|
The ‘Blackpool Regiment’:
A History of
137 (A) Fd Regt RA
A Resource for Family Historians
By Mike Coyle MSc BA(Hons)
November 2015
Little has been written about the untimely end of the Regiment and the events, and casualties that immortalise it. I have written about its legacy and remembrance. There is still sufficient curiosity in its origins and history and the lives of the men forever changed as consequence of their decision to join its ranks.
The story of the Blackpool Regiment is a tragic one; formed and virtually destroyed in three and a half years. Indeed, they were shipped into a theatre of war in September 1941 and eliminated over Christmas and the New Year of 1942. The Regiment was never reformed.
It was instigated locally, by local people, local people enlisted, trained, fought and died in their hundreds; some in action and some at the hands of a ruthless enemy, in deplorable conditions in the ‘Death Camps’ of the Far East, some simply with the strain of the journey home. In this story there is little to celebrate other than the courage of those who fought and died or returned home.
This story is in two parts. First the details of its pedigree and key personalities, and second the actual account of the ridiculously short life of 137. A series of Appendices are attached to support research by Family Historians and others interested in the men of the Blackpool Regiment and their families.
|
|
Origins of the ‘Blackpool Regiment’
|
|
|
Recruitment for the Battery
|
|
|
The War Diaries
|
|
|
Japanese Invasion of the Malay Peninsula
|
|
|
In to the ‘Bear Pit’
|
|
|
Prisoners of War
|
|
|
The ‘Death Railway’
|
|
|
Homecoming
|
|
|
Epilogue
|
|
|
In Memory
|
|
|
Sources and further information
|
|
|
