The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers (RNF) became Royal in 1935 on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of George V. In 1937, in a reorganisation of the army the RNF was one of four regiments to be converted to a Machine-gun regiment, the other three were the Cheshire, Middlesex and Manchester Regiments. When war broke out the regiment consisted of the two Regular battalions and eight Territorial Army battalions in varying roles - the 4th to 9th and two tank battalions 43rd and 49th Royal Tank Regiment) formed from the 6th Battalion; two more battalions,10th and 70th, described as non-Field Force, were formed in October 1939 and September 1940. In contrast, in the Great War there were 51 battalions. The Roll of Honour lists 895 dead (16,000 in WWI), two VCs were awarded and 29 Battle Honours (5 and 67 in the previous war). Between them the battalions served in France (1939/40), N Africa, Singapore, Italy, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, NW Europe (1944/45), India and Greece. Although officially a machine-gun regiment during the period 1937 to 1945, some battalions of the RNF were given other roles, in some cases permanently, in others temporarily, e.g., the 5th became a Search Light regiment RA, the 8th Battalion a Reconnaissance battalion. All these changes are made clear as the narrative proceeds. Despite the title the book takes the history from the end of the Great War and describes the period between wars. In general it is set out in chronological order, although there is some departure from this in detail. This is due partly to campaigns and other events overlapping, and partly to the need to give some degree of continuity to the story of each battalion. In addition to the list of the dead of WWII and a summary of Honours and Awards in tabular form, there are also, in a separate appendix, details of the 1st Battalion casualties in Korea (69 dead, 319 wounded, missing and PoW), and the list of awards. Another appendix gives the names of all battalion commanding officers throughout the war. This is a very business like, well written and well laid out history, easy to follow.

The exploits of the twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-second, and twenty-third (Service) Battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers during the Great War—“Harder Than Hammers.” Although called the Tyneside Scottish, very few of the men who made up this Brigade were of Scottish descent. Many came from local villages or were from the Northumberland pits. They saw action at the Battle of the Somme and after it were allowed to put tartan behind their cap badges because of their bravery. “This remarkable product of much research includes lists of those who received gallantry awards and of officers and other ranks. It is an informative book which will be of great help to anyone researching the Tyneside Scottish during WWI and which will also act as a keepsake for those who have a particular interest in the regiments.” —Northumberland & Durham Family History Society

Story of the 79th Armoured Division from October 1942 to June 1945 - Hamburg: BAOR. 1945. Hobart's "funnies" (DD tanks, Crabs, Crocodiles, Kangeroos, Arks, Buffaloes &c., Normandy to Germany.

This book tells the story of the Queen s Own Royal West Kent Regiment from the aftermath of the Great War in 1920 down to the wake of the Second World War in 1950. The RWK did garrison duty in India and the occupied Rhineland in the early 1920s, and in policing the turbulent north and south of Ireland during the Irish independence struggle. The author calls 1923-32 the lean years when post-war cutbacks hit the RWK hard. After 1933, however, the growing prospect of war with Nazi Germany meant gradual rearmament and partial mechanisation. In 1938-39 the RWK s second battalion policed Palestine against Arab unrest. The final months before war saw hasty preparation and expansion; and after war broke out most battalions crossed to Franceand Belgium as part of the BEF. Here they found themselves on the old battlefields of the Great War and even at Oudenarde, scene of one of Marlborough; s victories. Swept up in the German Blitzkrieg of May 1940, the 6th and 7th battalions were overrun at Doullens and Albert; while the Queen s Own Brigade were embarked in the Dunkirk evacuation. From June 1940 new battalions were recruited; the 2nd Battalion defended Malta and the 4th and 5th battalions joined the Eighth Army in Egypt; fighting at the battles of Alam Halfa and Alamein and also seeing service in Iraq. The 1st and 6th battalions joined Operation Torch , the Anglo-American invasion of French Algeria in November 1942; and fought the Germans in the tough Tunisian campaign. The 6th battalion was present at the invasion of Sicily, fighting in the fooothills of Mount Etna and was joined by the 1st and 5th battalions in the Italian campaigns, fighting at Cassino and slogging up the Peninsula to Florence, the Gothic Line and finally entering Austria. Meanwhile the 1st battalion had been in Greece, where it was caught up in the politicial in-fighting in Athens in December 1944; and the 4th battalion had formed part of Slim s forgotten army in Burma. In the five years after the war the RWK underwent extensive re-organisation while serving in Egypt and occupied Germany and in Malaya. With a Roll of Honour, 30 maps and 42 photographs. The text is accompanied by six appendices listing honours and awards, officers in campaigns, Home Guard units, Colonels and CO s etc.