Scots Guards 5th Ski battalion 1940, 2nd battalion 1940/43

[Cankiwi]

P13 - Left Flank Company

[Cankiwi]

P14 - Left Flank Company

[Cankiwi]

Any and all info on any members of Left Flank Company, 5th Battalion Scots Guards would be really appreciated.

Also, being ex-NZ Army I have never come across this Company naming before - can someone clarify for me why two companies in the Bat were called Left Flank and Right Flank - and what they actually did? Were they Rifle Companies but just named differently?

Many thx..............Nigel

[Cankiwi]

OK, I am going to run through the Orbat to start with and add whatever information I can come up with on each of the Officers listed. No particular order. If anyone has any information to add, please add. Photos are especially welcome, as is any info at all relating to the 5th Battalion.

Thanks.............Nigel

[Cankiwi]

Captain W.D.M. RAEBURN - Adjutant: 

Full name and retiring rank = Maj Gen Sir (William) Digby (Manifold) RAEBURN (1915-2001)

William Digby Manifold Raeburn, the son of Sir Ernest Raeburn, who was in the shipping industry, was born on August 6 1915. He was educated at Winchester and Magdalene, Cambridge, where he took a First in History. He originally intended to follow an uncle and his grandfather into the Navy, but he opted instead for the Scots Guards, into which he was commissioned in 1936. During the Second World War he saw service in North Africa, and in 1945 he was awarded the DSO for his part in an action which took place between April 1 and April 3 near the German town of Nordhorn.

When peace came, Raeburn continued his Army career, becoming Commander 2nd Battalion Scots Guards in 1953; Lieutenant Colonel Commanding Scots Guards in 1958; Commander 1st Guards Brigade Group in 1959; and Commander 51st Infantry Brigade Group in 1960. From 1963 to 1965 he was based at the Ministry of Defence in London as Director of Combat Development (Army), responsible for developing tactical policy. He then spent two and a half years in Oslo as Chief of Staff to C-in-C, Allied Forces, Northern Europe. This was a posting much enjoyed by Raeburn, who was a fine skier - as a schoolboy he had been selected for the British junior Olympic team, but Winchester refused to allow him to take time off from his studies.

From 1968 to 1970 he was Chief Instructor (Army) at the Imperial Defence College (now the Royal College of Defence Studies) in London. He was appointed CB in 1966, and KCVO in 1979. His successful career in the Army was followed with an eight-year appointment as Governor of the Tower of London and Keeper of the Jewel House. He married, in 1960, Adeline ("Addie") Pryor, who skied for Britain in the 1956 Olympics at Cortina. She survives him.

If anyone reading this is based in London and feels like visiting the National Archives and taking a look, there is one file which consists of - Some recollections of a Scots Guardsman, 1935-1947', a memoir covering his military career during the period 1935-1947, notably his service at General HQ, Middle East Land Forces, 1940-1943, and with the Scots Guards in Italy, 1943-1944 and 1947, and Germany, 1945, written in [1992].

Be interesting to see if this includes anything on his time with the 5th Battalion.


25th January 1978: Major General D Raeburn, CB, DSO, MBE, MA, Resident Governor of the Tower of London. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)


http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=659&inst_id=21&nv1=search&nv2=
Reference code(s)   : GB 0099 KCLMA Raeburn
Held at   : Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London - click here to see details of the physical location of collection

