I was tidying up my Vehicle Names and Census Number listing and came across the attached and thought it might be of interest. Cheers Kevin
Kevin, Many thanks for that - is there a 'B Armoured Regt ORBAT' by any chance? I had my father down as being in 'J' Sqn but these notes indicate that he would have been in 'G'. Are these notes taken from WO files?
Hello Paddy, To be honest I cannot recall where these came from in the first place. I will have to have a check back and see if I can find to orginal source, so you will have to bear with me for a while. Cheers Kevin
The only premise I'm working from is 25th Armoured Engineer Bdes ' Narrative of Ops' for 1945 which claimed only 'J' Sqn proceeded into Austria at the wars end and that 'G' Sqn was primarily a bridging Sqn equipped with other than the type of bridges in 'H' Sqn A troop photo I have from Portschach am Worther See, Austria, shows members of 1st Fd Sqns Sherman Dozer troop. Just trying to source where I read that the flail tanks were too wide for the Bailey Bridges (the M2 variant not being used) and the Crocodiles of C Sqn 51RTR being sent to Trieste, 'A and B Sqns' remaining in Ferrara for disbandment on 13th May. However, if it's from a WO file I'd guess that it's correct and dozer elements of 'G' Sqn may have been detached to 'J' Sqn. I can feel a WO file request coming on to clarify! Can any veterans remember seeing Churchill AVREs and Sherman flails in Austria?
Kevin, Check no further! 1st Fd Sqn RE did become 'G' Sqn of 25th Armoured Engineer Bde. The confusion arose from the aforementioned 'Narrative of Ops' which stated that only 'J' Sqn went to Austria and, as I have a photograph of my dads troop in Austria, assumed that confirmed the Sqn identity. However, WO 170/4452 positively identifies 'G' Sqn as 1st Fd Sqn RE. The confusion arising due to RE personnel being drafted in from, primarily 'J' sqn and other RE (as opposed to RAC) personnel from within 25th AE Bde! Paddy
Plang 876 Can't recall seeing any Churchill / Sherman dozers in Austria as the only action going on was the round up of the bad guys which took a few months so there was no need for them - only armoured was the 6th Armoured of the fighting troops of 16/5th Lancers- 17/21st lancers -Lothians & Border Horse of 26th AB -the Lothians which were replaced by 4th QOHussars then 1st Gloucesters Cheers
Hi Tom, Hope you're well. Just going through some WO files now tracing my dads war. Seems that only 'G' Sqn went, Klagenfurt area, circa May 22nd until 2nd Aug. They were made up to roughly their War Establishment, certainly with 3 dozers and also AVREs and ARKs. Whilst it was intended that they should be RE badged there are still a couple of RTR and RAC badges out of the 18 members of the troop. Thanks for your interest! Paddy