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    Blackbird

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    1. That is interesting, thank you for adding it to my thread
    2. The Second World War has been a little harder, so far all I`ve been able to find out is.. During the Second World War The Royal Welch Fusiliers raised 13 battalions, five of which saw action in North West Europe, Madagascar, and Burma. Can anyone tell me who they were?
    3. Battalions of the regular army 1st Battalion: August 1914 : in Malta. Returned to England, landing at Southampton 3 September 1914. 3 September 1914 : attached to 22nd Brigade, 7th Division. Landed at Zeebrugge 7 October 1914. 2nd Battalion: August 1914 : in Portland. 11 August 1914 : landed at Rouen as Lines of Communication troops. 22 August 1914 : attached to 19th Brigade, which was not allocated to a Division but an independent command. 12 October 1914 : transferred with Brigade to 6th Division. 31 May 1915 : transferred with Brigade to 27th Division. 19 August 1915 : transferred with Brigade to 2nd Division. 25 November 1915 : transferred with Brigade to 33rd Division. 6 February 1918 : transferred to 115th Brigade, 38th Division. 3rd (Reserve) Battalion: August 1914 : administratively headquartered in Wrexham bbut physically in Pembroke Dock. A training unit, it remained in UK throughout the war. Returned to Wrexham on 9 August 1914 but moved to Litherland near Liverpool in May 1915. Moved to Ireland in November 1917 and by the end of the war was at Limerick. Battalions of the Territorial Force 1/4th (Denbighshire) Battalion: August 1914 : in Wrexham. Part of North Wales Brigade, Welsh Division. Moved immediateley on mobilisation to Conway and at teh end of the month to Northampton. 6 November 1914 : left Brigade and landed at Le Havre. 7 December 1914 : attached to 3rd Brigade, 1st Division. 1 September 1915 : transferred to 47th Division as Pioneers. 2/4th (Denbighshire) Battalion: Formed at Wrexham in September 1914 as a home service ("Second line") unit. Moved to join Welsh Division at Northampton on 22 November 1914. Moved in December 1914 to Cambridge. 22 April 1915 : attached to 203rd Brigade, 68th Division at Northampton. Moved to Bedford in July 1915, Aldeburgh in November 1916 and Henham Park (Halesworth) in May 1917. Finally moved to Yarmouth in October 1917. March 1918 : disbanded. 1/5th (Flintshire) Battalion: August 1914 : in Flint. Part of North Wales Brigade, Welsh Division. Moved immediateley on mobilisation to Conway and at the end of the month to Northampton. Moved to Cambridge in December 1914 and Bedford in May 1915. 13 May 1915 : formation became 158th Brigade, 53rd (Welsh) Division. Sailed from Devonport on 19 July 1915 for Gallipoli, going via Imbros and disembarking Suvla Bay on 9 August 1915. 3 August 1918 : amalgamated with 1/6th Bn to form the 5/6th Bn. 2/5th (Flintshire) Battalion: Formed at Flint in September 1914 as a home service ("Second line") unit. 22 April 1915 : attached to 203rd Brigade, 68th Division at Northampton. Moved to Bedford in July 1915, Westleton in November 1916 and Henham Park (Halesworth) in May 1917. Finally moved to Yarmouth in October 1917. 16 March 1918 : disbanded. 1/6th (Carnarvonshire & Anglesey) Battalion: August 1914 : in Carnarvon. Part of North Wales Brigade, Welsh Division. Moved immediateley on mobilisation to Conway and at the end of the month to Northampton. Moved to Cambridge in December 1914 and Bedford in May 1915. 13 May 1915 : formation became 158th Brigade, 53rd (Welsh) Division. Sailed from Devonport on 19 July 1915 for Gallipoli, going via Imbros and disembarking Suvla Bay on 9 August 1915. 3 August 1918 : amalgamated with 1/6th Bn to form the 5/6th Bn. 2/6th (Carnarvonshire & Anglesey) Battalion: Formed at Carmarthen in September 1914 as a home service ("Second line") unit. 22 April 1915 : attached to 203rd Brigade, 68th Division at Northampton. Moved to Bedford in July 1915, Southwold in November 1916 and Henham Park (Halesworth) in May 1917. 