The original 1st Battalion of the Manchsters was lost in the fall of Singapore a brief history o of the Regiment has
***The New 1st Battalion
A new 1st Battalion was formed in June 1942 by the renumbering of the 6 th Territorial Army Battalion as the 1st.
After two years intensive training as a machine-gun battalion the new 1st Battalion, commanded by Lieut Colonel Charles Harrington of the Cheshire Regiment, took part in the invasion of Europe. Bren gun carriers, equipment and men moved on 18 June 1944 from Faversham station to West India Docks in London where all was loaded onto the SS Samneva. The battalion landed at Arromanches on 26 th June, D-Day plus 20, as the Machine Gun Support Battalion of 53 rd (Welsh) Infantry Division. The battalion took part in the general British and Canadian attack on the German positions in the eastern sector, designed to pin down the enemy armour while the US Army in the western sector was staging its breakout from the beaches.
****
They were kept busy after that...
There is another daughter of a veteran of the 1st Battalion who initiated a discussions at
http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/2567...t-machine-gun/
Would be worth joining that forum and posting your information ...it is an old thread but the contributors are still active and like many on this forum very happy to share their knowledge
Robin