remni january 14

January 14

remembrance ni

Ulster’s searchlight Gunners

A 90 cm Searchlight of 10 S/L Bty, 3rd S/L Rgt, in France, May 1940.

The 3rd (Ulster), Searchlight Regiment of the Royal Artillery, was sworn in on a Belfast Indian summer evening in September 1939.

And from these 1,000 young gunners, one Battery (12th ) went on to light up the skies over Dunkirk, assisting the French Anti-Aircraft (AA) defence while the other two (10th

January 14

and 11th ) were deployed inland as part of the Allies AA screen in Northern France.

From May 10, when the German army launched its blitzkrieg, the night fighters of the 10th and 11th Batteries were deployed virtually round the clock, their AA duties combined with daytime infantry defence of canals and towns.

From his command post in Dunkirk, 12th Battery’s Major Heard was given a unique and horrifying grandstand view of the tragedy unfolding in the city and port.

This photo whilst not about a NI serviceman, tells more than enough about family service. The epitaph - “Eight of my sons answered duty’s call. Goodbye, Tom. The first to fall. Mother”

January 14

On the morning of May 10 at 0600, he observed: “Stukas swooping down like dark birds of prey releasing their bombs at a French destroyer in the channel to the harbour.”

From the night of 15th onwards he reported: “Very heavy raids of high explosives and incendiaries. And there were loud explosions in the port, multiple fires in Dunkirk and a dense pall of smoke rising.”

A pillar of smoke by day and fire by night become a beacon for retreating troops.

As the BEF fell back to the coast the regiment’s 10th and 11th Batteries now co-operated more closely, blowing bridges, and fighting as infantry.

On May 22 they were ordered west to Gravelines to assist French troops piling chairs, tables, desks and carts on top of each other, barricading bridges south of the town.

With a company of Green Howards, they waited for the German tanks to arrive.

It was furniture, rifles, anti-tank and machine guns against Panzers.

Understated war diaries show they “resisted all attempts by the 1st Panzer Division to take those bridges”.

Eventually, ordered to withdraw to the beaches they took what little cover there was in the dunes, or formed lines snaking into the sea, in multiple attempts to reach the smaller boats, until the East Mole (Breakwater) was deployed as an emergency jetty where large ships could moor and speed the evacuation.

January 14

In all, 186,587 British and over 125,000 French soldiers were lifted from the Mole and the beaches in the nine days from May 27 to June 4 – the achievement breathtaking.

3rd Searchlight Regiment, R.A. (S.R. - Supplimentary Reserve)

HQ, 10th, and 11th Batteries: Belfast9th Bty: Clonaver, Strandtown12th Bty: Lurgan

The regiment was formed in Northern Ireland on 01/09/1939 and mobilized at Londonderry. After the outbreak of war, it moved to Portstewart to train. From there it was was called into Belfast under 3rd (Ulster) AA Brigade to operate the searchlights.

It left Ulster in November 1939 and was sent to Borden, Hampshire. It sailed from Southampton on 25/12/1939 for France as part of 2nd Anti-Aircraft Brigade. It was retitled 3rd (Ulster) Searchlight Regiment, R.A. (S.R.) on 08/05/1940. It served in France and Belgium in the May 1940 campaign under 5th Searchlight Brigade.

At the start of the fighting, 9 Battery was at Lens, 10 at Carvin, 11 at Richarderie and 12 Battery was in the Dunkirk area. After the opening attack, 9 Battery moved to Arras. On 21 May the regiment had 9 and 11 Batteries deployed on the canals and defences in the front line from Bergues to Gravelines.

January 14

12 Battery remained at Dunkirk. The regiment, as infantry, under ‘Usherforce’ with 6th Green Howards defended Gravelines and then withdrew to Bergues on the 24th. It arrived at the beaches of Dunkirk on 27 May. 12 Battery helped to defend Furnes. The regiment was evacuated from Dunkirk by the end of May.

After returning to the United Kingdom, the regiment was deployed in Hampshire and Wiltshire in the air defence of England. It served under 64th AA Brigade in February 1941.

