My canadian grandad

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally posted by John McGillivray
The regimental History of the GGHG by John Marteinson (p185 and p188) has them landing in Algiers on the 26th of Nov. 1943. The Regimental Vanguard boarded another ship to Phillipperville where they changed ship again before sailing to Italy. The fighting squadrons moved from the port of Algiers to a British staging camp in the Foret de Ferdinand, Algeria, where they waited until the 16th of December for ships to take them to Italy.

The LdSH history confirms the same story (p39) that the vanguard passed thought Algiers and Phillipperville on their way to Italy while the fighting squadrons spent three weeks in the British staging camp in the Foret de Ferdinand near Zeralda, Algeria.

The link below confirms also that the 8th Hussars first sailed to North Africa before going to Italy.
http://www.army.dnd.ca/8HUSSARS/Docu...arrative_e.htm

Hi John;

Both Nicholson in Volume II and Stacey in CMHQ Report No. 170 leave you with the impression that the whole of the 5th Armd Div landed in Italy direct. I have gone back through both unit histories for units of the 5th Armd Bde and 11th Inf Bde, and various 'Corps' histories and they all confirm that the units of the 5th Armd Div were indeed scattered between Sicily/Italy/N. Africa for a period of roughly two weeks upon arrival in the Med. prior too actually being brought together as a whole in Italy.

I should have looked at the unit/corps histories first, instead of the 'official' history.

Cheers