Nicholson | John
Biography
John Nicholson (Service No. 3858979) was killed in action on 27 October, 1944. He was aged 26 and a Bombardier with the Royal Artillery. He was initially buried at Maria Regina Monestry, Stevenbeek and subsequently re-interred on 22 May 1947 in grave II. E. 12 at the Overloon Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Overloon. His inscription reads “Worthy of Everlasting Remembrance.”
Military Career
The initial casualty record which recorded the death of John Nicholson stated that he was in the R.A. 92nd Lt A.A.R. This was the Royal Artillery 92nd (Loyals) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment. However, this was subsequently corrected to indicating that he was in a Royal Artillery Field Regiment but doesn’t specify which one – and a Casualty Card indicated that he was in the Royal Artillery (3 Infantry Division Counter Mortars). However, a book by Tom McCarthy entitled “True Loyals – A History of 7th Battalion, The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) / 92nd (Loyals) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, 1940-1946” seems to indicate that he was in a Counter Mortar unit working with the 92nd Loyals at the time of his death.
It isn’t known when he joined up, though it is likely to have been early in the war. It may well be that, as he came from Lancashire, he was initially in the 7th Battalion of the Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire). It had been formed on 17 July 1940 with a core of experienced officers from the Loyal Regiment, some of whom had just returned from Dunkirk, and a draft of new conscripts largely from Liverpool and Birkenhead. In November 1941 this battalion was converted into the 92nd Loyals Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment. It was a mobile air defence unit of the Royal Artillery. On 24/3/1942 it became part of the 3rd Army Division with which it served until the end of the war. Prior to D-Day, it spent time training in the UK and also in anti-aircraft activity when required.
On D-Day, one troop of the 92nd (Loyals) landed on Sword Beach to deploy around bridges at Benouville while the others landed in the following days and weeks. Benouville proved to be a hot spot for anti-aircraft activity, sometimes with as many as 50 aircraft attacking the Allied positions. By 2 July the whole regiment had arrived and were deployed around Hermanville-sur-Mer to protect gun and vehicle concentrations and on Perrier Ridge. Three troops advanced with 3rd Division in an attack on Caen (Operation Charnwood), but the advance stalled. It then participated in Operation Goodwood, setting up observation posts to spot enemy mortar positions and call down divisional artillery or Royal Air Force fighter-bombers to counter them. The regiment was deployed east of the Orne for three weeks after Goodwood and suffered a number of casualties from night bombers.
3rd Division moved back west of the Orne on 31 July to participate in Operation Bluecoat. By this time, the Allied air forces had complete superiority over the Normandy beachhead and the need for AA defence was reduced. 92nd LAA Regiment was reduced by three Bofors Troops and three 20 mm Troops, leaving each battery with two Troops, one each of towed and SP Bofors. From now on the Bofors regiments were often used for direct and indirect ground shoots. 92nd LAA Rgt also retained responsibility for 3rd Division’s counter-mortar teams.
A key part of the Royal Artillery was the need for intelligence in order to direct artillery fire. However, it entered World War 2 with much the same artillery intelligence and counter-battery equipment as it ended World War 1. Also, the use of mortars had largely been ignored in the inter war period and little or no attention had been given to the need to locate mortars or to the arrangements for countering them. The main methods in use for counter battery operations were sound ranging and flash spotting, but each had to be improved during WW2 and methods developed for dealing with counter mortar activity. Sound ranging involved the use of several microphones triangulating to detect the source of the incoming fire and flash spotting involved several observers using very narrow field of view telescopes to fix the location of a hostile battery.
It was estimated that 70% of UK casualties in Normandy were from mortars with new sound ranging equipment only reaching Normandy by early July, after which three counter-mortar batteries were formed to use the new equipment. In Tom McCarthy’s book “True Loyals”, Jack Prior recalled how the counter-mortar system, though seemingly makeshift, worked remarkably well right from the beginning, especially because of the radio link-up. “It had, of course, to be practised before it worked every time. But within a few hours, the German mortar crews suddenly found themselves being bombed or strafed by our Typhoons or Spitfires. Naturally, the mortar crews speeded up their delivery and then tried to hide in nearby woods, but the RAF pilots were not easily fooled and it was very rewarding for us when we sent in a target and saw within seconds that the enemy was under severe attack from the air as a result of our efforts.”