It was converted to 4th (Ulster) Anti-Aircraft Regiment, R.A. (S.R.) on 21/01/1942 with 7th, 8th, 10th and 11th Batteries. It was soon designated as a Light AA Regiment. 11th Battery became independent on 19/06/1942.

The regiment landed in Normandy under command of 101st AA Brigade in late August 1944. It then moved to Cherbourg. It left Cherbourg under the brigade and deployed at Brussels on 14/09/1944 under the brigade. On 14/04/1945 the brigade left Brussels and moved to take over

January 14

the Rhine and Maas bridges. 8th Battery was detached under 74th AA Brigade of 1st Canadian Army.

Acknowledgment - Roy Uprichard whose father Bob was a member of 3rd Searchlight Regiment.

On this Day - January 14 From “The Witness” Februatry 19, 1915

GALLANTRY IN THE FIELD.

SIR J. FRENCH'S RECOMMENDATIONS.

ULSTERMEN IN THE LIST.

A despatch from Sir John French, dated January 14, gives names of those he recommends for gallant and distinguished service in the field, in accordance with his despatch of Nov. 30. These include -- Navy Headquarters Staff, Flying Corps, Hussars, Lancers, Yeomanry, R.F.A., Engineers, Infantry regiments, Medical Services, Indian Army, &c.

The name of Prince Maurice of Battenberg appears under King's Royal Rifles. The following are some of the names well known in Ulster taken from the list, of twenty-seven pages --

General Headquarters Staff -- Major Viscount Castlereagh, M.V.O. (now the Marquis of Londonderry); Colonel the Earl of Cavan, M.V.O.; Brigadier-General Count Gleichen, K.C.,

January 14

V.O.; Major-General Gough, Colonel Maude, and Right Hon. Colonel Seely.

Royal Horse Guards -- Major the Earl of Erne (prisoner of war).

North Irish Horse -- Major Viscount Massereene and Ferrard.

Irish Guards -- Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Ardee.

R.A.M.C. -- Lieutenant W. Tyrrell, M.B. (Special Reserve).

Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers -- Lieut.-Colonel C. A. Wilding, Captain G. R. V. Steward, Second-Lieutenant J. G. B. Thomas (died of wounds), Sergeant S. Cree, 6622 (deceased).

Royal Irish Rifles -- Lieut.-Colonel G. B. Laurie, 1st Battalion; Lieutenant L. Browne, 2nd Battalion; Second-Lieutenant G. V. Fitzgerald, 4th Battalion (attached); Second-Lieutenant M. C. Kearne, Second-Lieutenant J. Martin (was Regimental Sergeant-Major).

RANK AND FILE.

North Irish Horse -- Corporal J. Wright, 1008; Private R. M'Ilwaine, 788.

2nd Battalion Royal Irish Rifles -- Rifleman L. Carolan, 9975; Rifleman A. Gare, 6959; Lance-Corporal W. MacFarlane, 7359; Rifleman A. Magrath, 9732; Rifleman C. Morley, 7332.

1940

Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai forms a new government in Japan, but he is opposed by the pro-war military.

January 14

British chemists (pharmacists) granted an exemption to sugar rationing in order to coat pills.

1941

Off Antarctica, German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin captures 14 Norwegian whaling ships without firing a single shot or causing a single casualty.

1942

General Wavell arrives at Batavia in Java to setup ABDA headquarters. The Japanese launch an attack against the US-Filipino 1st Corps positions on the western side of Bataan.

At the so called Arcadia Conference held in Washington, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill agree to concentrate the Allied war effort on the European theatre. President Roosevelt also orders that all aliens are to register with the government. This is the beginning of a plan to move Japanese-Americans into internment camps in the belief that these people might aid the enemy.

The German battleship Tirpitz, arrives at Trondheim in Norway, to threaten the Arctic convoys, but it wasn’t until the 23rd January that the British became aware of this threat.

Off Long Island, German U-boat U-123 sinks Panamanian tanker Norness, the first sinking in US waters.

Ports of Boston, Portsmouth, and Portland, ME closed temporarily due to U-boat warning.

