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4th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment
4th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment was a 1st Line Territorial unit serving with 150th Infantry Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division.They served in France 1940 with the BEF and were evacuated from Dunkirk. They were engaged in home defence in England until mid-1941 when they were sent to the Middle East.
28th May 1940 Memorial Defended
30th May 1940 Perimeter Defence
31st May 1940 Evacuation
5th Feb 1942 Evidence
If you can provide any additional information, especially on actions and locations at specific dates, please add it here.
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Want to know more about 4th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment? There are:1322 items tagged 4th Battalion, East Yorkshire 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. |
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Pte. George Henry "Kip" Crowther 4th Btn. East Yorkshire Regiment My dad, George Crowther was captured in the Western Desert in August 1942. He spent the rest of the war as a POW in two camps, one of which was Camp No. 73, Fossoli of Carpi near Modena. The other camp was Stalag 317, Markt Pongau, Austria. We don’t know which camp he was in first or how long he was in each camp.
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Cpl. William Anthony Green 4th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment William Green was captured and held in Camp PG73 in Fossoli, Italy. POW number 247944.
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Pte. William Bell 4th Btn. East Yorkshire Regiment (d.8th Oct 1945) William Bell served with the 4th Battalion. East Yorkshire Regiment in WW2. He died 8th of October 1945 age 26 years. He is buried Hull Northern Cemetery. Son of George H. Bell and Amy E. Bell of Hull.
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CSM. John Grasby 4th Btn. East Yorkshire Regiment  My Father Jack Grasby's Citation reads,
CITATION LS/4798694 C/Sgt GRASBY J E YORKS
C/Sgt Grasby first enlisted in the Territorial Army in 1927 and served until 1935, rejoining in 1939 and being mobilized on the outbreak of war with the 4th Btn. East Yorks Regiment.
He went to France with his regiment and was evacuated at Dunkirk. In 1941 he went with his Regiment to Africa and joined the 8th Army and was taken prisoner in 1942 at the battle of Knightsbridge.
He went to a POW camp in Italy and in July 1943 succeeded in escaping and being unable to get back to the UK, he joined up with the Partisans in Italy and stayed with them until 1945 when he reported to a S African unit in Turin.
He returned to the UK in 1945 and served there until going to Malaya in 1948 as C.Q.M.S. with the Green Howards.
In 1952 he returned from Malaya and served in Austria and Germany and in 1956 he got back to his own regiment and came to serve on ERE appointment in Germany. On 31 August 1957 Her Majesty the Queen saw fit to honour him with the award of the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.
He was born in 1911. He first enlisted in the Territorial Army in 1927 and served until 1935. He re-joined in the Regulars in 1939 and then being mobilized on the outbreak of war with the 4th Bn., East Yorkshire Regiment.
On re-joining in the Regulars it was established on his recruitment to the Regulars that he had excelled at school and became a school teacher in-between serving at the end of Territorials and re-joining the Regulars so he was offered a commission but he declined. My father was a bit of a man's man and liked to be one of the lads
He went to France with his regiment and was evacuated at Dunkirk. In 1941 he then sent with his Regt to Africa and joined the 8th Army and was taken prisoner in 1942 at the Battle of Knightsbridge. He was taken to POW Camp P.G. 53 Sforzacosta Italy
He succeeded in escaping in July 1943 and being unable to get back to the UK; he joined up with the partisans in Italy and stayed with them until 1945. He learnt to speak fluent Italian and he already spoke fluent German.
When, at last in 1945, he managed to report to a S African unit in Turin he then returned to the UK in 1945 and served there until going to Malaya (Now Malaysia) in 1950 as C.Q.M.S. and later as R.Q.M.S. with the Green Howards.
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Pte. Herbert Keane 4th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment Herbert Keane served with 4th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment. He was held as a POW in Stalag XV111-A, Wolfsberg, Austria. POW number 7962.
