The Wartime Memories Project

- 5th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) during the Second World War -


Allied Forces Index
skip to content


This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.


If you enjoy this site

please consider making a donation.




    Site Home

    WW2 Home

    Add Stories

    WW2 Search

    Library

    Help & FAQs


 WW2 Features

    Airfields

    Allied Army

    Allied Air Forces

    Allied Navy

    Axis Forces

    Home Front

    Battles

    Prisoners of War

    Allied Ships

    Women at War

    Those Who Served

    Day-by-Day

    Library

    The Great War

 Submissions

    Add Stories

    Time Capsule

    TWMP on Facebook



    Childrens Bookshop

 FAQ's

    Help & FAQs

    Glossary

    Volunteering

    Contact us

    News

    Bookshop

    About


Advertisements











World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

5th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment)



20th May 1940 Reorganisation

21st May 1940 In Defence

23rd May 1940 Attack

27th May 1940 On the Move

27th May 1940 Withdrawal

28th May 1940 On the Move

9th Jun 1940 In Defence

9th Jun 1940 In Defence

1st Mar 1943 Infiltration

3rd Mar 1943 Withdrawal

17th Mar 1943 Counter Attack

18th Mar 1943 Withdrawal

10th September 1943 Advance

20th Sep 1943 Reliefs


If you can provide any additional information, especially on actions and locations at specific dates, please add it here.



Those known to have served with

5th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment)

during the Second World War 1939-1945.

  • Banks Frederick Charles. Pte. (d.2nd May 1943)
  • Banton MM. Clifford Edwin. L/Sgt.
  • Burch Cyril. Pte. (d.12th Sep 1944)
  • Cape Reginald George Albert. CSM.
  • Clark Anthony. Pte.
  • Clarke Baden. Pte. (d.7th February 1945)
  • Collins Harry. Sgt.
  • Layton John. L/Cpl (d.10th Jul 1943)
  • Miller Frederick William. Pte.
  • Newton William. Cpl.
  • Sanson Jack. Cpl.
  • Smith Charles Burt. Pte. (d.7th October 1943)
  • Taziker William. Pte. (d.12th Sep 1943)
  • Thornton Lionel Cuthbert. Capt. (d.15th Feb 1942)
  • Watson Ronald Albert. Pte.

The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List

Records of 5th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) from other sources.



The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements



  • The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 24 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web.
  • 28th March 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 263784 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible.
  • Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQ's
  • The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web.
    If you enjoy this site

    please consider making a donation.


Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text.



We are now on Facebook. Like this page to receive our updates.

If you have a general question please post it on our Facebook page.


Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home.

If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion
Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.



Want to know more about 5th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment)?


There are:1333 items tagged 5th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.


Cpl. Jack Sanson 5th Btn. Sherwood Foresters

Dad, Jack Sanson told me about fighting in Tunisia, how Americans would drive past their positions in the mountains asking "where's the shooting match, Bud?". They would get a bollocking for driving with their lights on and betraying British positions.

He told me about Salerno and HMS Warspite shelling the Germans. He was very reticent to speak about how he came to be wounded: I know it was after Salerno and involved crossing a river, maybe the Volturno? He described being carried to the water and comrades being shot at by paratroopers as they got him to the other bank. If it was the Volturno then the crossing would have been at or near Cancello, the Foresters were hammered there.

I am desperate for any information about that crossing: A, B and C Coy's of 2nd Bbattalion. I have some after action reports but need to pin down which Companyy Jack Sanson was in.

God bless all who fought in Italy, you were never given the recognition you so richly deserved

Brian Sanson



Pte. William Taziker 5th Btn. Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment) (d.12th Sep 1943)

William Taziker was my father's brother. He was born in 1917. He joined the Sherwood Foresters, 5th Battalion and died in Salerno, Italy on 12th of September 1943 at the age of 26. He is buried in the Salerno War Cemetery, Italy.

Shirley Varcoe



Pte. Frederick Charles Banks 1/5th Btn. Sherwood Foresters (d.2nd May 1943)

Frederick Banks was the husband of Louisa Violet Banks, nee Alberry. Before the war, he was in the retail industry. On 15th of February 1942, he was captured at the fall of Singapore. At age 27, he died in a camp in Thailand, camp name not known, and is buried in Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. He had one child, Evelyn Sheila Banks (1936-1945). In 1950, his wife remarried to Thomas Edward Cleal, there were no children from this marriage.




