Harold Shaw died on 12 October, 1944. He was 29 years of age and was a Guardsman in the Coldstream Guards (Service No. 26612670) and was attached to the 6th Guards HQ Tank Brigade at the time of his death. He was initially buried at Cemetery Th.J. Janssen, Overloon and later re-interred in Grave III.E.10 in the Overloon War Graves Cemetery on 19 May 1947.

No photo of Harold has yet been found. Should anyone reading this have a photo of him or further information regarding him – or if they are aware of any errors in his biography below can they please contact the Foundation?

Family background

Military records tell us that Harold Shaw was born on 16 June 1915 in Barnsley but lived in Sheffield and was a Gardener by trade.
 
It is thought that he was the son of Frederic Shaw and Martha Harriet Bly who had married in 1910 in Huddersfield. Frederic was born on 16/4/1882 in Huddersfield while Martha was born in 8/4/1886 in Rotherham, though by around 1900 her family had moved to Darfield. They had children as follows: Edith Mary 1910, James 18/10/1911, Dorothy 1913, Harold 1915 and Florence M 16/8/1918. The first three were born in Huddersfield while Harold and Florence were born in Barnsley district, or more specifically Darfield, suggesting they moved from Huddersfield to Darfield between 1913 and 1915. Darfield is a village about 4 miles south east of Barnsley.
 
In 1911 Fredric and Martha were living at 16 New Hey Road, Huddersfield with their first child. Frederic was working as a Millwright. By 1921 they had moved to 80, New Street, Darfield. Frederic had now been working as a Boiler Smith for the Houghton Main Colliery Co. but was out of work at the time. Their five children including Harold were with them. Another family seems to have been visiting them at the time. These were Hubert and May Smith. Hubert was born in 1881 in Brighton, Sussex and was a Chauffeur – but also oddly described as an Inpatient at Brighton Hospital. May was born in 1897 in Wombwell which is very near Darfield. With them were two children, Mavis Dorren Smith born 1919 and Teresa Dion Smith born 1920 – both in Darfield. May Smith was Martha’s sister who had married Hubert Smith in 1918.
 
By September 1939 Frederic and Martha Shaw were living at 42 Edward Street, Middlecliffe which is a small hamlet just outside Darnfield. Frederic was working as a Colliery Blacksmith, above ground. With them were James and Florence, but not Edith, Dorothy or Harold. James was working in a colliery and Florence as a Travelling Private Nurse. There too was Henry E Elliott born 25 Apr 1881. He was married and working as Colliery Boiler Fireman Above Ground.
 
At this time, Harold, show as born 16/6/1915, was living at 1 Court, 2h Bond Street, Sheffield and working as a gardener. He was living in the same household as Bernard and Doris M Fleming. Bernard was born on 26/10/1910 and working as a General labourer while Doris was born on 18/9/1904 and working as a Cook. It is not certain if Harold ever married.

Military career

On 3 May, 1940, Harold Shaw enlisted in the Coldstream Guards but was attached to the 6th Guards HQ Tank Brigade. This was an armoured brigade of the British Army formed from the Foot Guards in 1941 as the 6th Guards Armoured Brigade when the United Kingdom was under the threat of invasion in Operation Sea Lion and more armoured formations were required. Over the summer of 1941, the Infantry of the Guards converted into an armoured formation and the Guards Armoured Division was formed, containing the 5th and 6th Guards Armoured Brigades, together with supporting units.
 
In 1942, all British armoured divisions were reorganised to have one armoured brigade and one motorised infantry brigade. The 6th Guards Armoured Brigade thus became an independent tank brigade, being renamed as the 6th Guards Tank Brigade. It was constituted as follows during the war: 4th Tank Battalion Coldstream Guards, 4th Tank Battalion Grenadier Guards, 3rd Tank Battalion Scots Guards. The brigade was now equipped with the Churchill tank.
 
The brigade went on to take part in the Battle of Normandy in Operation Bluecoat. It landed on Gold and Juno beaches on July 20 1944  (D Day +34) and saw its first action on July 30 at Caumont with the 15th Scottish Division with whom they had trained extensively.  The battle of Caumont (through the bocage) was a complete success in that the objectives were attained. In August, the Brigade continued to be engaged in Normandy and saw action at Estry and Chenedolle. After Normandy, there was a long break before the Brigade were in action again. They remained in France until 27 September. They were to come under the command of 8 Corps. On 27 September their move northwards began through first Belgium then into the Netherlands.
 
On 30 September, the 4th Tank Battalion of the Coldstream Guards came under the 3rd British Division and moved to St. Hubert, then Mook on 3 October. On 6 October, the Brigade was expecting a major operation into the Reichswald. The Brigade HQ together with the 4th Tank Battalion of the Grendadier Guards and the 3rd Tank Battalion of the Scots Guards came up to join the 4th Tank Battalion of the Coldstream Guards. On 7 October the Brigade HQ set out to reach Beers by nightfall. However, the column was stopped just south of Mill. Plans had changed. This was as a result of the failure of Operation Market Garden to capture the bridge at Arnhem. It had left the Allies in a narrow salient through the Netherlands. Operation Aintree was designed to resolve this situation by clearing the Germans from the west bank of the River Meuse.
 
An attack was planned for 11 October but was postponed for 24 hours to 12 October. The initial plan was for the 4th Tank Battalion of the Coldstream Guards to assist in the capture of Overloon and open up the St Anthonis – Overloon road in the first phase of the attack, followed by the 4th Tank Battalion of the Grenadier Guards assisting in clearing woods and proceeding to secure Venray.
                 
The attack began at 1210 on October 12, which was later than planned. The artillery barrage began at 1200 hrs. The advance on Overloon went smoothly and without major incident until the mine-fields to the north were encountered. Here 2 HQ tanks of 4 Tank Coldstream Guards were put out of action, thus destroying two sources of  information within a few minutes of each other. There was little first-hand news for some two hours and it was then learned that 2 more tanks had been put out of action by a Panther tank, several of which were previously reported in Overloon. By 1330 the line of the main lateral east – west road through the centre of the town was reached. At 1730, the 4th Tank Battalion of the Grenadier Guards supported the advance to the west of Overloon after which, the tank battalions were withdrawn for the night and a quiet 8 hrs was spent by the infantry. It was on this day that Harold Shaw was killed.
 
Harold’s father, Frederic Shaw, died in 1965 and his mother, Martha Harriet Shaw, in 1971 – both in the Staincross District which includes Darfield.

From FindMyPast website: Civil and Parish Birth, Marriage and Death Records; England Census and 1939 Register Records; Electoral Rolls; Military Records; British Newspaper Archive
The Coldstream Guards, 1920-1946, by Michael Howard and John Sparrow via Hathitrust
Wikipedia – 6th Tank Guards Brigade
Traces of War – 6 Tank Guards Brigade War Diary
6th Tank Guards Brigade Website
National Army Museum Website: Coldstream Guards

Research Elaine Gathercole