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5th/7th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders    The 5th/7th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders was created by the merging of the 5th Battalion with the 7th (Mar and Mearns) Battalion. They served with the reformed 51st (Highland) Division and saw action in North Africa, Sicily and North Western Europe.   22nd May 1942 Competition 23rd May 1942 Competition 1st Jun 1942 Royal Visit 2nd Jun 1942 Exercise 27th of September 1942 Move   28th of September 1942 Exercise   9th of October 1942 1 Black Watch Op Order No 1. Exercise "Rothes"   20th of October 1942 152nd Brigade Operational Order   21st of October 1942 Operation Order No.1   22nd of October 1942 Action 22nd of October 1942 Schedule of Tasks for Evening 23rd Oct 1942 In Action 23rd Oct 1942 Led by the Pipers 23rd of October 1942 Action 24th Oct 1942 In Action 28th Oct 1942 Barrage   1st Nov 1942 In Action 2nd Nov 1942 In Action 3rd Nov 1942 In Action 4th Nov 1942 In Action 4th Nov 1942 Out of Action 4th Nov 1942 Advance 5th of November 1942 Report   1st Dec 1942 On the Move 5th Dec 1942 Advance 6th Dec 1942 Enemy Sighted 11th Dec 1942 Patrols 12th Dec 1942 Counter Attack 13th Dec 1942 Advance 16th Dec 1942 Advance 17th Dec 1942 Advance 31st Dec 1942 In the Desert 1st Jan 1943 In the Desert 11th Jan 1943 On the Move 12th Jan 1943 On the Move 13th Jan 1943 On the Move 14th Jan 1943 On the Move 15th Jan 1943 Advance 16th Jan 1943 Advance 17th Jan 1943 On the Move 18th Jan 1943 On the Move 19th Jan 1943 On the Move 20th Jan 1943 On the Move 21st Jan 1943 Water 22nd Jan 1943 On the Move 23rd Jan 1943 Orders 24th Jan 1943 Traffic 25th Jan 1943 Guard Duty 26th Jan 1943 Guard Duty 27th Jan 1943 Heavy Rain 28th Jan 1943 Divisional Pride 31st Jan 1943 Working Parties 5th Feb 1943 Inspection 6th Feb 1943 Change of Billets 11th Feb 1943 Reliefs 12th Feb 1943 Reliefs 13th Feb 1943 Minefield 14th Feb 1943 Newsreel 15th Feb 1943 On the Move 16th Feb 1943 Patrols 17th Feb 1943 Salt Marsh 18th Feb 1943 Arrival 19th Feb 1943 Working Parties 20th Feb 1943 Aircraft Downed 21st Feb 1943 Recce 22nd Feb 1943 Recce 23rd Feb 1943 Contact 24th Feb 1943 Advance 25th Feb 1943 Forwards 26th Feb 1943 Patrols 27th Feb 1943 Rumours 28th Feb 1943 Shelling 1st Mar 1943 Reliefs 2nd Mar 1943 Attack Made 3rd Mar 1943 Stand to 4th Mar 1943 Minefield 5th Mar 1943 Aircraft Downed 6th Mar 1943 On the Move 6th Mar 1943 In Action   7th Mar 1943 Artillery in Action 8th Mar 1943 Quiet 10th Mar 1943 Baths 11th Mar 1943 Reliefs 12th Mar 1943 On the Move 14th Mar 1943 Mines 15th Mar 1943 Mines 16th Mar 1943 In Action 16th Mar 1943 In Action   17th Mar 1943 Patrols 18th Mar 1943 Patrols 19th Mar 1943 Outpost 20th Mar 1943 Shelling 21st Mar 1943 Bombing 22nd Mar 1943 Shelling 23nd Mar 1943 Barrage 24th Mar 1943 Advance 25th Mar 1943 Moves 26th Mar 1943 Mines 27th Mar 1943 Mortars 28th Mar 1943 Recce 29th Mar 1943 Advance 30th Mar 1943 News Good 31st Mar 1943 Quiet 1st Apr 1943 Quiet 2nd Apr 1943 Recce 3rd Apr 1943 Reliefs 4th Apr 1943 Shelling 5th Apr 1943 Forward 6th Apr 1943 Attack Made 6th Apr 1943 In Action   7th Apr 1943 Prisoners 8th Apr 1943 On the Move 9th Apr 1943 On the Move 10th Apr 1943 Sfax taken 11th Apr 1943 Cleaning up 12th Apr 1943 Pipes & Drums 13th Apr 1943 Rumours 14th Apr 1943 Working Party 15th Apr 1943 Working Party 16th Apr 1943 Orders 17th Apr 1943 On the Move 18th Apr 1943 On the Move 19th Apr 1943 Good News 19th Apr 1943 In Action   20th Apr 1943 Cinema 21st Apr 1943 On the Move 22nd Apr 1943 On the Move 23rd Apr 1943 Shelling 24th Apr 1943 Intermittent Shelling 25th Apr 1943 Barrage 26th Apr 1943 On the March 27th Apr 1943 On the March 28th Apr 1943 Patrols 29th Apr 1943 Mortars 30th Apr 1943 Intermittent Shelling 5th May 1943 In Action   9th Jul 1943 In Action 29th Jul 1943 In Action   9th Jan 1944 Visit 17th Jan 1944 Exercise 18th Jan 1944 Exercise 19th Jan 1944 Exercise 22nd Jan 1944 Moves 29th Jan 1944 Moves 6th Jun 1944 Unexpected 17th Jun 1944 At Rest   Men of the 5/7th Gordon Highlanders enjoy a brew, while one of their number sleeps in his slit trench, 17th of June 1944 © IWM (B 5750) 17th Jun 1944 At Rest 18th July 1944 In Action 7th Aug 1944 In Action 26th August 1944 Drafts 27th August 1944 Transport 23rd Oct 1944 Attack Made   3rd May 1945 Orders 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/7th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders during the Second World War 1939-1945. Dalgarno James. Pte. Felton Frank. Cpl. (d.12th Feb 1945) Gilbert George. Pte. (d.16th Jun 1944) Hollands RF. Shankley James. Capt. Strachan Douglas. CSM. Strachan Douglas. CSM. Walker Alexander George. Wash Alfred Albert. Pte. (d.15th Apr 1945) 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/7th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders 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. 