When the 92nd (Loyals) were reduced in strength at the start of August 1944, each of the remaining batteries retained a mobile counter-mortar observation team consisting of a sergeant, a bombardier and four gunners, equipped with a wireless, Jeep and a 15cwt truck. The divisional anti-tank regiment furnished the plotting centre and an armoured observation post and 92 LAA provided HQ. John Nicholson would have been the Bombardier in such a unit.
At the end of August, the 21st Army Group broke out of the Normandy beachhead, and 3rd Division was given a period for rest and training. It then moved up into Belgium and forced the Meuse-Escaut Canal on 19 September, with 92nd LAA following up to protect the canal bridge at Lille St Hubert. It then crossed the Dutch border and moved on to protect the bridges over the s’Hertogenbosch Canal.
In early October the regiment suffered the heaviest period of air attack since Normandy. Then, on 12 October, 92 LAA added its firepower to the massive artillery barrage in support of 3rd Division troops who were battling to capture Overloon in Operation Aintree. Following this, it moved into what was left of Overloon. Jim Holder-Vale who was the radio operator for six of the regiment’s guns describes in “True Loyals” what they found: “It was an absolute shambles, littered with vast amounts of unexploded artillery shells and anti-personnel bombs. There were also a number of shell-shocked chickens which were rounded up and eaten. My wireless was set up in a small cellar and the remains of a building which contained the corpses of two pigs. This didn’t bother us, as it was a safe haven from the shelling and rocket mortars – nebelwerfers, or moaning minnies. It rained a lot and was very cold. There was a poor horse wandering around which was eventually killed during the shelling. As the corpse lay near our HQ, we were detailed to bury it. Fortunately, the ground was very soft – like black sand – so we just piled it up over the body, leaving the four hooves exposed. After a while, the hooves fell off.”
Four days later, amid very bad weather, the Bofors of 92 LAA again opened up to help the attack continue on to Venray. By this time, after the failure of Market Garden, enemy resistance had hardened. Montgomery decided not to attempt a crossing of the Rhine that autumn, but to concentrate on clearing the port of Antwerp, so 3rd Division was withdrawn across the Maas. On October 15, the 92nd established its RHQ at Oploo, where the regiment was destined to remain for the next four months. However, risks still remained, and it was on 27 October that Bombardier John Nicholson of the counter-mortar unit was killed by a shell.
Family Background
John Nicholson was the son of John William Nicholson and Eliza Burns who had married in 1917 in the Bolton district of Lancashire. They only seem to have had one child, John Nicholson, born in 1918 in the Bolton District. John (Snr) was born on 18/7/1891 in Little Hulton and Eliza 1/9/1891 (or possibly 31st) in Bolton. Little Hulton is just south of Bolton and north west of Manchester.
In June 1921 John, Eliza and young John were living at 12, St James Street, Farnworth, Lancashire. John was working as a Coal Miner (Hewer) at the Earl of Ellesmere’s Colliery. Farnworth is just to the north east of Little Hulton.
By September 1939, John and Eliza, together with their son, John, were living at 265 Manchester Road West in Little Hulton. John (Snr) was working as a Colliery Fireman while John (Jnr) was working as a Power Loom Overlooker, presumably in the local cotton industry.
John Nicholson married Ada Berry in 1941 in the Barton District of Lancashire. Two years prior to her marriage, Ada was living with her parents, Robert and Nellie Berry, at 7 Walkdene Drive, Little Hulton. Robert Berry was born on 26/10/1889 and was a Colliery Contractor. Nellie was born on 14/4/1891. Ada was born on 6/2/1921 and was a Textile Operative – Weaver. Two of her brothers were present – William born 1/10/1918 who was working as a warehouse Ledger Clerk and Robert born 26/10/1925 who was at school. It may be that John met Ada when they were both working in the cotton industry.
Ada heard of John’s death before she received any official notification. She received a letter from the Padre of the Regiment on returning home one day in late 1944 from her work in the mill. She was encouraged by her family to put this behind her as best as she could and get on with her life.
Ada went on to marry Alexander Maclarty in 1950 in Barton District. They had one child, Melvyn P Maclarty, in 1951 in Farnworth. Alexander Maclarty died in 1984. Ada never told her son that she had been married previously until he discovered it almost by accident in 2000, just 2 years before she died in 2002.
John’s mother died on 27/5/1964 in Bolton, his father having died prior to then.
