2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment
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| 2nd Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment |
|
|---|---|
| Active | 1881 - 1948 1952 - 1955 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Branch | British Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Size | One Battalion |
| Part of | York and Lancaster Regiment |
| Nickname | The Young and Lovelies |
| Battles/wars | Battle of Tel-el-Kebir World War I World War II |
| Battle honours | Mons Cambrai Ypres Somme Crete Tobruk Chindits |
The 2nd Bn, York and Lancaster Regiment was formed by the redesignation of the 84th (York and Lancaster) Regiment of Foot in 1881.
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[edit] History
The 2nd Battalions first action was with the Egyptian Expedition , under General Graham's brigade in 1882, where it fought at the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir . From Egypt it was sent to Bermuda , Nova Scotia , South Africa and Limerick in Ireland by 1912.
[edit] World War I
During the First World War the 2nd Battalion served in France and Flanders with the 16th Brigade , 6th Division . At the outbreak of war the battalion was based in Ireland from there they were hurried to the front in Belgium, they arrived shortly after the Battle of the Marne . They relieved greatly reduced battalions of The Lincolnshire Regiment and the Royal Scots Fusiliers and received their first casualties (three killed and eleven wounded) that night from German artillery.
The 2nd Battalion fought through the fighting in 1915 and was involved in the first battle that used tanks toward the end of the Somme campaign in 1916. The battalion was involved in most of the battles of 1917 and 1918. Private John Caffrey was awarded the only Victoria Cross won by the battalion during World War I in November 1915.
In 1919 the battalion was sent to Iraq with the 17th Division's 51st Brigade .
[edit] Inter-War Years
After the Great War the 2nd Battalion spent from 1921 to 1939 on overseas duty in India and the Sudan .
[edit] World War II
At the out break of the Second World War the 2nd Battalion was based in Khartoum in the Sudan on garrison duties. In July 1940 they were moved to Egypt and then to Palestine where they became part of the 14th Infantry Brigade . The battalion was again part of the 6th Division . In May 1940 the Brigade moved to Cairo and then broken up. The 2nd Battalion went to Alexandria . On the 28th October Lieutenant-Colonel Sim, C.O. of the battalion, was told by Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham , commanding the British Eastern Mediterranean Fleet, that the battalion was now on loan to the Royal Navy and would be moving to Crete as soon as possible in the cruiser HMS Ajax. On the 1st November, 1940, the battalion sailed for Crete, arriving at Suda Bay on the 2nd November. Their arrival was met by an attack by the Italian Air Force, Lance-Corporal Loosemore and Private Lister were both wounded. They were the battalions first casualties of the Second World War.
On 31st December 1940 Lieut.Col.Sim went to Egypt and Maj.A.Gilroy (Black Watch), who would later command the 14th Infantry Brigade, took command of the battalion. The 14th Brigade was reformed around the 2nd Yorks and Lancs and 2nd Black Watch and under the command of Brig.B.H.Chappel DSO . The brigade spent its time building defences on the island, but these were limited. Little happened on Crete until April 1941 when the Allied forces in Greece were evacuated.
[edit] Battle of Crete
With the surrender of Greece in 1941 Crete was thrust into the war. The 2nd Battalion, Yorks and Lancs along with the 2nd Bn, Black Watch and 2nd Bn,The Leicestershire Regiment were tasked with the defence of Heraklion airfield.
From the middle of May 1941 air attacks against Heraklion increased to four or five a day until 20th May when troop carriers dropped paratroopers at Maleme airfield on the west of the island. Warning reached Heraklion as their own share of German troop transports were spotted arriving at about 400 feet four abreast in long columns that stretched out of sight. This was the largest of the German parachute formations made up of the 1st Fallschirmjager Regiment, 2nd Battalion from the 2nd Fallschirmjager Regiment and an AA Machine Gun Battalion under the command of Col.Bruno Brauer.
The three battalions of the 14th Brigade managed to destroy nearly all the German parachute troops that were landed at Heraklion on the 20th May apart from a small pocket, the brigade inflicted massive casualties on the enemy paratroopers.
"In a matter of seconds the air was full of parachutes slowly descending to the ground. The moment the Battalion had waited for had come. Intense small-arms fire caused very heavy casualties among the enemy. Of those who escaped death in the air, the majority were killed on the ground, before they had time to get clear of their harness, by small parties of men rushing from their slit trenches with bayonets and bombs. The tanks and carriers also came out of their hiding-places and massacred all those who landed in the open." 2nd Battalion War Diary
The three battalions of the 14th Brigade managed to destroy nearly all the German parachute troops that were landed at Heraklion on the 20th May apart from a small pocket, the brigade inflicted massive casualties on the enemy paratroopers.
"The enemy fared no better at the hands of the other units of the garrison. Of about 1,000 enemy troops who had come down inside the perimeter, over 900 of them had been buried by noon the next day. Small parties and odd individuals of course escaped, but these were mopped up during the next few days. Quite a large force, however, had fallen clear of the perimeter and parties of them were heard calling to each other after dark; they made no attempt to attack, being possibly too shaken by what had happened to their comrades. Thus the day ended in complete victory for the Heraklion garrison and the total failure of the Germans to achieve their object of capturing the aerodrome by direct airborne attack." 2nd Battalion War Diary
After this attempt the Germans did not try to land any more paratroopers at Heraklion instead they built up their forces outside the perimeter.
