929954 Gunner Bert Favell Royal Artillery

Bert Favell was born 7^th February 1919. Bert lived in Hartford on the edge of Huntingdon and was 20 years old when he enlisted at Dover on 30^th October 1939 at the start of the war.

He was posted to the 50th Battery, 24th Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery. A newspaper report from the Hunts Post shows that he was in action within a short space of time and was part of the original Expeditionary Force that had to be evacuated from Dunkirk between 27^th May and the 4^th June 1940.

The 24^th Field Regiment were a part of the 1^st division of the BEF. Bert’s pay book gives details of his leave periods during 1941 and the early part of 1942 and then in September 1942 he was given 11 days embarkation leave prior to shipping out to the Middle East. The route would have been the ‘long way round’ via Cape Town and up to the Red Sea to Kirkuk in present day Iraq.

Then the journey was probably routed on to Baghdad, the trans Jordan valley to Gaza, Jerusalem, Alexandria and Cairo. The 24^th Field Regiment RA formed part of the 7^th Armoured Division in the order of Battle for the invasion of Italy in September 1943. The 7^th Armoured division landed at Salerno a few days after the main invasion. It worked its way up the west coast and took part in the assault across the river Volturno before being withdrawn from Italy in November 1943 to return to England in preparation for the D Day invasion the following year. Bert’s pay book also records his being awarded with the Africa Star, Italy Star and 1939/45 Star. Presumably he was also entitled to the 1939/45 War Medal. In the photo below, Bert is standing middle row on the right hand side.