8 September 1917: disbanded. 1/7th (Merioneth & Montgomery) Battalion: August 1914 : in Newtown. Part of North Wales Brigade, Welsh Division. Moved immediateley on mobilisation to Conway and at the end of the month to Northampton. Moved to Cambridge in December 1914 and Bedford in May 1915. 13 May 1915 : formation became 158th Brigade, 53rd (Welsh) Division. Sailed from Devonport on 19 July 1915 for Gallipoli, going via Imbros and disembarking Suvla Bay on 9 August 1915. 24 June 1918: transferred to 160th Brigade in same Division. 2/7th (Merioneth & Montgomery) Battalion: Formed at Newtown in September 1914 as a home service ("Second line") unit. 22 April 1915 : attached to 203rd Brigade, 68th Division at Northampton. Moved to Bedford in July 1915, Wrentham in November 1916. Absorbed the 2/1st Brecknockshire Battalion of the South Wales Borderers in same month. Moved to Henham Park (Halesworth) in May 1917. 12 September 1917: disbanded. 3/4th to 3/7th Battalions: Formed in Wrexham, Flint, Carnarvon and Newtown in March, May (3/6th) and June (3/7th) 1915 respectively. 8 April 1916 : became 4th - 7th Reserve Bns. 1 September 1916 : 4th absorbed the 5th, 6th and 7th Bns., in the Welsh Reserve Brigade at Oswestry. Moved in March 1918 to Kinmel (Rhyl) and in July 1918 to Herne Bay in Kent. 23rd Battalion: Formed at Mundesley on 1 January 1917 from what had previously been the 47th Provisional Battalion of the TF. It had been formed in June 1915 from "Home Service only" personnel. Moved to Bacton in June 1917 and on to Hemby in Norfolk in September 1917. 24th (Denbighshire Yeomanry) Battalion: 1 March 1917 : formed in Egypt from dismounted Denbighshire Yeomanry. 1 March 1917 : attached to 231st Brigade, 74th Division. Moved to France in early May 1918. 21 June 1918 : transferred to 94th Brigade, 31st Division. 25th(Montgomery & Welsh Horse Yeomanry) Battalion: 4 March 1917 : formed in Egypt from dismounted Montgomery & Welsh Horse Yeomanry. 1 March 1917 : attached to 231st Brigade, 74th Division. Moved to France in early May 1918. Battalions of the New Armies 8th (Service) Battalion: Formed at Wrexham in August 1914 as part of K1 and attached to 40th Brigade, 13th (Western) Division. Moved to Salisbury Plain but by February 1915 was at Blackdown. Moved to Mudros in July 1915 and subsequently served in Gallipoli, Egypt and Mesopotamia. 9th (Service) Battalion: Formed at Wrexham on 9 September 1914 as part of K2 and attached to 58th Brigade, 19th (Western) Division. Moved to Tidworth but by December 1914 was in billets in Basingstoke. Returned to Tidworth in March 1915. Landed at Boulogne 19 July 1915. 10th (Service) Battalion: Formed at Wrexham on 16 October 1914 as part of K3 and attached to 76th Brigade, 25th Division. Moved to Codford St Mary but by November 1914 was in billets in Bournemouth. Moved to Romsey 29 April 1915 and to Aldershot 3 June 1915. Landed at Boulogne 27 September 1915. 15 October 1915 : transferred with Brigade to 3rd Division. 8 February 1918 : disbanded in France. 11th (Service) Battalion: Formed at Wrexham on 18 October 1914 as part of K3 and attached to 67th Brigade, 22nd Division. Moved to Seaford and by December 1914 was in billets in St leonards. Returned to Seaford April 1915 but moved on to Aldershot in June 1915. Landed in Farnce early September 1915 but by 5 November 1915 was at Salonika. 12th (Reserve) Battalion: Formed in Wrexham in October 1914 as a Service Battalion of K4 and attached to 104th Brigade, original 35th Division. Moved to Tenby in February 1915. 10 April 1915 : became a Reserve battalion and moved to Kinmel (Rhyl). 1 September 1916 :converted into 62nd Battalion of 14th Reserve Brigade of Training Reserve. 13th (Service) Battalion (1st North Wales): Formed at Rhyl on 3 September 1914 by the Denbigh and Flint TF Associations, but transferred to the Welsh National Executive Committee on 10 October 1914. November 1914 : attached to 128th Brigade, 43rd Division at Llandudno. 