Cuthbert H Hastings

'Pat' Hastings was granted an emergency commission with The Royal Artillery on 23 May 1942 and later volunteered for airborne forces.

He qualified as a military parachutist on Course 94/95 which ran at RAF Ringway from 6 to 20 December 1943 and was posted on completion of the course to 150 Field Regiment RA. With the Normandy landings imminent, he was then posted as a Forward Observation Officer for 6th Airborne Division.

For part of the Normandy campaign he was allocated as the FOO for 434 Battery in 150 Field Regiment RA.

He had been promoted to Temporary Captain by the time he took part in the Rhine Crossing and the Advance to the Baltic and was awarded a Mention in Despatches for his actions, reported in the London Gazette on 4 April 1946.

He was medically discharged from the Army on 24 March 1947 as a result of injuries received and granted the honorary rank of Captain.

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Date not known
2 Forward (Airborne) Observation Unit, RA (Temporary Captain)

Operations

Event

Advance to the Baltic

The airborne soldiers were well suited to exploit the fluid situation that occurred following the collapse of the Rhine barrier defence. Short fierce actions were fought from the tanks of the 4th Tank Battalion of the Grenadier Guards and whatever transport could be purloined.

Event

Ardennes

After the Allied landings in Normandy and subsequent advance through France and Belgium, the German Army had succeeded in stalling the Allied offensive along their line of defence at the German border - the ‘Siegfried Line’.

Event

Normandy (Operation Overlord)

Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of occupied Europe commonly known as D-Day, saw the 6th Airborne Division for the first time.

Event

Rhine Crossing (Operation Varsity)

By late January 1945, the Germans' Ardennes offensive was finally defeated. It had been a costly episode for both sides, but more so for the Germans, who now had to retreat across the Rhine greatly weakened and "in no condition to hold fast even in these positions".

Decorations

MiD

1946

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T/Capt 'Pat' Hastings

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Cuthbert 'Ted' Hastings Indian Army ID Card 1946

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Captain Cuthbert H Hastings

{ Pat }

01 Jan 1984

Service History