27th April 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 264001 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/7th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders? There are:1470 items tagged 5th/7th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders 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. RF Hollands 5-7th Btn Gordon Highlanders RF Hollands served with the 5-7th Btn Gordon Highlanders British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project are no longer in touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below. Dan Add to this record. Pte. Alfred Albert Wash 5/7th Btn. Gordon Highlanders (d.15th Apr 1945) Alfred Wash was an unknown cousin, I visited his grave in the Becklingen War Cemetery in Germany. Terry Ward Add to this record. Alexander George Walker 5th/7th Btn. Gordon Highlanders Extract from a letter sent on the 28th January 1944 from Dad, Alexander Walker to Mum: ‘Yes, Edna I have seen the movie Passage to Marseille and I think it is very good. I am hoping to see Bing this week if everything goes to plan… Well, I am sorry to know that you are having bad weather at home, but it’s very bad out here too. Sometimes we get warm, but only sometimes.’ Extract from letter sent 26th September 1945 from Dad to Mum: ‘I have been out with the boys here, and we asked the CO if we could go in for a swimming do at Hanover. It was at the USA MOB. He said No. So we all went on our own, as one of the trucks was going there for wine. Well, we got there and asked the Big Brass Hat out of their MOB if we could go in for it, and he said Yes, but only in one race, breaststroke 4 x man team. We won. We raced six times and beat fifteen teams, six English, and in the final a team from the USA. We won by 25 yards. So we got dressed ready to come back home, when the boys who had won were being given their medals and things so we said we would stay to see what happened. We were called out last and got a lovely Imperial fountain pen with a 14k gold nib. When we got back, we also got a nice drop of whisky from our CO.’ Stuart Walker Add to this record. CSM. Douglas Strachan 5th/7th Btn. Gordon Highlanders Douglas Strachan served with 5th/7th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders. Robert Strachan Add to this record. CSM. Douglas Strachan 5/7th Btn. Gordon Highlanders Not sure of my grandfather Douglas Strachan's actions during this period but am in possession of his North Africa Star with 8th Army clasp. Robert Strachan Add to this record. Pte. James "Dallie" Dalgarno 5/7th Btn. Gordon Highlanders Jimmy Dalgarno was wounded twice during service in North Africa and after D-day in Germany. He is our hero. Add to this record. Cpl. Frank Felton 5/7th Btn. Gordon Highlanders (d.12th Feb 1945) Frank Felton was my granddad. I am trying to find out more information about him. A newspaper article from 1945 called his platoon the 'Dead End Kids'. They took part in an offensive on the German/Holland border in the Reichswald Forest where, outnumbered, they overcame the German force. Jason Add to this record. Capt. James Shankley 5/7th Btn. Gordon Highlanders My father was in the 5th/7th Gordons, 51st Highland Division, and taken prisoner at St Valery but like most POW's, he never talked openly about his experience. I only remember him talking 2/3 times - all after a few "pink" gins..... The story that springs to mind is when they were captured and moved on by the Germans. They were held in a field whilst the German officers conferred. Whilst this was going on the British officers were busy burying knives, lugers etc.!! The Germans then walked along behind the officers and gently patted their kilts - waiting for the rustle of silk revealing the presence of a silk map !!! After they were moved away the Germans then went over the field with a mine detector to find all the "hidden" items. This may or may not be true, but it was one of the few stories I truly remember. Lt Col James Shankley died in 1991 after a spell in hospital where the horrors of war came back to him. His family has no information regarding where he was, other than an internet-gained note that he was at the camp at Eichstatt (Oflag 7b). If anyone has any information ??? Peter Shankley Add to this record. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices. Links

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