Born in 1915; educated at Winchester College and Magdalene College, Cambridge; commissioned into Scots Guards, 1936; General Staff Officer Grade 3, General HQ, Middle East Land Forces, 1940-1941; HQ, Western Force, Greece, 1941; served with 2 Bn, Scots Guards and at HQ, 22 Guards Bde, 1941; General Staff Officer Grade 2, General HQ, Middle East Land Forces and HQ, 8 Army, 1941-1942; General Staff Officer Grade 1 (Intelligence), General HQ, Palestinian and Iraq Force, 1942-1943; Deputy Director of Military Intelligence, General HQ, Middle East Land Forces, 1943; served with 2 Bn Scots Guards, Italy, 1943-1944, and Germany, 1945; Staff College course, 1945-1946; Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General, Guards Div, 1946-1947; served with 1 Bn, Scots Guards, Italy, 1947; 2nd-in-command, Guards Depot, 1948; Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster General, London District, 1949; member of Directing Staff, Staff College, 1950-1952; served with 2 Bn, Scots Guards, 1952-1955; member of Senior Directing Staff, Staff College, 1956-1957; Lt Col Commanding Scots Guards, 1958-1959; Commander, 1 Guards Bde and 51 Infantry Bde, 1960-1961; Director of Combat Development (Army), War Office and Ministry of Defence, 1963-1865; Chief of Staff to Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces, Northern Europe, 1965-1968; Chief Instructor (Army), Imperial Defence College, 1968-1970; retired, 1970; Resident Governor and Keeper of Jewel House, HM Tower of London, 1971-1979; died 2001.

[Cankiwi]

BATTALION HEADQUARTERS
Captain M. LINDSAY, Royal Scots - A/Adjutant and i/c Ski equipment

Sir Martin Alexander Lindsay, 1st Baronet, CBE, DSO (22 August 1905 – 5 May 1981) was a British army officer and explorer. He came to fame in the 1930s leading a succession of expeditions to Greenland, and later went into politics; he was elected as a Conservative Party Member of Parliament after the Second World War. His father was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles, who sent his son to Wellington College. After leaving Wellington, Lindsay went to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1925, and two years later was seconded to the 4th Battalion, the Nigeria Regiment. During his time in Nigeria, Lindsay won the Nigeria Grand National horse race.

At the end of his two years in Nigeria in 1929, Lindsay undertook his first expedition, travelling from West to East Africa through the Ituri Rainforest then in the Belgian Congo. In 1930 he was appointed Surveyor to the British Arctic Air-Route Expedition to Greenland, led by Gino Watkins. Lindsay later wrote up his experiences in a book called "Those Greenland Days" (1932), paying tribute to Watkins' team building. He was awarded the King's Polar Medal for the success of the expedition. Lindsay enjoyed writing about explorers and in 1933 wrote "The Epic of Captain Scott" about Robert Falcon Scott. In 1934 Lindsay was the Leader of the British Trans-Greenland Expedition. The expedition aimed to explore and map a 350-mile long stretch of Greenland which had not previously been visited but contained the highest mountains in the Arctic Circle. Andrew Croft was the photographer for the expedition; Lt. Daniel Godfrey was in charge of survey and navigation. The expedition crossed Greenland from west to east, and succeeded in fixing the positions of many important features including Gunnbjørns Fjeld. On the return journey the team headed south-west to Amassalik (now Tasiilaq) and on their journey discovered the extent of the Kronprins Frederik Bjerge mountain range. Lindsay's expedition set a new world record after sledging for 1,050 miles (700 of which were through unexplored territory). Lindsay had written his report of the expedition for The Times and in 1935 wrote a book called "Sledge" based on these reports.

n 1936, Lindsay left the army. He had married a distant cousin, Joyce Lindsay, in 1932 and they had a young family. He moved to Lincolnshire where he was adopted as Conservative Party candidate for Brigg in June 1936.[4] The constituency was held by Labour with a majority of only 203, and Lindsay began to attend social events in the constituency in an attempt to build up his chances of election. He was a Deputy Lieutenant of Lincolnshire from 1938. On the outbreak of the Second World War, Lindsay enlisted again, and served in a staff post in the Norwegian campaign in 1940 where he was mentioned in despatches. In July 1944 Lindsay was placed in command of the 1st Battalion The Gordon Highlanders, in the 51st Highland Division. He commanded sixteen parachute operations between July 1944 and May 1945, being again mentioned in despatches, wounded in action, and receiving the Distinguished Service Order. He ended the war as a Lieutenant-Colonel. As was already his pattern, he wrote up his experiences in "So Few Got Through: The Diary of an Infantry Officer" in 1946; this was followed by a recap of his Arctic exploits in "Three Got Through: Memoirs of an Arctic Explorer" the following year.

