information you have, it would be greatly appreciated!

I am also not very sure how I should go about finding information on him in any other way, through any other sources.

Regards,

Amanda
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 17-11-10, 14:57
Alex Blair (RIP) Alex Blair (RIP) is offline
"Mr. Manual", sadly no longer with us
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Ottawa ,Canada
Posts: 2,916
Default

Welcome Amamda..
Very honourable project you are undertaking..
Your family would be thrilled..
here is some info and I'm sure you will here from our resident historian,...
Check out the references provided in this article.
Keep in touch..
I knew Herd Danter very well as did many members here and he would have been the guy to talk to..
RIP Herb..





Quote:
23rd Field Regiment, RCA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

The 23rd Field Regiment (SP), RCA, was part of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division of the 2nd Canadian Corps, of the 1st Canadian Army in World War II.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Formation and disbandment
* 2 The regiment's three batteries
* 3 Map of Travels - July 1944 to May 1945
* 4 Regiment's activities in the Second World War
o 4.1 Training in Canada
o 4.2 Training in the United Kingdom
o 4.3 Action in France
o 4.4 Action in Belgium
o 4.5 Action in Netherlands
o 4.6 Action in Germany
o 4.7 Rest in the Netherlands
o 4.8 Action in Germany
o 4.9 Action in Netherlands
o 4.10 Action in Germany
o 4.11 NWE War's end
o 4.12 Netherlands after NWE war's end
* 5 Casualties in action
* 6 Honours and awards
* 7 Commanding officers
* 8 References

[edit] Formation and disbandment

The 23rd Field Regiment (SP) was part of the Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA) and was authorized on 18 March 1942, per General Order GO 147/42. The regiment consisted of an HQ Battery and three separate gun batteries. From May to July 1942, the three batteries formed up at the Canadian Artillery Training Centre A2 (CATC A2) in Petawawa, Ontario. The (SP) in the regiment's name denotes that it was a self-propelled artillery regiment.

The regiment trained in Canada from May 1942 to July 1943 and in England from July 1943 to July 1944, then went into action in France on 26 July 1944, seven weeks after D-Day. They participated in the "breakout" campaign, on the "Green Up - Maple Leaf Up" route from Normandy, France, into Belgium and Holland, and they ended action in Germany.

The regiment was disbanded on 18 December 1945, per General Order GO 71/46.
[edit] The regiment's three batteries

The three batteries that made up the 23rd Field Regiment were:

1. "The 31st", which had formed part of the 7th (Toronto) Field Regiment (Reserve) mostly from Toronto, Ontario. Its company name was "Peter" and the troops' initials were A (Abel) and B (Baker)
2. "The 36th", which was from the areas of Cobourg, Port Hope, and Peterborough, Ontario. Its company name was "Queen" and the troops' initials were C (Charlie) and D (Dog)
3. "The 83rd", from the 8th Field Brigade (Reserve) from the areas of Hamilton, Brantford, and St. Catharines, Ontario. Its company name was "Roger" and the troops' initials were E (Easy) and F (Fox).

[edit] Map of Travels - July 1944 to May 1945
Map of 23rd Field Regiment's Travels WWII
[edit] Regiment's activities in the Second World War
[edit] Training in Canada

* 9 May–31 July 1942 — Canadian Artillery Training Centre A2, Petawawa, Ontario
* August 1942 — Sussex Military Camp, Sussex, New Brunswick
* August, September 1942 — Tracadie Camp, Tracadie, New Brunswick
* September 1942–June 1943 — Sussex Military Camp, Sussex, New Brunswick
* June, July 1943 — Tracadie Camp, Tracadie, New Brunswick
* July 1943 — Sussex Military Camp, Sussex, New Brunswick

[edit] Training in the United Kingdom

* 23 July 1943 — to UK aboard the ship RMS Queen Elizabeth
* 27 July 1943 — arrive Gourock Harbour, Scotland
* July, August 1943 — Chobham Common Reception Camp for 10 days
* August–November 1943 — Eastbourne Camp in Meads Village, Eastbourne. 31st billeted on Dalton, Derwent and Milnthorpe Roads with Officers' mess at a house called The Ridge on Bolsover Road, the 36th on Edensor Road, with Battery HQ on Upper Dukes Drive and Officers' and Sergeants' mess at Tudor Croft on Baslow Road, and the 83rd on Edensor Road with Battery HQ at Holywell Priory and Sergeants' mess at Meads End.
* November 1943 — Larkhill Gunnery Camp (British School of Artillery)
* December 1943 — Eastbourne Camp
* December 1943 — Redesdale Camp
* December 1943–February 1944 — Eastbourne Camp
* February 1944 — Larkhill Gunnery Camp, Salisbury Plains
* February–March 1944 — Eastbourne Camp
* March–June 1944 — Pippingford Park
* July 1944 — Camped in field about 1 mile from Pippingford Park
* July 1944 — Wanstead Common Marshalling Camp
* 24 July 1944 — convoy through Straits of Dover toward France

