Almey| Nathaniel Harry
Biography
Nathaniel Harry Almey (service number 14647737) was killed in action on 14 October 1944 at the age of just 19. At the time of his death, he was a soldier in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 2nd Battalion. He was initially buried in the Maria Regina Convent in Stevenbeek and reburied on 22 May 1945 at the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Overloon. The inscription on his grave reads: “One of the best, This world could give, Always willing, always kind”.
Family background
Nathaniel was born on 23 February 1925 in Barrow Upon Soar, Leicestershire, England. His parents were Nathaniel Almey (1866–1938) and Letta Emma Almey (née Ward) (1885–1978). He had two brothers and one sister: Peter Derrick (1929-1936), Natalie Almey (1923-1927) and Brian Ward Almey (1927-2014).
Both his sister Natalie and his brother Peter Derrick died young.
Nathaniel also had three half-sisters from his father’s first marriage. They were Edith Annie Almey (1892-), Alice Maud Almey (1893-) and Clara Elizabeth Almey (1894-).
His father was a highly respected police detective with the Loughborough Division Police Force and a famous former cricketer with the Leicestershire Cricket Club.
Nathaniel came from a family with a rich military history.
His father served in the Boer War in South Africa with the Coldstream Guards. The Boer War was a period of two wars between 1880 and 1902, fought in South Africa between the Boers (Afrikaners) and the British Empire.
Battle of Waterloo
His grandfather, also named Nathaniel Almey, served with his two cousins Samuel and George Almey, all three from Earl Shilton, in G Troop, Royal Horse Artillery under Captain Mercer during the Battle of Waterloo, which took place on 18 July 1815. Also in their company were the brothers Thomas and George Chapman, also from Earl Shilton, and Jacques Raven.
The battle was fought between Napoleon’s French army and the Seventh Coalition, an allied army that included British troops led by the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon was defeated in this battle, bringing an end to his reign over the French Empire.
The men from Earl Shilton operated the unit’s cannons during the heaviest fighting, firing on the advancing French cavalry and infantry. They were very well trained, extremely brave and very lucky. At Waterloo, a British soldier had almost a one in two chance of being killed or seriously wounded. Of the six men from Earl Shilton, only Samuel Almey was seriously wounded but survived the battle, as did Nathaniel, George and the other three. All six comrades received the Waterloo Medal Roll 1815.
In 2016, a memorial was erected in Earl Shilton in honour of their heroes.
Military career
It is currently unknown when Nathaniel enlisted in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment 2nd Battalion, but given his age, it must have been sometime during the early years of the Second World War.
At the start of the war, the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment was part of the British Expeditionary Force and took part in the Battle of France, with survivors being evacuated from Dunkirk in June 1940. After Dunkirk, the battalion moved to Somerset to counter a possible German invasion, but in early December it was transferred to London and, unlike the rest of the army, was not deployed for beach defence duties.
In September 1942, it was transferred to the 185th Infantry Brigade, which was then incorporated into the 3rd Infantry Division that landed on D-Day on 6 June 1944 with the first attack on the Normandy beaches. The regiment fought from the Battle of Caen and the Normandy breakthrough to the crossing of the Rhine. From D-Day until the end of the war, 286 officers and men of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment were killed in action, while nearly 1,000 more men of all ranks were wounded, missing or suffered from exhaustion.
The battalion entered the Netherlands on 22 September 1944 at Asten, east of Eindhoven. On 1 October, they marched northeast in a rainstorm to Malden, which lies between Nijmegen and the Meuse. At that stage, the plan was for the American 7th Armoured Division to advance southeast via Overloon and Venraij to the western bank of the Meuse opposite Venlo, while British troops, including the 3rd Division, would move eastwards, across the German border, and capture the forest area known as the Reichswald, from where the Germans had launched counterattacks.
On 9 October, however, the plan changed. An attempt by the American 7th Armoured Division to take Overloon and Venraij had lost many men and tanks without making much progress. Field Marshal Montgomery decided that he had to postpone the attack on Reichswald. He had to clear the Scheldt estuary to open up the much-needed port facilities of Antwerp and the lesser, but also essential, task of eliminating the German troops west of the Meuse. The latter objective was entrusted to 8 Corps, including the 3rd Division. The 3rd Division was to attack in a south-easterly direction towards Venraij, in the hope of distracting enemy troops while three other divisions prepared to advance eastwards towards Venlo.
The battalion was therefore diverted southwards and by 12 October they were at Wanroy, a village south of the Meuse and just north of Overloon. They took over from the 8th Infantry Brigade, which had succeeded in capturing Overloon that day but was unable to advance through the woods to the south.
Sgt. George W A Davis later gave a vivid description of the conditions that were to come: “The last good, long sleep we had was around 10 or 11 October. Our clothes were filthy, we were almost exhausted from lack of food and sleep. It was very cold and it rained and snowed all the time, so we were all wet. There were grenades, mortar bombs, machine guns, Moaning Minnies, rockets and German snipers everywhere.”
The next day, the battalion moved to a position just 500 yards northwest of Overloon with the aim, together with the 2nd Battalion of the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, of clearing these woods so that the 1st Norfolk Battalion could pass through and advance on Venray. The battalion achieved its objective, but came under heavy fire from enemy mortars, artillery and small arms, as well as two tanks, when they reached the open ground south of the woods, and it took longer than expected to clear the woods. By the time the objective was reached, it was so late that it was decided to allow the 1st Norfolk Battalion to advance the following day. The Warwickshires dug in at the southern edge of the forest.
The next day was 14 October, the day on which Nathaniel was sadly killed. The 1st Norfolks continued their advance at first light, moving through the Warwickshire battalion along the main road, while the 9th Infantry Brigade attacked the woods to the west. They encountered heavy resistance throughout the day and had to contend with marshy ground, but by 6 p.m. the 1st Norfolks had secured the high ground north of the Molenbeek and the 9th Infantry had established itself in the northern part of the woods. The 2nd Battalion of the Warwickshires was then ordered to advance and secure the terrain between the 1st Norfolks and the 9th Brigade. B and D companies carried out this task and dug in at dusk on the right flank of the Norfolks overlooking the Molenbeek, while A and C companies and the battalion headquarters remained in their original positions. It was on this day that Nathaniel Harry Almey was killed, along with four other comrades from the same regiment, and 15 comrades were wounded.
The comrades who died that day were Joseph Hopson, James Perks, Roland Archibald Peen and Christopher Bailey.