Before the Germans were able to complete the encirclement of Heraklion a company from the 1st Battalion , Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders joined the defence from Tymbaki on the south coast.
The German forces from Maleme landed four more companies of troops in the vicinity of Heraklion which successfully linked up with the survivors of the first landings and launched counter attacks on the British positions. The fighting at this time was extremely fierce but the Yorks and Lancs held their positions. By the 28th May the position on the island as a whole had been lost and General Freyberg ordered the evacuation. When the men of the 14th Brigade heard of the evacuation they were astonished; "as to them the whole battle of the last ten days had seemed to have been eminently successful." Hist.
[edit] The Evacuation
The evacuation was badly attacked during the withdrawal to Alexandria with over one-fifth of the 4,000 troops evacuated being killed, wounded or captured on the voyage out. The destroyer HMS Imperial (D09) suffered mechanical failure and had to be sunk by the Hotspur and due to the delay, caused by transferring men over to the other ships, the convoy was still well within reach of the Luftwaffe and Italian Airforce . The Hereward was sunk (her survivors were rescued by the Italians). Both the Dido and the Orion suffered massive bomb damage with heavy casualties amongst the crew and troops packed onboard both ships. Some 600 troops were killed or captured before the convoy could reach safety.
After a brief period of recovery in Egypt the 2nd Battalion was sent with the 14th Brigade to fight the Vichy French forces in Syria . As they arrived at Damascus the French had surrendered. The battalion remained in Syria on occupational duty until mid-October 1941 when they moved to Alexandria to a staging camp from where they would be sent to Tobruk to relieve the besieged Australian 9th Division .
[edit] Battle of Tobruk
The 6th Infantry Division was renumbered as the 70th Infantry Division and given a new commander (Maj.Gen. Ronald Scobie) for deception purposes and were sailed into Tobruk by the Royal Navy from 19th August to 25th October 1941.
The 70th Division along with the Polish Carpathian Brigade , a Czech brigade and the 2/13th Australian Infantry Battalion , which missed the boat out, settled into the considerable defences. The 2nd Battalion was placed in the 2nd line (Blue Line) of defences. In November the garrison was informed of its role in the up coming Operation Crusader in which the 70th Division would have to break out through the besieging German and Italian force and link up with Eighth Army .
The 2nd Battalion were one of the leading battalions in the break out. They suffered massive casualties assaulting the enemy positions and while the relief force got held up fighting toward Tobruk the battalions of the 70th Division had to hold the positions they had gained and wait. The battle ended up virtually like the trench warfare of the First World War.
Operation Crusader turned into weeks of attrition the cost of which finally pushed Rommel away from the perimeter of Tobruk allowing Eighth Army to lift the siege. Tobruk would not stay liberated long; during the Battle of Gazala in 1942 the fortress fell with the Axis forces taking thousands of prisoners of war .
[edit] Chindits
The 2nd Battalion, however, did not remain in North Africa to see the fall of Tobruk instead they were to head to one of the most difficult fighting terrains in the Second World War, on the 28th February 1942 the 70th Division was put aboard ships headed for India to help stop the rapid advance of the Japanese Army in Burma . The 70th Infantry Division, consisting of regular army troops, was considered one of the better and more experienced of the British divisions operating at this stage of the war. The Far East Command fully appreciated the arrival of this formation but instead of using the division as a complete formation it was decided to break it up for long range infiltration operations behind Japanese lines much against the wishs of General Slim , commander of the Fourteenth Army . The units of the division were converted into Chindit brigades and the battalions were organised into columns. The 2nd Battalion became the 65th and 84th columns in the 14th Chindit Brigade.
After months of training and waiting for the right opportunity Operation Thursday began on 5th February 1944 , this was the second large scale Chindit operation (Operation Longcloth happened in 1943). The 14th Brigade was flown into a landing strip (called Aberdeen) cut out of the jungle by the 16th Brigade. From Aberdeen the battalion sent out missions to attack Japanese supply lines and communications.
After the death in a plane crash of the commander and creator of the Chindits Maj.Gen.Orde Wingate on March 24th, decisions were made and the plans were changed. Without the force of Wingate driving the operation forward focus for the Chindit forces was switched to battles on the Indian border at Kohima.
The 14th Brigade with the 2nd Yorks and Lancs took an incredible and exhausting march through the heavy jungle, heading north to operate with US Gen.Joe Stillwell . The brigade lost many men on the march and when they arrived were not in a condition to fight immediately. The 14th Brigade remained in action supporting the newly formed 36th Infantry Division until August 1944. Most of the casualties suffered during this campaign were from malaria , dysentery and malnutrition . The battalion was then moved to India and did not take part in any further operations.
During the Second World War the 2nd Battalion had fought against the Germans, Italians, Japanese and the Vichy French in four different campaigns and in extremely different environments.
[edit] Post 1945
In 1947 the 2nd Battalion was given orders for disbanding and amalgamation with the 1st Battalion . It was reformed in 1952 but disbanded again in 1955. In 1968 the York and Lancaster Regiment chose to disband rather than amalgamate further. The colours were laid up in Sheffield Cathedral ending 210 years of the regiment's history. The name would be carried on by The Hallamshire Battalion in various forms.
