Dad in italy November 1945?

[cbhasin]

I have photographs of my Dad in Italy late 1945-1946. His mother kept a record that he was in Cortina,Taranto, Treviso, Trieste, Mestre, Padua  and visited Venice.I have recently received a copy of his service record but Italy isn't mentioned. He was in the north Staffordshire regiment.

I know Italy surrendered in may 1945 so I wondered if anyone had any ideas what my Dad might have been doing in Italy at that time, or recommend any books websites that might help.

Thank you for any thoughts
Christine

[MaxD]

Would you like to post the parts of his record that cover the 1944/46 period?  I believe only 2nd battalion N Staffs were in Italy and they left for Palestine in Jan 1945. It sounds as if he may have been serving in some other unit although still cap badged N Staffs, a quite normal situation.  His record may show this.  Before looking specifically, finding out who he was serving with and when will be key.

MaxD

[cbhasin]

Thank you so much, Max. The writing is so small on the service record it was very hard to read in places. I sent for a magnifying glass that just arrived in the post this morning! Your right it says he was transferred to 7th battalion north Staffs 22 June 1945 and posted. Not 2nd though 

So he was in the 70th Battalion Royal Warwickshires then 9th Batallion  then 7th battalion North Staffs

Final destination CMF ?
 

[MaxD]

Getting there slowly!  CMF is Central Mediterranean Force, the overall title for the force in Italy.

70th Battalion Warwicks was a "young soldiers'" battalion for men of 18 and 19, formed in 1941, remained in UK, disbanded in 1943.

9th North Staffs was converted to an RAC unit in 1941 and served in UK, disbanding in 1943.

7th N Staffs seems to have gone to Italy in November 1945 from UK which should show in the 7th Staffs entries .  There were still POW camps that needed guarding in Italy in 45/46 together with other occupation type tasks

Are you able to cross check dates to this sequence?

MaxD

[Spikey68]

The 7th North Staffordshire Regiment was part of the occupying force at the Morgan Line between November 1945 and August 1946. The Morgan Line was the line seperating the zones occupied by the British and the Yugoslavs. Trieste was a disputed zone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Line

[cbhasin]

Thank you so much MaxD and Spikey68 for your help. I have plenty of leads to follow now and all the photographs I have of my dad in Italy are meaning a lot more. In some, it looks like he was having a good time ice skating and visiting Venice.

[MaxD]

Good spot Spikey68!

More leads if you want them.  There are war diaries for 7 N Staffs at the National Archives https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_srt=3&_aq=diaries&_ep=7+north+staffordshire&_dss=range&_ro=any&_st=adv

covering home service at various dates but more relevantly the Italy service in Nov 45 to Jun 46 (the bottom two).  They are not digitised but can be seen at Kew and/or copied.

MaxD