In US “enemy aliens” are required to register with Department of Justice.

January 14

Canada designates 100-mile security zone in British Columbia, all males of Japanese ancestry 18-45 ordered to vacate; 23,000 men will be sent to labor camps, women and children deported to six inner BC towns.

1943

Roosevelt and Churchill’s summit Conference opens near Casablanca in Morocco with the Allied joint staff under General Dwight D. Eisenhower in attendance.

1944

38 (Irish) Brigade - during January Major Desmond Woods H Coy 2 LIR at Montenero in the Apennines wrote: “I got the men to go round the houses & commandeer as many sheets as we could get. We had these ‘make and mend’ periods & we made camouflage smocks from the white sheeting & bind rifles…

I think they cursed & swore a bit but I think they were damned glad when we went up to our position because it did give us at least a bit of protection. I got up there, we did our week & nothing unforeseen happened and we then came back to Montenero…”I think they cursed & swore a bit but I think they were damned glad when we went up to our position because it did give us at least a bit of protection. I got up there, we did our week & nothing unforeseen happened and we then came back to Montenero…”

1945

In Burma, the British 19th Indian Division attempts to cross the Irrawaddy River at Thabaikkyin but withdraws under fierce Japanese bayonet attack.

January 14

Zhukov’s 1st Belorussian Front continues its attacks South of Warsaw from two Vistula bridgeheads, one of which holds 400,000 men and 1,700 tanks. Rokossovsky’s 2nd Belorussian Front begins its offensive from its Narev bridgehead against Elbing in East Prussia.

Roll of Honour - January 14 Representing their comrades who died on this day

1918

+HUNTER, AndrewRNR. Leading Seaman. 3341/C. SS Karnak. Died 14/01/1918. Aged 35. Husband to Nelly Hunter, Nicholson St., Glasgow. Son of Andrew and Annie Hunter, Carrickfergus. Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Panel 31

1940

+MILLAR, Alexander

Royal Artillery. Gunner.1487471. Died 14/01/1940. Aged 34. 3rd (Ulster) Searchlight Regt. Beuvry Communal Cemetery Extension, Pas de Calais, France.

January 14

1944

+COLBERT, Sydney

RAFVR. Flying Officer. 148102. DFC. Died 14/01/1944. Age 23.156 Squadron. His Lancaster III Bomber JA975 took off at 1649hrs on 14th January 1944. The crew was part of a bombing raid to the city of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony, Germany. During the raid, their Lancaster suffered damage from anti-aircraft flak and to the guns of German night-fighters. The plane came down at Bockernweg, about 40km south-west of its target city.

Also killed were Flying Officer Edward Hone, Pilot Officer Denzil Meecham Davies, Flight Sergeant Granville Cyril Johnson, and Flight Lieutenant Clifford Robert Stannard. The crew of five were buried near the crash site on 17/01/1944. Sydney Colbert was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service to the RAF.

Born in Belfast. Son of Alexander Colbert and Jane Colbert of Belfast. Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery, Sage, near Oldenburg. Family headstone in Dundonald Cemetery

+McLAREN, Robert CharlesRAFVR. Sergeant.1515312. Died 14/01/1944. Aged 20. 626 Sqdn. Son of Thomas J. Mclaren And Emma Mclaren, of Six Mile Cross, Co. Tyrone. Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany

+STEVENSON, Samuel BrownRAFVR. Flight Sergeant. 1480507. DFM 97. Died 14/01/1944. Sqd 22. Son of S. B. And Helen I. Stevenson, of Belfast. Texel (Den Burg) Cemetery, Netherlands

January 14

VETERAN

ANDERSON, Samuel

Gunner, Royal Garrison Artillery. A native of Coleraine, he and his wife, Kathleen (Kate) Elizabeth (nee Hamilton), lived at Coleraine Road, Portstewart. Samuel was a bricklayer by trade. He was still living at Coleraine Road when he died on 14/01/1966, aged 80 years. His remains were buried in Agherton Cemetery. Some references: Coleraine Chronicle of 19/01/1918, 14/12/1918 and 26/06/1919.

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January 14

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remni january 14

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