[edit] Action in France

* 26 July 1944 — Disembarked at Arromanches and moved inland to Banville area, near Caen
* July to September 1944 — activity in areas of Meauvaines, south of Caen near Ifs, Mondeville, Four, Soliers, Grentheville, LaHogue, Tilly, Operation Totalize (the breakout from Caen perimeter and push down Route Nationale 158 to Falaise), Hill 180, 195 and 206 — south of Bretteville-le-Rabet, Saint-André-sur-Orne and south of Ifs, Verrières, Gausmesnil, Roquancourt, Caillouet, River Laize, Bretteville-le-Rabet, Hautmesnil, St. Aignon de Cramesnil, Renemesnil, Operation Tallulah — then changed to Operation Tractable (intention of smashing through the anti-tank screen between Quesnay Woods and Potigny along the River Laison, crossing the river and striking on to Falaise, at the same time seizing crossing of the Rivers Ante and Dives), River Laison at Rouvres, Olendon, Perrières, Le Moutiers-en-Auge, Le Menil Girard (north-east of Trun), 31st battery — River La Vie and River Touques, Rouen, Coudehard, Monnai, Bernay, (liberated) Bout de la Ville, St. Pierre les Elbeuf, River Seine, Criqueboeuf-sur-Seine just north-west of Pont de L'Arche, Ymaro, Le Hamel aux Batiers, Grainville-sur-Ry, 36th Battery to Crenon River, Boissay, 83rd Battery to Forges-les-Eaux, Orival, Airaines, Wanel, Sorel just west of the Somme, high ground overlooking Abbeville, Wisquesm just this side of St. Omer, Soex and crossing the border into Belgium on 7 September 1944.

[edit] Action in Belgium

September - October 1944 — activity in areas of Leysele, St. Riquiers, southwest of Bruges/Brugge just west of Den Daelo, Holding of the Leopold, Canal de Ghent, Boerbrugge, Oedelem, Syssele, over Leopold Canal, Cliet, Balgerhoek, Eecloo, Caprycke, Bouchante, Assenede, Sas van Gent, Philippe, north-west of Maldegem, near Balgerhoek, Eecloo, via Ghent to Antwerp, north of Schildt, Operation Suitcase, Putte, Pont Heuvel, Wildert near Roosendaal Canal and Wousche Plantage.
[edit] Action in Netherlands

October 1944 to February 1945 — activity in areas of Spillebeek, Heimolen, Bergen-op-Zoom, Halsteren, Steenbergen, Dinteloord, Willemstad, Halsteren, end of Operation Suitcase, Roosendaal, Breda, Tilburg, Vught, east of 's-Hertogenbosch, (31st at Nulands, 83rd at Rosmalen and 36th in between), Boxtel, 36th in Gemonde, Hedikuizen, Breda area, 36th to St. Philipsland Peninsula, Operation Trojan,(simulate crossing of the Maas), Operation Schultz (intention of getting prisoners from other side of the river), Sprang north-east of Tilburg, s'Hertogenbosch, Vught and then off to Germany on 22 February 1945.
[edit] Action in Germany

February, March 1945 — activity in areas of Hau (near Cleve), Operation Blockbuster, Louisendorf, Keppeln, Udermerbruch, The Hochwald Gap, Sonsbeck, Veen, Xanten, Winnenthal and headed back to Netherlands on 12 March 1945.
[edit] Rest in the Netherlands

12 March to 22 March 1945 — In Tilburg for rest period
[edit] Action in Germany

March 1945 — activity in areas of Huibsberden (practically on banks of the Rhine), Operation Plunder, Emmerich and Rees near Millingen (across Rhine)
[edit] Action in Netherlands

April 2–4 April 1945 — activity in areas between Gelselaar and Diepenheim, Twente Canal, Wegdam and north of Delden
[edit] Action in Germany

* April, May 1945 — activity in areas of near Wilsum, Emmlicheim, Coevorden, Ruhle, Dortmund-Ems Canal, Meppen, north along canal to Lathen, Sogel, Werlte, Lorup, Neuvrees, Friesoythe, Kusten Canal, Edewecht, Bad Zwischenahn, Rorbeck, Rastede, and on 3 May 1945, to the Regiment's last gun position of the war, midway between Rastede and Nutte.
* 4 May 1945 — During evening it was heard on the Regiment's radio that all German forces in northwest Germany, Denmark and Holland had surrendered to the 21st Army Group.
* 5 May 1945 — Cease fire was officially proclaimed at 8:00 a.m.

