Men of the 4th Bn at Skage, Norway after marching 56 miles across the mountains to escape being cut off, April 1940. A Norwegian soldier is seen examining one of their rifles World War II was declared on 3 September 1939 and the two Territorial Army battalions, the 4th and the 6th, were called-up immediately. The 2nd battalion embarked for France in October 1939 and was followed by the 6th battalion in April 1940; both managed to return from Dunkirk. The 1st battalion, in India, didn't come into action until 1942. The Territorials of the 4th battalion were sent to Norway and were among the first British soldiers to come into contact against an advancing enemy in the field in World War II. Ill-equipped and without air support, they soon had to be evacuated. Within a few weeks, they were sent to garrison neutral Iceland. They trained as alpine troops during the two years they were there. The 6th battalion left for Algiers in January 1943. In September 1943, they took part in the landings at Salerno in Italy. The battalion returned to Egypt to refit in March 1944, by which time it had lost 518 killed, wounded or missing. It returned to Italy in July 1944 and, after more hard fighting, it sailed for Greece in December to help the civil authorities to keep order. In April 1945, the 6th Lincolns returned to Italy and then moved into Austria for occupation duties. The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps again provided two drafts; one in June, 1940, and a full company in 1944. Four Bermudians who served with the Lincolns during the war (three from the BVRC) reached the rank of Major with the regiment: Major General Glyn Gilbert (later of the Parachute Regiment), Lieutenant Colonel Robert Brownlow Tucker (the first Commanding Officer of the Bermuda Regiment, amalgamated from the BVRC and the Bermuda Militia Artillery in 1965), Major Anthony Smith (killed-in-action at Venrai, in 1944, and subject of an award-winning film, In The Hour of Victory), and Major Patrick Purcell, responsible for administering German newspapers in the British area of occupation.
Battle honours
Second World War:
Vist, Norway 1940, Dunkirk 1940, Normandy Landing, Cambes, Fontenay le Pesnil, Defence of Rauray, Caen, Orne, Bourguébus Ridge, Troarn, Nederrijn, Le Havre, Antwerp-Turnhout Canal, Venraij, Venlo Pocket, Rhineland, Hochwald, Lingen, Bremen, Arnhem 1945, North-West Europe 1940, '44-45, Sedjenane I, Mine de Sedjenane, Argoub Selah, North Africa 1943, Salerno, Vietri Pass, Capture of Naples, Cava di Terreni, Volturno Crossing, Garigliano Crossing, Monte Tuga, Gothic Line, Monte Gridolfo, Gemmano Ridge, Lamone Crossing, San Marino, Italy 1943-45, Donbaik, Point 201 (Arakan), North Arakan, Buthidaung, Ngakyedauk Pass, Ramree, Burma 1943-45
Portovrij? In NL boven € 200,-