Served with the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars; British Army's Royal Armoured Corps; Captain Crossman was an Allied Liaison Officer; GHQ Liaison Regiment; AKA PHANTOM.

Royal Gloucestershire Hussars RAC
This is a list of regiments within the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps during World War II.

On the creation of the corps in 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, it comprised those regular cavalry and Territorial Army Yeomanry regiments that had been mechanised, together with the Royal Tank Regiment. As the war progressed and further horsed regiments were mechanised, they joined the corps, together with new (armoured) cavalry regiments that were raised for the hostilities. The RAC created its own training and support regiments, and in 1941 and 1942 a number of infantry battalions were converted to armoured regiments and joined the RAC. Lastly, the RAC subsumed the Reconnaissance Corps in 1944.

GHQ Liaison Regiment
GHQ Liaison Regiment (known as Phantom) was a special reconnaissance unit first formed in 1939 during the early stages of World War II. The regiment's headquarters were at The Richmond Hill Hotel in Richmond, Surrey (now in London); its base (including the officers' mess and billet) was at Pembroke Lodge, a Georgian house in Richmond Park, London.

History
It had its origins as the No 3 British Air Mission in France in 1939. Moving with the Belgian General Staff, its role was to report back information about the Allied forward positions from Belgian GHQ to the Advanced Air Striking Force HQ so as to pinpoint the changing locations of "bomb lines". These were the battle areas not occupied by Allied troops, and therefore suitable targets for bombs and shells.

In November 1939, Lieut-Col George Frederick ‘Hoppy’ Hopkinson was sent as a military observer to the No 3 British Air Mission and subsequently changed the method of operations to focus upon greater use of wireless communications and mobility to provide real-time assessment from the front line. The collective codename for these missions was classified by themselves as ‘Phantom’, which later became an official designation.

After the Dunkirk evacuation, the unit was re-formed as No 1 GHQ Reconnaissance Unit. As such, it was intended to have a key intelligence role following any Nazi invasion of Britain.[4] In January 1941, the Reconnaissance Corps was established and Phantom was reclassified as GHQ Liaison Regiment to avoid confusion. Phantom recruited men with various skill-sets – linguists, drivers and mechanics – and undertook rigorous training in wireless communication and cipher.

In January 1944, the Reconnaissance Corps was absorbed into the Royal Armoured Corps and with it the Phantom GHQ Liaison Regiment. Phantom was disbanded in 1945; however it was briefly reborn as the Army Phantom Signals Regiment (Princess Louise's Kensington Regiment) until 1960, when it was clear that technology provided for alternative solutions.

Operation Overlord
During Operation Overlord, in June 1944, many patrols from Phantom came to Normandy on D+1. Their task was to go around day and night to find all the British, Canadian and American units they could, marking their locations on a map, and passing the information to the main HQ.

Organisation
Phantom deployed in squadrons in North West Europe, South East Europe, North Africa and Italy. Each squadron supported an Army and consisted of a squadron HQ (SHQ) and a number of patrols (one per Corps and a further ten further forward of Corps). Each patrol consisted of an officer, an NCO and up to 9 other ranks. They were typically equipped with Norton motorcycles, Jeeps, Morris 15cwt trucks and White M3 A1 Scout cars and carried a 107 Receiver, 52 and 22 sets. The patrols either embedded with other formations or went on specially-directed missions from their individual Army HQs. The patrols' role was to provide collection, passage and dissemination of real-time information on the progress of battle back to Corps HQ.

For Operation Overlord, one patrol was assigned to each Divisional HQ of 1 and 30 Corps to land with Main Divisional HQ. Thus on D-Day, three Patrols (5, 8 & 14) landed with 3rd BR, 50th Northumbrian and 3rd Canadian Divisions.

Some patrols undertook parachute drops with the SAS to provide communications with SAS Brigade HQ. Later, with Phantom efficiency proven and with US forces under the leadership of 12 US Army Group, similar arrangements were made for Phantom to provide communications with US Corps.

Officers
Famous Phantom officers included: actors Major David Niven (who initially commanded A Squadron and who remarked in a letter, "these were wonderful days which I would not have missed for anything"), Tam Williams and Willoughby Gray; MPs Sir Jakie Astor, The Hon. Michael Astor, Peter Baker, Sir Hugh Fraser, Maurice Macmillan (Viscount Macmillan), Sir Carol Mather and Christopher Mayhew (Lord Mayhew); Law Lord Nigel Bridge, Baron Bridge of Harwich; journalist Sir Peregrine Worsthorne; and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Robert Mark. Others, including Sir Gordon Richards and John Hislop, excelled in the fields of academia, athletics and horseracing

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General Headquarters Liaison Regiment reported battlefield information straight to high level Intelligence and Operations Staff. This information consisted of everything a Commander needed to make decisions to win the battle. All commanders need to be aware of up to date and accurate information on what is happening on the frontline. GHQ Liaison Regiment gathered information by sending patrols and by communications intercept of units engaged in battle. This history tells the story of the background to the formation of 2 GHQ Liaison Regiment. The hard work of the unit has not completely been recognised by historians of the Second World War and perhaps this helps fill the gap in our knowledge. During the War the unit was greatly appreciated by all Allied unit in the Mediterranean and North West Europe campaigns. Without the service provided by the unit the Allies would have struggled to win the War.

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PHANTOM was - and still is - one of the most secret but most effective of the wartime special regiments. It was formed in 1939 with the mission of finding out exactly where all the Allied forward positions were - a task which required linguistic ability, unlimited tact, and radio expertise. After Dunkirk its squadrons at first kept an eye on all invasion points, before deploying to Greece, and to the Middle East. An indispensable direct communication link between the forward patrols and command headquarters, it operated in Italy, Sicily, Austria, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. Phantom was at Dieppe with the Commandos, in France with the SAS, at Arnhem with Airborne and in Germany until the surrender. PHANTOM members were as varied and colourful as its tasks. Among its member were two Privy Councillors, three life peers, five hereditary peers, the Master of a Cambridge college, three professors, a famous actor-playwright, a film star, a famous sculptor, a Law Lord, a steward of the Jockey Club, a Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and numerous authors and journalists. As this fascinating history shows, PHANTOM was so successful in its role of tracking both allied and enemy movements and relaying vital information direct to commanders that it became hugely respected and yet retained its aura of mystery.

Geoffrey Mark Crossman