Leslie Joseph Horace Shortland was killed on 19 October 1944 at Overloon. He was a gunner with the Royal Artillery 7thField Regiment (soldier no. 5114581). He was born on 30 March 1919 in Stirchley which is adjacent to King’s Norton in Birmingham so was just 25 when he died.

No photo of Leslie Shortland 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.

Military Career

Leslie Joseph Horace Shortland enlisted on 20 October 1939. He stated that he was born in King’s Norton, Birmingham on 30 March 1919. He gave his address as 323 Highfield Rd, Yardley Wood, Birmingham and named his mother, Mrs Lilian Mercy Fletcher, at the same address as his next of kin. He was described as 5ft 2in tall and weighed 159 ½ lbs. He had grey eyes and dark brown hair. He gave his occupation as House Painter and was declared Grade 1 medically fit. He gave his religion as Roman Catholic.
 
He initially joined the 9th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was appointed as Unpaid Lance Corporal on 29 October 1940. However, he was returned to the Army Reserves on 7 December 1940 for employment as a Slater and Tiler. It seems that at that time his skills in that trade were seen as more useful than his role in the Army.
 
He married Betty Baldwin on 3 February 1941 in King’s Norton, Birmingham. He then changed his next of kin from his mother to his wife at 118 Yaringale Road, King’s Heath Birmingham. She was informed of his death on 27 October 1944.
 
He rejoined from the reserves on 3 November 1941 and was assigned to the 11th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshires.
                          
On 20 October 1942 he was then transferred as a Gunner to No. 50 Anti Tank Training Regiment of the Royal Artillery and then to the 7th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery ten days later. He was appointed as Driver in charge on 26 March 1943. He was put on the X(ii) List from 24 April to 9 May 1944, possibly indicating some sort of injury – but was back with the 7 Field Regiment on 9 May. He embarked for Europe on 11 June 1944.
 
The 7th Field Regiment fought through the Battle for Normandy. By 1 September they were at the Forest of Halouse near Flers. On 3 September they moved from there, crossing the Seine on 4 September to reach Villers en Vixen near Les Andelays. Here they remained until 17 September when they moved on, reaching Lille St Hubert the following day. They received a warm welcome from the Belgian people. The War Diary notes that “the Lt. QM, a married man, stated that he had never been kissed so much in his life.” That night, they helped 9 Brigade cross the Escaut Canal.
 
The Regiment remained at call until 24 September when they crossed into the Netherlands, reaching Someren, east of Eindhoven. From here, they were able to fire in defence of the Asten bridgehead established by 11 Armoured Division. They remained in this vicinity supporting the infantry and harassing the enemy until 1 October.
 
On 1 October they moved across the Maas to an area South of Malden which is just south of Nijmegen. Initially they gave support to the American 82 Airborne Division and then 185 Infantry Brigade when they took over the front on 3 October. They remained in this location, harassing the enemy. They suffered some casualties on 7 October when shells and gun fire reminded them of the days they spent behind Lebisey Wood in Normandy.  
 
On 9 October, they moved southwards to a position south of Oploo. By this time, Operation Market Garden had failed to hold the bridge at Arnhem and the objective now was to widen the salient in which the Allies found themselves by pushing the enemy out of Overloon, Venray and Venlo. The War Diary states that on the night of 9 October the Regiment was “surrounded by one of the biggest concentrations of arty that we have seen since the early days of France”. The ground was described as sodden and most of the slit trenches were filled with water.
 
On 12 October, they fired in support of 8 Brigade who were given the task of capturing and consolidating Overloon. They fired counter battery and counter mortar tasks for one hour before H hour and from then onwards they had over two hours continuous firing on a barrage followed by concentrations. By 1330 hrs both forward battalions had elements in the outskirts of Overloon. The following day the infantry moved on through woods south of Overloon and on 14 October the aim was to move towards Venray with the Regiment in support. However, progress was slow. Their artillery barrage in support of the 1st Norfolks was lifted considerably faster than the infantry could move and so it had to be regularly halted. The stream called the Molenbeek between Overloon and Venray provided a formidable obstacle and could not be crossed that day.
 
The Regiment provided some support for 11 Armoured Division the following day as they attempted to clear the flank to the east of Overloon. During this day the Regiment moved forward to Overloon with the gun positions between the brick factory and the road from Oploo to Overloon. The aim was for the infantry to cross the Molenbeek in the hours of darkness. Preparations took place overnight with artificial moonlight. The crossing the next day proved easier than expected and by last light 2 Warwicks were consolidated immediately north of Brabander, just north of Venray, though the area had been thickly sown with mines. The battle for Venray continued on 17 and 18 October. Artillery support was given to neutralize mortars which were doing considerable damage. By the end of the 18th Venray had been taken. The Infantry had the unpleasant experience of reaching the Monastery in the south east of Venray where they found the cellars to be filled with refugees and patients of the Mental Hospital who throughout the previous week had hardly received sufficient food to keep them alive.
 