Following WW2, he was elected to Parliament and was an MP for many years.


British former army officer and explorer Sir Martin Lindsay (1905 - 1981), Conservative MP for Solihull, 1962. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) - photo taken in 1962

If anyone has is book, So Few Got Through, does it make any mention of the 5th Battalion Scots Guards?

[macintosh]

There is a reference to the 5th Scots Guards in Freddy Spencer-Chapman's book "The Jungle is Neutral" chapter one "in search of war"


Regards

James

Right flank is the senior company in Scots Guards but they were just rifle companies, now of course they are mechanised infantry with far greater roles than "just" rifle company.

[daveyg]

Nigel, I did notice G. Neville’s name on the posted list of the Left Flank Company & he is indeed one of the ‘Halifax Hundred’ though currently I do not possess much info on him nor regrettably do I have a photo of him. I did not have him on my list of the six known men who had volunteered so this was a wonderful find. I do know he enlisted in the 2nd Manchesters in the summer of 1939 & had returned to them after the ski battalion was disbanded. He was later evacuated from Dunkirk. I don’t know where he went after that but the information you’ve provided might assist me in locating his family. Thank you so much.

Chris, your father’s photographs are brilliant! All I ever had of the group was that old newspaper clipping so to see these great shots of the men means a great deal to me. Thank you for sharing them.

I have included brief bio’s of the six men that either through newspaper reports or family confirmation have them serving in this unit.
Attached photo (L-to-R):

Arnold ‘Slim’ Carver
Italy Cross, Nova Scotia Canada
Enlisted in the 2nd Manchesters April 1939. Volunteered for 5th (Ski) Battalion Scots Guards & returned to the Manchesters after unit was disbanded. Served in France & safely evacuated from Dunkirk. In 1941 transferred to the West Nova Scotia Regiment serving in Sicily, Italy & Northwest Europe. Wounded late in the war Arnold was Acting Company Sergeant Major at time of discharge in 1945. Passed away December 1988 Bridgewater NS - Age 69.

Charles ‘Norm’ Eisener
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Canada
Enlisted in the 2nd Manchesters March 1939. Volunteered for 5th (Ski) Battalion Scots Guards & returned to the Manchesters after unit was disbanded. Served in France & safely evacuated from Dunkirk. In 1941 transferred to the Canadian Army serving in Sicily, Italy & Northwest Europe. Served as Field Marshall Montgomery’s driver during the Northwest Europe campaign. Passed away Middleton, NS 1995 - Age 78

Jack Foster
Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada
Enlisted in the 2nd Manchesters March 1939. Volunteered for 5th (Ski) Battalion Scots Guards & returned to the Manchesters after unit was disbanded. Served in France & safely evacuated from Dunkirk. Reported to be serving in the Merchant Navy at the end of the war. I am still attempting to locate Jack’s family.

Donald Morrison
Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada
Enlisted in the 2nd Manchesters March 1939. Volunteered for 5th (Ski) Battalion Scots Guards & returned to the Manchesters after unit was disbanded. Served in France & safely evacuated from Dunkirk. Palestine Police Force at the end of the war. I am still attempting to locate Don’s family.

Richard Serrick
Jollimore, Nova Scotia Canada
Enlisted in the 2nd Manchesters November 1938. Volunteered for 5th (Ski) Battalion Scots Guards & returned to the Manchesters after unit was disbanded. Wounded in France May 1940. Transferred to the Royal Artillery in 1941 serving the remainder of the war in Burma returning home in 1946. Also served in the RCA 1949-1956. Passed away April 2007 New Glasgow, NS. - Age 88

Edward Vere-Holloway
Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada
Enlisted in the 2nd Manchesters March 1939. Volunteered for 5th (Ski) Battalion Scots Guards though he did not return to the Manchesters after unit was disbanded. I have just located Edward’s family so hopefully I will soon have more to share on his life.

Cheers,

Dave

[Cankiwi]

Thx Dave, thats interesting indeed.

And one more photo (from the Scots Guards website) - Sgt A D Stirling. Assume it is from the 5th Battalion as this was the only period he was not an Officer/