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Pte. Frederick George "Ted" Spittel 4th Btn. East Yorkshire Regiment Our father, Frederick Spittel, was called up in April 1939 aged 21 and was in the BEF in France. He was evacuated from Dunkirk. He was captured in North Africa at Bir Hachiem in June 1942 and held in various Italian POW camps. He was one of many who lived rough in Northern Italy for several months before he was recaptured and taken to Stalag V11A. He didn't speak much about his experiences but he was an apprentice bricklayer before the war and was engaged on building work in Munich. Our dad died in 1969 aged 50.
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Alan Chesney 4th Btn. East Yorkshire Regiment Alan Chesney was born on Christmas Eve 1918 and joined the East Yorkshire Regiment 4th Battalion in 1939, wishing to fight for his country. He was deployed to France and was left behind at Dunkirk, himself and his group took a small rowing boat and sailed back to Ramsgate. On the boat his captain (or whoever was in charge) was mistreating the soldiers, in response Alan told him to stop or otherwise he would throw him off of the boat; Alan was a wonderful, caring man but not one to give empty threats.
When he returned to England he was diagnosed with a lung infection and was not allowed to return to the war as he wished, it was discovered that he was an engineer and was enlisted as a pattern maker and draftsman.
After the war he designed engines for ocean liners, owned a fish and chip shop with his family and was loyal and caring for his family until the end. In 1969-1970 my grandmother was captured along side her infant daughter (my mother) and my mother's half sister by my grandmother's partner at the time. Alan broke into the house and rescued all three and drove them away to safety. Devastatingly, in 1971 he was the first man in his village to receive radiotherapy for his throat cancer. He was given far over the correct dosage and he passed away in one of the most slow and agonising ways imaginable. He has been my idol and hero for years now and I will forever be proud and respectful of my great grandfather Alan Chesney, 1918-1971.
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Cpl. James Church 5th Btn. East Yorkshire Regiment My father, James Church, joined the TA in the Thirties,
he went to France as part of the BEF to France and returned via Dunkirk.
He served in the Western Desert with the 4th Battalion, East Yorks and was wounded at Wadi Akarit.
He narrowly escaped in the Gazala Gallop after first picking up his younger brother, Pte Victor Church.
He was transferred to the 5th Battalion after the demise of the 4th at Gazala.
His active war ended after being wounded again at, I believe, Catania in Sicily and was medically downgraded and returned to Richmond as a Sergeant to train recruits for D-Day. He remained there until demobilisation after VE Day.
His Brother-in Law was CSM Arthur Savage of (I think) the 5th Battalion, killed in N. Africa.
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Pte. Mervyn Basil "Muff" Tooke 4th Btn. East Yorkshire Regiment  Dad, Mervyn Tooke joined the Territorial Army before the War began & had very happy memories of training at Stow-on-the-Wold. He married mum Irene (Pet) on a 3 day leave in April 1941. He was captured in the Middle East in June 1942, spending 6 months as a prisoner in the desert (in a cage according to mum) before being taken by coal steamer to southern Italy, where he spent time in a holding camp. He was moved to northern Italy by cattle truck in dreadfully hot, cramped conditions, several men dying on route. When the Italians surrendered he was moved to Stalag IVB until liberation by the Americans I think in May 1945. He said there wasn't a dry eye on the ship as the men saw the White Cliffs of Dover on their return, something many hadn't ever expected to see.
Post war he had a happy life with mum, daughters Sally, Beryl, myself & six grand children ("I love you double" he used to tell them.) Sadly he died in October 1992. A hard working lovely man, he kept his bad memories of the war to himself and only told us amusing tales "We hid behind the same blade of grass on Dunkirk beach!" He didn't have a bad word to say about the Germans, enjoying practising the German he remembered with German tourists in Mallorca in the late 70's early 80's. He wasn't so fond of the Italians, the men that is, he said the women were all right! They threw apples at them sobbing when they were marched through villages after working on the land as they were such a pitiful sight. He spent time in hospital in Naples with dysentery and survived despite losing half his body weight.
He is much missed and we will always be very very proud of him.
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