The 7 Field Regiment had suffered several casualties during this operation. However, it was on the following day, 19 October, that Leslie Shortland was killed in action. The death of one “Ordinary Rank” is mentioned in the war diary but the exact circumstances are not known.
 
He had served a total of 5 years and 1 day of which 331 days were in the Army Reserve and 130 days were in North West Europe. He was awarded medals as follows: 1939/45 Star, France & Germany Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939/45.

Family Background

Leslie Shortland, was the son of Horace Shortland and Mercy Lillian Shaw who had married at Stone in Staffordshire in 1917. Leslie was born on 30 March 1919 in Stirchley, adjacent to King’s Norton in Birmingham.
 
In 1921 Leslie was living with his parents in the house of his maternal grandparents, Richard and Annie Shaw, at 13, George Road, Selly Oak, which is south Birmingham. Richard was a bricklayer. A large number of his mother’s siblings were also present in what appeared to be a small terraced house.
 
Leslie’s mother was referred to as M Lillian Shortland who had been born in Stoke on Trent in 1895. His father was described as a “Discharged Soldier, Crippled” who had been born in 1897 in Leicester making him just 24 years old.
 
It is thought that Leslie Shortland’s father’s full name was Horace Alfred James Shortland who had served in the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry in WW1 (service no. 28976). He enlisted on 7 December 1915 and was discharged on 26 July 1918 when still only 21. He was discharged under regulations relating to wounds which would seem to fit with his description in 1921.
 
It would seem that Leslie’s parents separated sometime before 1924 and both remarried.
 
Mercy Lillian Shortland married William John Fletcher in 1928 in Birmingham, but they seem to have been together from at least 1924. Leslie was living with them in 1939 at 323 Trittiford Road, Birmingham. He was 20 years old and described as a house painter. There too, however, was Stanley J Fletcher born 19 December 1924, described as a shop assistant. Stanley J Fletcher was born in 1924 and his mother’s maiden name was Shaw – so it is thought that he was their son, and so Leslie’s half brother. William J Fletcher died at Beoley, Redditch on 10 February 1959 and Mercy Lillian Fletcher on 9 April 1968, aged 72. They were buried together in St Leonard’s Churchyard in Beoley.
 
Leslie’s father is thought to have married again in 1924 in Stratford on Avon. They had a daughter in 1931 in Stratford on Avon. She was therefore probably Leslie’s half sister. By 1939 this family had moved to Sittingbourne in Kent. Horace AJ Shortland on 31 December 1982 in Sittingbourne.
 
As has been seen, Leslie enlisted on 20 October 1939. He married Betty Baldwin on 3 February 1941 in King’s Norton, Birmingham.
 
In 1939 Betty had been living with her family in Birmingham. Her parents were Robert Baldwin (born 29 December 1894 – a gravedigger) and Gladys Baldwin (born 22 August 1898). They appear to have had three girls: Betty born 10 June 1920; Mary born 26 Feb 1929 and Josephine born 15 May 1932. Also present was Sidney C Fox who was born on 4 April, 1909.
 
Leslie and Betty had no children.
 
Leslie Joseph Horace Shortland was killed on 19 October 1944 near Overloon.
 
On 19 October 1945, there were two notices regarding Leslie Shortland’s death in the Birmingham Mail as follows:
“Shortland (Leslie), – If all the world were ours to give, we’d give it, yes, and more, to see the face of one we loved, come smiling through the door. – Mom and pop Baldwin.”
 
“Shortland – Leslie, killed in action 1944, Time changes many things, but one thing changes never, the memory of those happy days, when we were all together. – Mary, Josie and Sid.”

Mary and Josie were the siblings of Betty Baldwin. It is thought that Sid may have been Sidney Fox who was with the family in 1939.
 
Betty Shortland went on to marry Walter R Whitbread in Autumn 1945 in Birmingham. They had a child in 1947 in Birmingham. Betty died on 17 December 2011 in Birmingham.

From FindMyPast: Civil Birth, Marriage and Death Records; England Census and 1939 Register Records; Electoral Rolls; Military Records
Service Record for LJH Shortland from the National Archives ref number WO 423/52543
War Diary 7 Field Regiment Royal Artillery from Traces of War Website
Birmingham Mail of 19 October 1945 (Reach PLC)
 
Research Elaine Gathercole