Sgt James Shackleton (892893) of the 70th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, was from Baildon, near Bradford. Details of his war service and the photographs here are all courtesy of his son, Iain:
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‘He enrolled in the 70th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery four months before war broke out (his father had also been in the Royal Field Artillery during WW1, in the same regiment). After his training he was promoted to Lance Corporal. He then received his second stripe at the outbreak of war.
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‘The 70th Field Regiment went to France in 1940 as part of the 52nd Lowland Division. When the BEF had to withdraw, the 70th returned to the UK via Cherbourg with all their guns, vehicles and equipment intact. Not a gun was fired. They were later transferred to 46th North Midland Division, which went to Tunisia.
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'He sailed from Liverpool on Christmas Day 1942 on the Staffordshire, with the 16th DLI. The trip was uneventful apart from a storm that brewed up in the Bay of Biscay. The whole convoy had to change course and head into the storm to ride it out.
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‘He and his crew were assigned to 279 Battery, C Troop. He can't remember his CO's name, but his NCO was John Wise, who was also a very good friend. He tells me that during the battle of Sedjenane, he did not get to mix with the DLI as he was obviously ready at his 25-pounder. He also told me that the DLI were the fastest marchers he had ever seen, it looked like they were running. They were the best marching unit he had seen.’
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The DLI marched at the sppedy ‘Light Infantry pace’ of 140 paces to the minute, as opposed to the Army norm of 120 paces per minute.
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‘They had to shoot what was known as 'Supercharge', so the shells would carry over the hills and probably into the German occupied town on the other side. There were a few friendly kills which he is still sad about, due to receiving the wrong firing orders, or infantry soldiers advancing further than they should. This happened with all the gun crews.
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‘On March 26th 1943 his gun emplacement was hit by a German shell or mortar in which he suffered shrapnel injuries to his left arm and leg. He was only man injured. All he can remember from then is being in a hospital in Bone, Algeria and later being sent home on a hospital ship.’
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Sergeant James Shackleton was Mentioned in Despatches for his service in North Africa, in the London Gazette issue 23/9/43.
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By a remarkable stroke of luck, I've just realised that James Shackleton's friend Sgt John Wise, mentioned above, was interviewed for the excellent book War on the Ground 1939-45, by Colin John Bruce (Constable, 1995), which I bought several years ago. It is amazing how this research fits together! In that interview John Wise recalled:
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‘I was in Charlie Troop, 279 Battery, 70th Field Regiment. The Troop in turn was divided into two sections, Left Section and Right Section. My gun and crew were always 'A' sub, the others being 'B', 'C' and 'D'. I was No 1 on 'A' sub-section, the leading gun in the order of march and the first gun on the right when we occupied our gun positions. Everyone was RA, signallers, drivers and so on.’
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‘The 25-pounder had a crew of six: a Sergeant No 1, a Bombardier No 3 and numbers 2, 4, 5 and 6 were Gunners. No 2 operated the breech opening and closing. No 4 put the shell and cartridge in the gun. The driver of the gun-towing vehicle wasn't on the gun position, but moved down to the wagon lines at the rear..I was the No 1, a full sergeant, in charge of the gun. I gave all the fire orders and made checks on the ammo for correct charges, fuses and so on. I was responsible for getting the gun into action, ensuring gun pits and slit trenches were dug. The No 3 was the gun-layer and when he put settings on the dial site, I had to check it was correct before firing.'
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Iain Shackleton adds; ‘Dad was Number 1 on John's sub-section, the second gun on the right, next to John's gun. NEXT PAGE.
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