When 16 DLI entered the frontline at Sedjenane in Jan 43, 139 Brigade had its HQ in the village--in the railway station building which still stands. Also 'B Echelon' of 16 DLI--most of HQ Coy, motor transport, etc were based there too and in the woods to the north of the village, with only the four rifle companies forward on the hills to the east.
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When the Germans attacked on 27/2/43, the entire brigade (minus the Leicesters who had deployed elsewhere) was almost surrounded in the village and only narrowly managed to escape in a hectic and very hasty retreat to the west on 4/3/43. Abbott would have had his own vivid memories of this hasty retreat.
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Abbott was re-graded as X (1) on 3/1/43: 'Posted to X I List'. This means he was time-expired for frontline service.
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He was posted to No 3 Infantry Training and Reinforcement Depot on 30/7/43, most probably on the permanent staff. This was a large unit which retrained men who had been wounded and, later in the war, surplus artillery men as infantry, before sending them up to the front line as casualty replacements. In 7/43 it would have been based in North Africa, but later in the war may have moved to the Italian mainland.
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Sgt Henderson of the 16 DLI Mortar Platoon, later went through this same unit after being wounded at Salerno. He was there in 2/44. See this page:
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http://16dli.atspace.co.uk/page10.html
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Abbott was posted to ‘GHQ Second Echelon’ in 3./44, which was also known as ‘AFHQ Second Echelon' i.e. Allied Forces Second Echelon, and therefore the administrative tail of the whole Allied effort in the Med. This HQ later moved from North Africa to the Italian mainland.
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On the 3/2/45 Abbott was promoted to Unpaid Acting Warrant Officer Class 11 ('UA WO11') and then paid acting WO11 the same day ('PA WO11')
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He was posted from Italy direct to the British 21 Army Group in Northern Europe on 29/5/45,
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‘Embarked CMF: Central Mediterranean Forces Disembarked NWE, North West Europe, 31/5/45’
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He was posted to ‘General Headquarters, 2nd Echelon’, and was presumably engaged on similar work as in the CMF, which he did for the following two months, while waiting for his demob number to come up.
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On 3/8/45, he embarked NWE and disembarked UK the same day. He was 'SOS 21 AG': Struck Off Strength 21 Army Group, which was the entire British force in Northern Europe, under General Montgomery, on 4/8/45.
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His domobilisation ('demob') service group was 10C, which is a low number, The lower the number the quicker the demob, those who were older and with the longest time in uniform were the first to be released. As a pre-war regular, born in 1903 and with a continuous 1939-45 war service, he would near the front of the queue to get demobbed, which he duly was at Shorncliffe Barracks, Kent, on 3/8/45--with an entitlement to over three months leave based on his long overseas service. .
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It’s great to get the name and service details of yet another Beds and Herts NCO who was with the 16th DLI from the start.. Special thanks again to Andrew Cummings for letting me see the photographs and the service record of his Grandfather. Hopefully someone reading this will be able to add a few further pieces to the jigsaw.
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So, are there any other future DLI soldiers featured on these two 27 Company, Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps photographs?
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And where are those missing 1942 group photos of the HQ Platoons of 16 DLI? They must exist: the proof being that the one of the Mortar Platoon certainly does--because it’s on the site here.
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16 DLI HOME
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16 DLI PHOTOGRAPHS INDEX PAGE
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