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2/6th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment
If you can provide any additional information, especially on actions and locations at specific dates, please add it here.
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Those known to have served with 2/6th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment during the Second World War 1939-1945. - Havard Maldwyn Douglas. Pte
- Miles George Henry. Cpl.
- Russon Eric George. Pte.
- Shaw Harold. Pte. (d.16th July 1944)
- Stanton William Charles. CSM. (d.6th Aug 1944)
- Wilson Charles Clement. Pte.
- Wright MM. Walter. Pte.
- Wright William Alfred. Cpl
The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please
Add a Name to this List
Records of 2/6th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment from other sources.
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Want to know more about 2/6th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment? There are:1317 items tagged 2/6th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Pte Maldwyn Douglas Havard 2/6th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment Mal Havard transferred from the 11th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment to the 2/6th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment on 15th of July 1944.
On the 16th July the 2/6th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment took part in Operation Pomegranate, an attack of Noyers-Bocage in Normandy, in an attempt to divert German forces away from Caen.
Mal's military service record lists him as missing in action on 16th, but was later listed as injured in a military hospital.
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Pte. Charles Clement Wilson 7th Btn. Seaforth Highlanders Charlie Wilson joined the army on the 20th of May 1943 under The National Service act 1939-41
On the 21st of September 1943 he was posted to A Coy. 2/6th South Staffordshire Regiment. On the 19th of July 1944 he embarked to Normandy and
landed at Arramarches on the 21st of June. His first action was in Hogues, Normandy. On the 28th of August 1944 he was posted to 33 Reinforcement Holding Unit and on 3rd of September transferred to the Highland Light Infantry and posted to Glasgow. On the 1st of October he was posted to the 7th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders. He travelled through France to Belgium, to Holland then to Germany reaching the port of Keil Germany for VE Day 8th of May 1945.
He was released from Territorial Army 25th of April 1946 into the TA
stamped "Bridging Room, No. 11 Infantry Holding Battalion". He earned the 1939-45 Star, France Germany Star and the War Medal 1939-45.
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Pte. Walter Wright MM. 2/6th Btn. South Staffordshire Regiment Walter Wright was awarded the MM.
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CSM. William Charles Stanton 2/6th Btn. South Staffordshire Regiment (d.6th Aug 1944)  Our family does not know much about Bill Stanton, well his time in the Army anyway. Family deaths have broken the family up, and the elders that knew our family history and about Bill have all passed on. So all we really have is his War Graves Certificate. My mother remembers her mom always saying it was her Uncle Bill who chose her name for her. He always said, "if it's a girl, call her Yvonne". My great uncle Bill died 6th of August 1944 and my mom was born the following week.A kind gentleman, Adrian Andrews, offered some information on Bill as follows: Your great uncle with the 2nd/6th South Staffs at the time when he was killed. Prior to August, the 59th Division was engaged as a part of Operation Pomegranate (16th-18th July) attempting to take the fortified village of Noyers Bocage. 2/6th Battalion, as part of 177 Brigade, was much involved in the fighting that occurred there. In the first week of August the Division advanced towards the River Orne. The plan was to force a crossing and to form a bridgehead over the river at a place called Grimbosq. 176 Brigade of the 59th was to form and hold this bridgehead, whilst 177 Brigade moved further south in order to take the high ground that overlooked the river and the major town of Thury Harcourt. The Brigade advanced from the area of Noyers Bocage and on the 6th August, the fateful day for your great uncle, the 2nd/6th were in the area of La Roque. This location was roughly at the start of a series of ridges that approached the river. Each of these ridges as you move towards the banks of the Orne become successively higher and are therefore rather hard to overcome in a military sense. The British were often in full view of the enemy who also had the great advantage of being above the attackers. To take this high ground would gain control over the area and give access to the all important road that runs through Thury Harcourt in the direction of Falaise, which was where the German 7th Army and 5th Panzer Army were destroyed (in the infamous Falaise Pocket). La Roque was the objective of 1st/6th South Staffs and the 2nd/6th South Staffs were in the area. I have attached a map of the area with the locations of A, B, C and D Companies of 2nd/6th Battalion on the 6th August marked up. The position of the Battalion HQ is also noted. An attack by the Battalion was planned for that day but was put off. The war diary does not say much about casualties sustained on the 6th, however, it is noted that at 8.30 in the evening, a shell landed in the B Company area which resulted in 5 casualties, the CSM Stanton being reported as killed. If your great uncle was in B Company, he may be one of the reported casualties. To put the map in the right perspective, look up Thury Harcourt on Google maps and look for the distinctive loop in the River Orne. This loop is on the right-hand side of the close-up map. If you go to the cemetery in Fontenay-le-Pesnil (incidentally this is the 59th Divisional Cemetery the majority of plots belong to the men of the South Staffs who fell in the July/August fighting) you must also go to the modest but very poignant museum in Thury Harcourt (the town liberated by the 59th). It has recently been set up in the Old Fire Station to the memory of the men of the 59th (Staffordshire) Division. 50% of the proceeds of my book are to be donated to the museum to help them maintain the collection and to expand the museum into additional rooms as their collection grows.
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