28 April 1915 : formation became the 113th Brigade, 38th Division. Moved to Winchester in August 1915 and landed in France in December 1915. 14th (Service) Battalion: Formed at Llandudno on 2 November 1914 by the Welsh National Executive Committee. November 1914 : attached to 128th Brigade, 43rd Division. 28 April 1915 : formation became the 113th Brigade, 38th Division. Moved to Winchester in August 1915 and landed in France in December 1915. 15th (Service) Battalion (1st London Welsh): Formed at London on 20 October 1914. December 1914 : attached to 128th Brigade, 43rd Division. 28 April 1915 : formation became the 113th Brigade, 38th Division. Moved to Winchester in August 1915 and landed in France in December 1915. 27 February 1918 : disbanded in France. 16th (Service) Battalion: Formed at Llandudno in November 1914 by the Welsh National Executive Committee from recruits surplus to 13th Bn. November 1914 : attached to 128th Brigade, 43rd Division. 28 April 1915 : formation became the 113th Brigade, 38th Division. Moved to Winchester in August 1915 and landed in France in December 1915. 17th (Service) Battalion (2nd North Wales): Formed at Llandudno on 2 February 1915 and attached to 128th Brigade, 43rd Division. 28 April 1915 : formation became the 113th Brigade, 38th Division. Moved to Winchester in August 1915 and landed in France in December 1915. 18th (Reserve) Battalion (2nd London Welsh): Formed at Gray's Inn in London in February 1915 as a Service Bn. Moved to Bangor in June 1915. Between June and August 1915, was attached to 38th Division. August 1915 : became a Reserve battalion. 1 September 1916 : with the 20th Bn, became 63rd Battalion in 14th Reserve Brigade of Training Reserve. 19th (Service) Battalion: Formed March 1915 by the Welsh National Executive Committee as a Bantam Bn. With 38th Division at Deganwy until August 1915. September 1915 : transferred to 119th Brigade, 40th Division at Aldershot. Landed in France early June 1916. 6 February 1918 : disbanded in France. 20th to 22nd (Reserve) Battalions: Formed in North Wales as Reserve Bns. Moved to Kinmel Park (Rhyl). 1 September 1916 : 20th Bn, with the 18th Bn, became 63rd Battalion , and 21st and 22nd formed the 64th Battalion, both in 14th Reserve Brigade of Training Reserve. Other battalions raised by the regiment 26th (Service) Battalion: Formed from the 4th Garrison Guard Bn (see below) on 16 July 1918. Was at the time attached to 176th Brigade, 59th Division. 1st Garrison Battalion: Formed at Wrexham in July 1915, then to Gibraltar where it remained throughout the war. 2nd Garrison Battalion: Formed at Garswood Park (Wigan) on 21 October 1915. March 1916 to Egypt where it remained throughout the war. 3rd (Reserve) Garrison Battalion: Formed at Wrexham in February 1916. Moved to Abergele in November 1916 thence to Rhyl and Gobowen. Moved to Oswestry in June 1917 and to Ireland in November 1917, when it went to Cork. Went on to Crosshaven in March 1918. 4th Garrison Battalion: Formed at Bebington on 15 April 1916. June 1916 : moved to France, attached as Army Troops to Third Army. Renamed 4th Garrison Guard Bn in 1918. 16 May 1918 : attached to 176th Brigade, 59th Division. 16 July 1918 : renamed 26th (Service) Bn. 5th (Home Service) Garrison Battalion: Formed at Wrexham in August 1916 but soon moved to Barrow-in-Furness. Became the 12th Bn, the Royal Defence Corps in August 1917. 6th Garrison Battalion: Formed at Aintree in September 1916, and moved to Egypt in January 1917, remaining there throughout the war. 7th Garrison Battalion: Formed in January 1917 but disbanded next month. http://www.1914-1918.net/rwf.htm
    4. Hi Guys, I`m trying to put together a list of all the Battalions of the RWF for WW1 & WW2, so far I`ve got the Great War covered but could do with some help on the Second, if any can help me out then please fell free to add it to this thread, many thanks. BB.
