Queens royal regiment west Surrey. Italy 1943

[Jennarembailey]

I am trying to find out which place and battle a relative would have been in at his time of death.
His name was Ronald Henry (Harry) Woolven. He was in the 2/7th brigade. The date of death was listed as 23.10.1943
Buried in the Naples war cemetery.

Any help you could offer would be appreciated
Regards Jenny

[timbo58]

2/7th Battalion, not Brigade.

The War diaries might help: WO 172 is the prefix number for the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) 1943 Mar.- Dec.
At this time in October 1943 they were involved in the following: Move to Caserta, move to & crossing of the Volturno river, advancing towards Garigliano.

The latter was also called 'the winter line' a series of defensive positions in depth from the Garigliano river to the Sangro river and is where the Germans started using hard defensive tactics and fighting hard for every inch of ground, rather than retreating and blowing everything up as they had done so far in 1943.

[Jennarembailey]

Dear Timbo
Thank you for your reply I shall look at the war dairies and maps of the battles in that period.
Regards Jenny

[Jennarembailey]

Dear Timbo
I can’t find where to get ww2 war dairies for this regiment, can you point me in the right direction.
Regards Jenny

[timbo58]

The national archives.
https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...tails/r/C14379

[Peter Goodey]

It's best that you read the research guide and get a handle on the way files are categorised.

You also need to poke around in the catalogue to check how they list this regiment. The battalion would be shown as "2/7 Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)".

Then go to the catalogue https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...dvanced-search and enter 2/7 Queen's Royal Regiment under "Exact word or phrase". Scroll down and select Search a specific date" and enter 1943

I didn't specify a particular series in this case because I can never remember what Italy came under.

Click "Search" and you'll get this...

https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...ro=any&_st=adv

Select the entry you want (the first one) and you get this...

https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...ils/r/C1011091

You'll probably want to make a list of other files you may want to look at to make your visit to Kew more worthwhile.

[Jennarembailey]

Thank you I did look earlier, your patients was appreciated
Regards Jenny

[Jennarembailey]

Dear Peter
Your explaination is very easy to use. Thank you for your answer.
I have found what I needed.
Regards Jenny