1945-1947: War ends
In this section you can learn about:
- 1945: The Guards Brigade
- 1946–1947: The Polish Resettlement Corps
- 1947: National Service and a Regiment from India
The Guards
After the Americans left Kington in May 1945, the camp lay empty for a short while before it was occupied by the 3rd Coldstream and the 3rd Grenadier Guards who arrived in July. The 1st Battalion of the Welsh Guards joined them shortly afterwards. Richard Cunningham, an Officer with the Coldstream Guards, recalls the Camp on his arrival in Kington and the disciplinary measures that were handed out for the bad behaviour of his men on their first night out in Kington.
Read Mr Cunningham’s description of life at Kington
These battalions made up the 1st Guards Brigade which was re-forming as part of the 55th Infantry Division to take part in the still continuing war in the Far East, but the war ended before they could do so. The Daily Orders of the Coldstream Guards for their period of time at Kington provide a good insight into life for the Guardsmen before they left Kington in October 1945.
The Guards lived and trained at Kington Camp. The Adjutants paraded on the old Baseball fields and exercises were undertaken in the surrounding countryside. They took part in local sports contests, including football matches in Hereford and a Tug of War match at Presteigne where they were beaten, according to the Welsh Guards War Diaries of 8 Aug 1945, “by the unorthodox methods of their opponents. As this was one of those local meetings where bookmakers are in attendance, considerable financial loss was widespread throughout the battalion”.
They went to dances at the Burton Hall in Kington, and to the town’s annual show (where admission for servicemen in uniform was 1/.), and socialized in Hereford, although the city was later placed out of bounds. Disciplinary action was threatened for those who ate fruit from local trees, and to those who were found riding the train illegally from Kington Station. Men worshipped in the local churches: Holy Communion was taken in Kington Parish Church, and Mass at either the Castle Hotel Hall or in nearby Broxwood Church.
The Guards used the local Hanter Hill for firing practice, including the use of mortar bombs. On Saturday the 15th of September 1945, following 2 days of firing practice that week, two young boys were tragically killed by an unexploded mortar bomb while walking on Hanter Hill. The Radnorshire Coroner held an enquiry in the Walton village hall, with representatives of the boys’ parents and the Army giving witness, and found that the boys were killed accidentally and by misadventure. The boys were buried in the Church Yard at Old Radnor.
Search the database for information about the Guards at Kington
The Polish Resettlement Corps
After the Second World War the majority of Polish troops who had fought alongside the western allies preferred not to return to a communist dominated Poland and were allowed to stay in Great Britain. A Polish Resettlement Corps was established, which vetted applicants and discharged them from the Polish armed forces. Wives and dependent relatives were brought to Britain to join them, bringing the total estimated number of cases to over 200,000. The Polish Resettlement Corps (PRC), was raised as a corps of the British Army into which Poles were allowed to enlist for the period of their demobilization. The PRC was formed in 1946 and was disbanded after fulfilling its purpose in 1949.
Members of the PRC arrived in Kington in July 1946, where the American hospital buildings became home to between one and two thousand Polish soldiers, some accompanied by their families. They had come from Italy where they had spent a year after the end of the war, many having been in Germany Prison of War camps.
The Poles stayed in Kington for a year, during which some Poles returned to Poland, some went to Scotland to join their wives, others re-trained at nearby Foxley Camp (Mansell Lacy) and sought employment in the UK. Many learned English at weekly evening classes in Kington Grammar School and went to dances at various venues in Kington. They used the areas outside the old American administrative buildings as Parade grounds, where they were seen by local children on the school bus route from Kington to Brilley. The Poles had a vegetable garden at the camp, as well as a shop and a chapel.
Lieutenant Colonel Jan Wasowicz, a distinguished Polish officer with an impressive military record, retrained as a watchmaker for 6 months at Foxley and opened a shop in Kington’s Bridge Street. He became and well known and respected Kington resident. Peter Collins, who worked with him in later years, was taught a Polish song by Wasowicz which he remembers to this day.
Information about the use of Foxley Camp by the Polish Resettlement Corps can be found at http://www.foxley.org/. Foxley Camp was built as a US/Canadian hospital and was part of the 12th Hospital Centre at Malvern. Foxley was demolished in 1958 and only the hut bases remain today.
Listen to Buddy Robinson talk about the Polish Resettlement Corps
Search the database for more information about the Polish at Kington Camp
National Service and a Regiment from India
The King’s Regiment No. 1 Battle School came to Kington early in 1947. National Service men trained with the Worcesters and the Staffs at the Battle School. During March of that year, Herefordshire witnessed the worst gales and floods in living memory, and Kington did not escape their ferocity. Two soldiers from the Battle School were badly injured by a falling tree on Hergest Road. The ambulance sent to treat them was delayed by another tree which had fallen in its path.
The Camp was last used as a military billet in 1947. The buildings were used as temporary quarters by the 208 S.O. Field Regiment Royal Artillery who had recently returned from India, some with their families. A full regiment of 350 men, the 208th had no artillery as Kington was only to be a transit camp for them.