Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 21, 2011 23:09:15 GMT 12
In 1942 there were around 1000 soldiers camped at the Army Camp here in Cambridge apparently. The camp was at the Cambridge Racecourse in Taylor Street. Back then the racecourse had a larger mile long track and was also Cambridge's aerodrome before the war. It was used through the war as an Army training centre for the region, taking in Territorials who were trained up to a certain level and then either passed on to other Army units as regulars or sent back to civilian work if they were not needed or were in important jobs, depending on which part of the war it was.
The camp was seemingly run by the 16th (Hauraki) Regiment, though I'm not certain of that entirely. In the summer of 1943-44, and summer 1944-45, the camp also had a specialist unit on site of harvesters. When farmers were ready to harvest wheat or other crops they could request men to help and the Army supplied them as it was all for the war effort. These soldiers were all ex-farmers themselves.
In all my research I have never been able to find many photos of the Army camp in Cambridge. I have seen a couple of poor shots of a parade there taken by a local. And one of hundreds of soldiers marching through the main street of town. The only others I have seen are in Alex Horn's 'Wings Over The Pacific' as he trained up there before joining the RNZAF.
Does anyne have any photos of the camp at Cambridge, soldiers there or anything else related?
I'm also very interested to know who the American soldiers were who apparently camped in the park at Leamington for quite some time over one summer. Any ideas appreciated.
The camp was seemingly run by the 16th (Hauraki) Regiment, though I'm not certain of that entirely. In the summer of 1943-44, and summer 1944-45, the camp also had a specialist unit on site of harvesters. When farmers were ready to harvest wheat or other crops they could request men to help and the Army supplied them as it was all for the war effort. These soldiers were all ex-farmers themselves.
In all my research I have never been able to find many photos of the Army camp in Cambridge. I have seen a couple of poor shots of a parade there taken by a local. And one of hundreds of soldiers marching through the main street of town. The only others I have seen are in Alex Horn's 'Wings Over The Pacific' as he trained up there before joining the RNZAF.
Does anyne have any photos of the camp at Cambridge, soldiers there or anything else related?
I'm also very interested to know who the American soldiers were who apparently camped in the park at Leamington for quite some time over one summer. Any ideas appreciated.
