Hi, I'm trying to track my dad's movements across Europe in 1944. He served in 532 Coy RASC a part of the 53rd (Welsh) Division. (I wasn't sure if I should post this in the 53rd Div Forum?) I've got a copy of the Company War Diary and I've been able to track their movements as they've included the name of the location as well as the Map Reference in the daily situation report. However, from 19 November to 01 December 1944 all I've got is a map reference, 595900. The Map Series is noted as being Holland & Belgium, the scale 1/250000 and the sheets Holland 3 Belgium 3. Can anyone point me in the right direction for getting sight of the quoted Map, please? Or if you have a copy of the map could you tell me where the map reference refers to? Any help would be great fully received. Dave
Hi Dave Very sorry, this is a very late reply to your post. I hope you had some success with this but if not, I hope the below may help. My grandfather was a Sergeant with 532 Company and about a year ago, I had someone carry out some research into his service during the Second World War. The write up that I received included the following: "The map the unit was now using is Sheet 5 S. Hertogenbosch and I have included a copy. The Company moved to Oss on the 25 October which is shown in the top left portion of the map below. On the 31 October, the Company moved to Grand Brogel which I haven’t been able to find on the map but would have been in the vicinity of Veenendaal. On the 19 December, the Company moved back to Belgium, to an area just below Cruybeke (Kruibeke) which is 8 miles southwest of Antwerp. The Company suffered another death on 23 November, when Driver Laurance Waters died “as a result of injuries received in the execution of his duties”. Laurance is buried in Leopoldsburg War Cemetery. The Company then moved to Perk, 13 miles northeast of Belgium, on 21 December and to Blanmont, 37 miles southeast of Brussels on 30th" If you're interested, I do have a small collection of photos, which include various members of the company and I would be more than happy to share these with you.
Hi Matthew, Thanks so much for contacting me, really appreciate it. Your Grandad and my Dad proably knew each. Dad was a corporal when the Company travelled through France and did his Sergeants course in Palestine after the war in Europe had finished. Like a lot of his generation he didn't talk much about his service. He did tell me once that he was going to be part of the force for the proposed invasion of Japan (Operation Downfall) I'd forgotten he'd said this but in the war diary there's the following entries: "August 11th 1945 - Information was received from HQRASC that this company would be prepared to post I Officer and 19 Othe Ranks, for services with S.E.A.C. ...." S.E.A.C. presumably being South East Asia Command. This was followed with "August 13th 1945 - Captain R G Twiss and 19 ORs left the Company on posting as mentioned in entry dated 11th August". There's no mention of Dad in the War Diary after this date so I can only assume that as the war against Japan had ended he was shipped off the Palestine where things were hotting up. I'd be really interested in seeing the photos you have. I also have a few small photos of Dad and his section which I'd be happy to share with you. You can contact me on this email. hullrico66ATyahoo.co.uk (replace the AT with @). I've also got a copy the war diary if you'd like a copy of that. It's more like orders of the day and but does mention OR's by name. I also came across an interesting book called: "The Sinews of War: The Logistical Battle to Keep the 53rd Welsh Division on the Move During Operation Overlord" by Major A.D.Bolland. Which is the story of how the RASC kept the 53rd Division supplied from D Day to the end of the war. Look forward to hearing from you Best wishes Dave
