Quainton | Reginald Frederick
Biography
Reginald Quainton (Reg) was born in 1917 in Eynsham, Oxfordshire. His parents were Cyril and Ellen Quainton and they had a number of children. Their address in 1939 was 1 Crown Crescent, Eynsham. His father was one of Eynsham’s ropemakers. Reg married Barbara Young in early 1940. She was a shorthand typist living and working in Oxford.
Reg and Barbara had a daughter, Janet M, born in 1942. Barbara died in 2000. Many of his family still live in the area, including Janet.
MILITARY CAREER
Reg had enlisted in the Royal Artillery in 1938. He was promoted to Lance Bombardier in 63 (The Queen’s Own Oxford Hussars) known as the Anti-Tank Regiment. His Regimental Number was 1462989.
QUEENS OWN OXFORDSHIRE HUSSARS
In 1938, the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars regiment was transformed from an artillery role to that of an anti-tank unit and renamed the 53rd Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery (TA) (Worcestershire and Oxfordshire Yeomanry). In 1939, the Oxfordshire Yeomanry was designated the 63rd Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery (TA) with headquarters in Oxford and the Worcestershire Yeomanry remained with the 53rd Anti-Tank Regiment. Four batteries were formed: 249 and 250 in Oxford and 251 and 252 in Banbury.
The regiment took part in the coastal defence of England after Dunkirk in 1940 and was then sent to Northern Ireland as part of the 61st Division, a defence force in case the enemy landed troops in neutral Ireland to invade England.
The regiment’s two-pounder anti-tank guns were later replaced by six-pounder anti-tank guns, which were in turn replaced by seventeen-pounder anti-tank guns. These were pulled by Crusader tanks with the upper turret removed to allow the crews to easily get in and out. Quads, four-wheel drive vehicles, were also introduced to tow the guns.
The regiment was stationed in Ireland for the next three years, with the exception of the 251 Banbury Battery. In 1941, this battery was detached and became part of the 85th Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery, part of a hastily assembled force needed to defend Singapore against the invading Japanese army.
Lieutenant-colonel John Thompson commanded the Oxfordshire Yeomanry from 1942 to 1944.
Batteries 249, 250 and 252 returned to England in February 1943 and took part in large-scale exercises with American and other troops in preparation for the Normandy landings.
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill became Honorary Colonel of the regiment from 1942 to 1965. The regiment did not take part in the D-Day landings because it had remained in reserve to supplement other frontline units. Lieutenant-colonel John Thompson mediated to request a combat mission for the regiment. He contacted Winston Churchill, ex-officer of the Oxfordshire Yeomanry and honorary colonel, now prime minister and minister of defence, who agreed to the request.
The regiment left for France in October. After arriving in Dieppe as part of the second army, they were merged with another regiment, the 91st Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders. In the following months, the Oxfordshire Yeomanry, together with their new Scottish colleagues, advanced with the army through France, Belgium and the Netherlands, while the enemy was driven back towards Germany.
Following the failure to capture the bridge at Arnhem in Operation Market Garden in late September 1944, the Allied Forces found themselves in a narrow salient through the Netherlands. Operation Aintree in mid October successfully captured Overloon and Venray and succeeded in widening the salient in that area. However, German patrols continued to threaten the Allied Troops in no-man’s-land in the Boxmeer area by crossing the Maas during the night.
On 7 November 1944, some 400 servicemen of the 63rd Anti-Tank Regiment entered the Boxmeer area. The unit was carrying 17-pounder guns and M10 tanks. One of the first targets was the church tower in Afferden, on the other side of the Maas, which the Germans were using as an observation point. On 9 November, they aimed their tank across the Maas at the church and successfully blew it to pieces.
Although the unit’s task was to use their M10 tank destroyers and 17-pound cannons to disable enemy tanks, the Maas unit was given another task: guarding lines, infantry work, in fact
The soldiers needed to guard three strong points in the area. These strong points marked the first time that structural action was taken in the Boxmeer no man’s land to stop German patrols that crossed the Maas, especially at night. Unaccustomed to this, they engaged in hand-to-hand combat in the dark and got beaten up badly. German patrols and grenade fire made their days far from easy. Despite their inexperience, the men of Battery 250 initially came through unscathed.
But their success quickly pales and is overshadowed by a major tragedy.
On 17 November, at 8.30 in the morning, Battery 250 on Sint Anthonisweg in Boxmeer, near the Bacon factory, came under heavy fire. The men sought cover in a trench, but they were directly hit. Seven British soldiers from this battery were killed in the attack and six were wounded. Reginald Quainton sadly was one of them who was killed.
The seven who were killed, R.F. Quainton, Sgt. J. Dyason, Korp. G.L.J. Hankin, R.B. Bland, E. Cleall, H.A. Wisker and Sgt. John Arthur Painting, were buried later that day in a field grave on Boxmeerseweg in Sint Anthonis. In May 1947, they were all reburied at Overloon War Cemetery.