[edit] NWE War's end

* 7 May & 8, 1945 - VE Day - On 7 May 1945 at SHAEF headquarters in Reims, France, the Chief of Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command (OKW), General Alfred Jodl, signed the unconditional surrender documents for all German forces to the Allies. On 8 May 1945, General Wilhelm Keitel and other OKW representatives travelled to Berlin & signed a similar document, surrendering to the Soviet forces.
* 14 May 1945 — Major-General Christopher Vokes, GOC, 4th Canadian Armoured Division, addressed the Regiment at Ocholt, Germany.
* 27 May 1945 - Memorial Service held in Ocholt, Germany for the 25 men who died from the Regiment. Officiated by Lt-Col. R. E. Hogarth, Commander.

[edit] Netherlands after NWE war's end

8 June 1945 - "Last Parade" of armour. Giving the salute during the march past was Major G.H.V. Naylor (temporary Commanding Officer) and taking the salute from the reviewing stand was Major-General Christopher Vokes.
29 June 1945 — Armoured guns turned in at Nijmegen, in a "Farewell to the Guns" ceremony
[edit] Casualties in action

* 25 Killed
* 64 Wounded
* 6 Prisoners of War

[edit] Honours and awards

* 1 — Distinguished Service Order (Hogarth)
* 4 — Military Cross (Baker, Buchner, Cameron, Conquest)
* 1 — Croix de Guerre avec Palme - French (Hogarth)
* 1 — Croix de Guerre avec Bronze Star - French (Munce)
* 1 — American Bronze Star (Cowan)
* 1 — Member of the British Empire (James)
* 8 — Mention-in-Despatches (Buchner, Hennessy, Rimmer, Betteridge, Budway, Smith, White, Wilson)
* 9 — Commander-in-Chief's Certificate (Beatty, Bignell, Buchner, Gardner, Kane, Kelly, McDermott, Munce, White)

[edit] Commanding officers

* Lieutenant-Colonel J.A. Robertson (Montreal) from April 1942 to January 1943
* Lieutenant-Colonel G.W. Wishart (Toronto) from January to March 1943
* Lieutenant-Colonel K.N. Lander (Toronto) from March 1943 to August 1944
* Lieutenant-Colonel R.E. Hogarth (Timmins) from August 1944 to cease fire in May 1945

[edit] References

1) After the Second World War, each regiment had to submit a war diary of their activities and the foregoing is sourced from the 23rd Field Regiment's 81-page war diary, entitled The History of the 23rd Field Regiment (SP) R.C.A., April 1942 to May 1945, by Lieutenant Lawrence N. Smith, which was subsequently published by the St. Catharines Standard in 1945 in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Source: North York Central Library - 6th Floor Reference Stacks - Canadiana Section, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

2) Canucks by the Sea, The Canadian Army in Eastbourne during the Second World War (New Edition), Michael Ockenden, Eastbourne Local History Society, Eastbourne, UK, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9547647-4-6

3) The 23rd Canadian Field Regiment (S.P.) Royal Canadian Artillery, Official S.P. Weekly: A Compilation of All the Photos Used to Illustrate the Featured Articles of the S.P. Newspaper, by Canadian Army, printed by J.H. Scheen in Lochem, the Netherlands, 1945. Source: Toronto Reference Library, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23rd_Field_Regiment,_RCA"
Categories: Artillery regiments of Canada




* This page was last modified on 27 September 2010 at 17:28.
* Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
__________________
Alex Blair
:remember :support :drunk:
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 17-11-10, 15:21
A. Phillips A. Phillips is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Ottawa
Posts: 3
Default

Thank you very much!!

A
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 17-11-10, 18:22
A. Phillips A. Phillips is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Ottawa
Posts: 3
Default

Correction to my grandfather's name:

Ernest Lloyd Phillips (not Floyd)
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 19-11-11, 19:29
Cheryl England Cheryl England is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Pickering, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 17
Default War Diary of the 23rd Field Regiment

Hi Amanda:
I have the war diary of the 23rd Field Regiment which shows a day by day account of where the Regiment went and what they did during WW11.
The 36th battery is mentioned in the diary. I tried to attach it, but the file is too big. Please send me an Email at cengland@rogers.com and I will email
it to you. Cheryl
Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +2. The time now is 17:51.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © Maple Leaf Up, 2003-2016