    5. When the news of the tragedy reached the British Government they were in a panic. Britain could not afford the loss of ?5,000,000 in gold bullion. It would have to be recovered and quickly. Munitions were urgently needed for the war effort and without them, the war could be lost. There was only one man capable of retrieving the gold, and Commander Guybon Damant was that man. In 1906 Damant had set a world diving record of 210 feet during Naval endurance diving tests. His experiences as a salvage diver were well known to the Admiralty. Despite the danger and the fact that it was wartime, within a short period the 36-year-old Damant had gathered together a crack team of divers and crew. One of these was Augustus Dent. Damant knew Dent was a diver and had been aboard SS Laurentic when she sank. He sent for him at Whale Island, Portsmouth Harbour. Augustus recalled: “He said he wanted me to go with him because he knew I knew where the bullion room was." This incredible feat of salvage was unequalled anywhere. Of the 3,211 ingots, Damant and his divers had recovered all but 25. Under the worst conditions possible, a White Star Liner, sunk at a depth of 40 metres, had been salvaged and not one life had been lost in the five thousand dives that had taken place. Total recoveries over the seven years were 3,186 bars of gold. Recoveries were as follows: 1917 Number of bars salved 542 - 1918 Number of bars salved 0 1919 Number of bars salved 31 - 1920 Number of bars salved 7 1921 Number of bars salved 43 - 1922 Number of bars salved 895 1923 Number of bars salved 1,255 - 1924 Number of bars salved 129 Commander Damant died at his home on the Isle of Wight in 1954. In 1932 there was a further salvage operation mounted by the Mallet Salvage Company using first the salvage ship Estoy and then later the Attendant who despite having no compression chamber or an air-lift tube did recover five more bars of gold with only crow bars as tools. The Gold was found on the port side under 18 inches of shingle. It was outside Damant's 200 square yard working area but because it was laying under the ships plating on the sea floor they were unable to progress further and the work was abandoned as the company had run out of money. Total Number of bars salved by Commander Guybon Damant's team 3,186 Total Number of Bars salved by Mallet Salvage Company 5 Number of bars that went down in the wreck 3,211 There remain 20 gold ingots in the wreck lying Lough Swilly in County Donegal worth an estimated ?10m
    6. THE WHITE STAR LINE - SS LAURENTIC - GOLD SHARE LAUNCH On 29th April 2008 at 1:30pm, Mr Jim Rogers MLA - Lord Mayor of Belfast; Capt. Norman H. Jolin - Naval Adviser, Canadian Defence Liaison Staff, Canadian High Commission, London; Commodore Charles Stevenson CBE MA, Royal Navy Regional Commander together with other VIP's, will be attending a Champagne Reception aboard HMS Caroline in Alexandra Dock, Belfast. This commemorates the 99th anniversary of SS Laurentic's maiden voyage and the launch of a dedicated website about this historic ship built by Harland & Wolff in the same yard and on the same slipway as her more famous cousin, Titanic. These names symbolise the great era of Belfast ship building which led the world a century ago. As Belfast's remarkable renaissance gathers pace, it is fitting to see Harland & Wolff's 185 acre site regenerated into a spectacular new ?1billion Waterfront Titanic Quarter Development. SS Laurentic is one of the most famous and fascinating stories after the Titanic to be associated with Harland & Wolff and is therefore very much part of the historic Titanic Trail in Belfast. SS Laurentic was sunk by a German mine on 25th January 1917 with a huge loss of life of some 350 people and with gold bullion on board worth $3billion at today's prices. The ship had been en-route from Liverpool to Canada with the gold bullion to pay for munitions in WWI. The Laurentic website will be launched on 29th April 2008 selling shares in the Gold Bullion Ship which still has 20 gold bars buried in its watery grave, estimated to be worth over ?10 million at today's value. In addition, it will offer information on genealogy of emigrants to Canada who sailed on SS Laurentic, maritime history of the White Star Line, wreck diving opportunities and useful links. Visit the website http://www.laurentic.com ? The Lord Mayor of Belfast together with other VIP's will be presented with the first Laurentic Ltd share certificates by Derry man Ray Cossum, his brother Eric and son Des who are all joint owners of the SS Laurentic wreck, which they bought from the Ministry of Defence in 1969.
