Mark Forsdike

This Friday Thunder Run: Meiktila 1945 is out. The greatest combined arms manoeuvre battle you’ve never heard of.

Available from Chiselbury.co.uk Amazon Waterstones WHSmith or anywhere else you can order books.

#ww2 #history #author #writer #tanks #india #burma #myanmar #historian #greatest

Absolutely wonderful to see Ken Wright looking fit and well here at the youthful age of 102.
Ken served with 15 Platoon, ‘C’ Company of 1st Suffolk Regiment and is now the only known Suffolk Regiment D-Day veteran.

📸 Alan Hamer, via Rochdale Borough Council

“My own darling Joan, I wish so much that I could be with you tonight, but I guess I’m always wishing that my love, but the news that the war with Germany is over makes it a special night and we could be having such a wonderful time if only we could be together…”

Happy Valentine’s Day!

It’s always worth a try🤞

…sorry. Perhaps I should have added “make sure you’re sitting down when you search for it!!!”

Here’s the eBay item number: 156649481705
(If it was a Suffolk Yeomanry one it would have already sold😉)
Good luck!

One for @alliedarmour.bsky.social Cracking post-war recruitment poster featuring an Archer. Currently for sale on eBay (but a bit pricy for me 🙁)

It’s remarkable what you find when you are least expecting it! Film of a Churchill tank commander from 142nd Regiment Royal Armoured Corps. The unit started life as the 7th Bn. Suffolk Regiment and wore a Suffolk cap badge throughout its service.

Sad to hear we have lost another Suffolk Regiment soldier.
Brian Dilley left us just before Christmas. A really lovely man he served in Malaya 1950-52. A stalwart of the Hemel Branch of the Old Comrades Association, he will be greatly missed.
Our National Servicemen are leaving us rapidly now.

We said farewell to Len today. One of the last true giants of the Suffolk Regiment world who wrote the first real volume on their service in Malaya (1949-53). A really lovely man, I shall always feel privileged that he shared some of his vast knowledge on the Malayan Emergency with me. Farewell Chum

Those jerkins were indeed super. My grandad also had one for wear on his allotment!

I think he is! (despite the miserable surroundings). To me he’s the epitome of the fighting Suffolk. Helmet tipped over, cigarette in mouth, a battered old leather jerkin - a real ‘old sweat’

…and had gallantly rescued his CO from a minefield at Venray 7 weeks before. He later became Quartermaster of the 4th Bn (TA). In his retirement, he was Town Sergeant for Ipswich and the branch Standard Bearer for the Old Comrades Association. In all, a long and honourable service. (2/2)
📸IWM B12460

80 years ago, the photograph that I use for my profile picture was taken in a cold muddy field at Geijsteren in Holland.
The subject is Corporal Don ‘Spitter’ Mowle who had enlisted into the Suffolk Regiment in 1935. He’d already served with 2nd Bn in Burma, then with 1st Bn in NW Europe…..(1/2)

This just was passed onto me of my Pa #jonpertwee taken in the Sergeant’s mess during the Korean War. I know very little of papa serving there other than he stole a tank. Alcohol may have been involved.
Thanks to Mark Howard for sharing this. His father is the fine moustached Denis Howard pictured.

Sad to hear that Len Spicer has left us. He served with the Suffolk Regiment in Malaya, 1950-52 and had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Regiment’s service there. A really lovely man, he was an enormous help to me when I wrote my book on the Malayan Emergency. I shall miss him greatly.

Model of Churchill Tank presented to the Suffolk Regiment in 1947.

Sad to hear that Vauxhall Motors will be closing their Luton plant in 2025. Famous for producing the Churchill tank during WW2, it seems appropriate to post a photo of the model they presented to the Suffolk Regiment in recognition of its being one of first Regiments to use the Churchill in action.

Well Done!

Very sorry to hear of the passing of Timothy West. I only had the privilege to meet him briefly as a platoon member in the remaking of ‘Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes’ but he was always polite, professional and very funny. A real gentleman.

…the Malayan Emergency.
Book No. 4 is almost done on their armoured service in Tunisia and Italy, so watch this space!

Thanks for the follow and looking forward to the future on here 👍

As the history world looks to have migrated here en masse, I thought I would say hello and introduce myself.
I write about the history of the Suffolk Regiment (1685-1959). Two books published so far on their WW2 service (NW Europe and Burma) and another on their post-war service in…..

That’s fascinating. SY went through several resignations post-war, and did revert to Artillery. I’m guessing as you say that they retained some of their Archers, until the RAC assumed the A/Tnk role, then revered back to artillery again. I’ve messaged the original poster to try and find out more.

Me neither! I’d always assumed their left their Archers in Germany?

Question for @alliedarmour.bsky.social

Do you know how long the Suffolk Yeomanry retained their Archer’s after the war? This photo has cropped up online taken at Lowestoft in (I am guessing) 1949-52, showing 358 Battery (as they were then designated) with an Archer. Any help gratefully appreciated!

Tune in folks, this will be good!

Thanks Brian 👍

My pleasure!

I’m very pleased to reveal the front cover for my forthcoming book on the Suffolk Regiment’s part in the Burma Campaign, 1943-44.

A companion volume to my first book on their counterparts who fought in Europe, it will be published in May by @penandswordbooks.bsky.social

#HistoryBookChat

@alliedarmour.bsky.social - it’s just arrived and it looks great - Well Done!