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- 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment during the Second World War -


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World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment



   1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment was a Machine Gun battalion and saw action in North Africa, Malta and North Western Europe during the Second World War.

 

Sep 1939 Disposition

Jan 1940 Move

30th Jan 1940 Duty

30th June 1940 Move

21st Feb 1941 Move

22nd February 1941 In Defence

24th February 1941 Reliefs

28th February 1941 Air Raid

1st Apr 1941 Reliefs

27th July 1941 Reorganisation

30th Sep 1941 Return

17th October 1942 Blitz on Malta continues

18th October 1942 Ineffective raids

25th October 1942 Air raids on Malta resume

23rd January 1943 Reorganisation

17th February 1943 Battle Honours

July 1943 Detachment

24th Mar 1945 Assault  


THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45: ASSAULT ON THE RHINE AND CAPTURE OF WESEL

The landing from Buffaloes of the 1st Battalion Cheshire Regiment, who landed on the afternoon of 24th of March 1945, in support of No.1 S.S Commando Brigade at Wesel on the Rhine. The bridge seen in background is the smashed railway bridge at Wesel. IWM (BU 2334)



24th Mar 1945 Assault

April 1945 Reorganisation

7th Apr 1945 Enemy Active

8th Apr 1945 Hard Fighting

9th Apr 1945 Advance

13th Apr 1945 Bridges

15th Apr 1945 Typhus

16th Apr 1945 In Action

18th Apr 1945 Good Progress

1st May 1945 Patrols


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

1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment

during the Second World War 1939-1945.

  • Coulson Alfred. W/O
  • Derbyshire George. Pte (d.25th March 1945)
  • Fisher John William. Pte.
  • McKenzie James. W/Sgt.

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 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment from other sources.



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Want to know more about 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment?


There are:1345 items tagged 1st Battalion, Cheshire 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.


Pte. John William Fisher 1st Btn. Cheshire Regiment

This was my father, who was born on the 26th May 1921. He was from Cheshire and enlisted in the 1st Cheshire Regiment in 1938, I believe. I am his eldest daughter.

He served in North Africa under Field Marshal Montgomery. I remember him telling me a story about how he hid under a petrol tank he was driving for three days whilst the Germans were bombing his Army unit. He told me about Egypt and the camels there. He was also in Malta for 3 years, surrounded by Germans u-boats and under bombardment by the Italians. I am led to believe that he returned to Britain for a few months in 1944, when he met my mother. He was then sent to Germany to serve as an Army scout on a motorbike, a lookout for the Cheshire Regiment. He found German villagers to be quite friendly. His horror story was that he was with the 1st Cheshires when they helped liberate the Bergen Belsen concentration camp. I know he was there – he told me so – but he wouldn’t talk of the horrors he witnessed.

My father was a cruel man to me as a child, using the buckle strap on me regularly. He was also very cruel to animals. My mother told me that he suffered from shell-shock and could not help how he was with me with his vile temper. As a child, and also as an adult, I was afraid of him. Now that I’m older and have researched and read about my father’s war I forgive him and realise that he went through a lot of horror. I now not only forgive him, I am also very proud of him and his service with the 1st Cheshires during the war. God bless all who served in that war.

I know that my father came out of the Army in 1945, sooner than he was supposed to have done, but he wanted to marry my mother. So he had a choice to work on the farm or in the coal mines. He chose farm life. This was the only specification he had on leaving the Army early: he had no choice in his job.

Mrs. Jacqueline Ann Chamberlain (nee Fisher)



W/O Alfred Coulson 1st Btn Cheshire Regiment

My grandfather, Alfred Coulson, from what I can glean, served in the 1st Battn Cheshire Regt during WWII. Apparently, he made the rank of Sgt or Sgt/Maj we are not sure.

Richard Coulson









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