Hello Friends of the forum. Greetings Red Baron!

May I briefly depart from the general theme of this forum and discuss other matters that are allied to the interests of members.

Firstly, My old Division. “Monty’s Ironsides”. “The Iron Division”. Or, The Third British Infantry Division. This was an old and established infantry division, a ‘regular army div’ And, one of long standing. They fought in the ill fated early conflict that culminated in Dunkirk and provided the rearguard that enabled many to get away. On their return to England, they were the only division that was completely re-equipped ready for the next phase of the war. The intention at that time, was to return to France to continue the battle. Unfortunately, by that time France had capitulated.

Being Field Marshal Montgomery’s old Division, it was destined to be the “Assault Division” on the heavily defended ‘Queen Red’ and ‘Queen white’ sectors of ‘Sword Beach’ when the time came to return and free the enslaved peoples of Europe.

This division suffered the highest casualty rate of any division that fought in North West Europe in 1944. Their casualties were roughly equal to their total strength. I have in my possession the list of casualties. Sadly, so many type written pages. One of the unusual things about the casualty lists, are the very high number of those missing in action (MIA) their bodies were never found.

The Division also had the distinction of being the only one to have fought in all the battles from the beaches to the final victory in Bremen. A very distinguished record.
I am very proud to have served with ‘The Iron Division.

That brings me on to another interest for me. I have searched the internet for some considerable time, looking for other Veterans of my age. I must admit with precious little luck, for many of the old Veterans do not seem to be ‘computer literate’ The few I have found appear not to be interested in (or capable of) communicating over the internet. A shame! I hope I am not being unkind to the old Veterans!

Finally, I would have liked to have included the uniform insignia (on the forum) that we carried with us across Europe to Bremen, For I often wonder if there are still divisional sign to be found on the roadsides, scattered all the way on the route fromNorm andy to Bremen?
Next? Information on The present Division, and the NVA.
Sapper Brian.