Pte. Frederick William Miller 5th Btn. Sherwood Foresters

Frederick Miller, July 1940

Frederick Miller enlisted in the army on 18th of April 1940. He was posted to Infantry Training Centres in Rochdale, Galashiels and Dereham, prior to embarcation to North Africa on 23 December 1942. Disembarked in North Africa (Tunisia?) on 3rd of January 1943.

He was with 2/5 Btn Sherwood Foresters (re-designated as 5th Btn on 28th of January 1943), who were over-run by a German Parachute Engineer Battalion, under the command of Major Rudolf Witzig, in the 1st Battle of Sedjenane in Tunisia on Tuesday 2 March 1943, which is when he was reported missing, believed to be a POW. Believed he was acting as a medic, caring for the many wounded soldiers from the battle. Next of kin not informed until 26th of March 1943. Confirmed as a POW in Campo 53 on 25th/26th of April 1943, he was transferred to Stalag IVG (Oschatz or its Work Camp at Klinga) in Germany on 30th December 1943 as POW 227653. Next of kin informed 11th of January 1944. He worked on an Arbeitskommando (Work Group) - one of 76 Work Groups based on Stalag IVG in the Grimma area, 50 miles WNW of Dresden.

He was transferred from Stalag IVG to Stalag IVA (Hohnstein-Ernstthal - Airfield at Dresden-Klotsche) on 16th of February 1944. Apparently, the main camp was liberated by the advancing Russians on 24th of April 1945. His Army record lists liberation on 7th of May 1945 - the day before VE Day.

Fred Miller



L/Sgt. Clifford Edwin Banton MM. 5th Btn. Sherwood Foresters

Clifford Banton was captured at Monte Cassino during the Italian campaign and sent to Stalag 7A in Moosburg, Germany.

Dennis Banton



Cpl. William Newton 5th Battalion Sherwood Foresters

William Newton was my grandfather. He was a POW for approximately 2 years at Stalag 4D/Z before he managed to escape, along with one other prisoner.

Stephanie Bellamy



Pte. Anthony Clark 5th Btn. Sherwood Foresters

Anthony Clark was my father. He joined the army as soon as he was old enough. After training he went out to Tunisia or Egypt in time to take part in the invasion of Italy. He landed with the second wave in Salerno and moved with the fighting up Italy, crossing the Volturno River and on to Monte Casino. Before the fall of Monte Casino he was invalided out to Naples with TB. He was on HMHS Aba when she was bombed by stukas and narrowly missed being killed when one of the bombs went through the floor in the corridor near his cabin but failed to explode. He clearly remembered Mount Vesuvius erupting and the deck being covered in ash.

He was returned to the UK where he spent several months in a sanatorium in the south of England, and was not expected to survive. Happily he did survive which is why I am here to write this. Unfortunately he died early at the age of 59 from a heart attack. As a child he tended to only tell the more light-hearted stories such as the time he was put in charge of 3 German prisoners. My Father was the platoon Bren Gunner and the prisoners were very interested in the weapon. Dad showed them how to strip it and rebuild it, which was fine until he let them have a go, which was at this point when one of his superiors arrived. Dad said these guys were just like him, they didn't want to fight a war and he saw nothing wrong with being friendly with them. Of course that was not an acceptable excuse and he was put on a charge. Dad never let on about the horrors of war but on this occasion he let something slip that indicated what a hard time he must have had. He said the charge was not followed through because they were short of men and there was only three of them left out of his platoon and they were needed at the front.

Alan Clark



Pte. Charles Burt Smith 5th Btn. Sherwood Foresters (d.7th October 1943)

Charles Smith was my Gran's brother, he died in Italy and has a war grave in Naples.

Claire Coogan



Sgt. Harry "Paddy" Collins 5th Btn. Sherwood Foresters

My father, Harry Collins served with the 5th Btn. Sherwood Foresters. I am trying to locate his military history.

Malcolm Collins



CSM. Reginald George Albert Cape 1/5th Btn. Sherwood Foresters

Reg Cape of Spondon, Derbyshire, enlisted into the Sherwood Foresters in 1937. He fought in France with the BEF then with the 1/5th Battalion when it was taken prisoner by the Japanese in Singapore. He was in Prisoner Working Battalion No 8, 4 Group and worked on the Burma Railway. On 1st of October 1945 he was evacuated from Rangoon on SS Chiteral. He later joined 3rd Battalion, Worcestershire and later the Sherwood Foresters Regiment as a Territorial and served with them until 1974.

John Cape









Recomended Reading.

Available at discounted prices.







Links


















    The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items.

    The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.

    If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.



    Hosted by:

    The Wartime Memories Project Website

    is archived for preservation by the British Library





    Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
    - All Rights Reserved

    We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.