    7. Nazi gold 'shipped by U-boat to Argentina' Many millions of pounds of Nazi gold was sent across the Atlantic to the coast of Patagonia by submarine in the last days of the Second World War, according to a new and painstakingly researched Argentine documentary Oro Nazi en Argentina (Nazi Gold in Argentina). The funds went to finance major Nazi figures some of whom survive to this day, unashamed of their past. Many millions of pounds of Nazi gold was sent across the Atlantic to the coast of Patagonia by submarine in the last days of the Second World War, according to a new and painstakingly researched Argentine documentary Oro Nazi en Argentina (Nazi Gold in Argentina). The funds went to finance major Nazi figures some of whom survive to this day, unashamed of their past. The film received an enthusiastic reception at the recent Sao Paulo Film Festival and will be shown at the Brussels festival on Tuesday before going off to festivals in Spain and Cuba. Its creators hope to stage premieres in Argentina and the rest of the world early next year boosted by some international awards. Years of research have unearthed much new evidence about the dispatch of vast wealth from Germany to the Argentina of Juan Peron as Hitler's regime tottered and fell. "We got great evidence from staff at the U-boat museum at Laboe on the Baltic near Kiel", said Daniel Botti, who worked on the film. Aged Nazi survivors in South America had cheerfully recounted their experience to the film-makers, he added. "What they said was chilling." They include Wilfred von Oven, who had worked with Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda chief, and wrote for German-language newspapers in Argentina. Six decades after the events portrayed, the film makes uncomfortable watching for many in Germany, Switzerland and Argentina itself, as well as the Vatican. Interviews and reconstructions were shot on location with advice from experts such as Jean Ziegler, the former university lecturer who has infuriated many Swiss with his criticisms of their banks' connections with the Nazis. The film's producer, Rodolfo "Rolo" Pereyra, accuses Pope Pius XII of aiding the process and telling various senior clergy to collaborate with the organisers, notably Bishop Alois Hudal, an anti-semitic pro-Nazi who ran Santa Maria dell'Anima, the church of the German community in Rome, and Monsignor Krunoslav Draganovic. Draganovic was a Croat who ran the San Girolamo Institute in Rome where he hid associates of Ante Pavelic, the Nazi puppet who had ruled Croatia during that era. According to British intelligence files available at the National Archives at Kew, Draganovic's institute specialised in forging documents for fascist Croats helping some 7,250 Ustashi on their way to Argentina in 1946-48. The charge was $1,000 per person, or $1,400 for VIPs. He himself signed a false Red Cross travel document issued in the name of Altmann which was given to Klaus Barbie, the Gestapo's "Butcher of Lyons". Barbie was later extradited from Bolivia to face justice in France. In his book Peron y Los Alemanes (Peron and the Germans), the author Uki Goni recounts how Draganovic received Barbie from the hands of US intelligence agents at Genoa railway station and shepherded him on to an Argentine ship in March 1951. When Barbie asked why he was helping him to flee, Draganovic, who had aided Pavelic with ethnic cleansing operations in Croatia, replied: "We must preserve a sort of reserve off which we can feed in the future." The Vatican has long been linked to the organisation which funnelled Nazis and their wealth to South America when Peron was running Argentina. Peron, who served as Argentina's military attach? in Rome before the Second World War, was an intense admirer of Benito Mussolini and encouraged Nazi immigration in the 1940s. Peron employed Rodolfo Freude as head of information at the presidential palace. The son of a businessman and paymaster for the German spy network in Argentina, Freude had charge of the funds sent by submarine. He was helped by Werner Koennecke, who spied indiscriminately for the British, Germans and Argentines and who was married to Freude's sister Lily. Koennecke was arrested by the Argentine political police in 1944 but released after a few months on Peron's orders. Antonio Caggiano, archbishop of the Argentine city of Rosario and later of Buenos Aires, is often named as a link in the chain which guided the fleeing Nazis to their new life as he helped to cement deals between Peron and those fleeing war crimes trials in Europe. Caggiano visited Pius XII in Rome in 1946 to collect his cardinal's red hat and was subsequently closely associated with Argentine military dictatorships. But Rolo Pereyra himself will not be present to experience any more adulation or criticism from those whose actions figure in his work. The producer, still only in his early 50s, died suddenly late on Thursday in Buenos Aires, probably of a heart attack, as he was packing his bags for the flight to Europe.
    8. I read somewhere that Bormann, had been arrested with a suitcase full of counterfeit Krugerrands. It drew my attention as I was under the impression he`d been killed in Berlin in 1945?
    9. There is a very interesting book called Holocaust Gold, which has a chapter on the Swiss using their ill gotten gains, during the war, to mint gold coins after the war, in an attempt to launder all the gold they bought off thr Nazis. Its well worth a read!! If you can get hold of a copy.
    10. Kev, do they have any Orders like the British KBE, etc,etc? BB
    11. Hello, I`m new to the forum. Can anyone tell me which areas of operations this award was given for? Was there special units that fought the partisans or was it a general issue award. Putting it into todays circumstances, would it say be awarded to troops involved in counter insurgent operations like Iraq & Afganistan? BB
    12. Hello everyone, I`m trying to get hold of a Polish Cross of Monte Cassino. Can anyone suggest anywhere were I might be able to buy one, and how much I should be paying for one? I`ve tried Ebay & was very surprised that there were none on there for sale!
    13. The 1921-59 one looks very much like the WW2 German Arab Free Corps badge?
    14. I think I`m right in saying that they changed their flag after the first gulf war to this. I believe it makes some reference in the writing the mother of all battles, or something like that but I maybe wrong.
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