821 Tank Troops Workshop & delivery/etc question

Discussion in 'REME/RAOC' started by Chris C, Jan 16, 2019.

  1. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Hello,

    I was wondering if anyone knows if records exist for 821 Tank Troops Workshop for November 1944. (I checked the National Archives and they only seem to have Jan/Feb 45.)

    The reason I'm wondering is that this workshop seems to have done initial checks on the first Archers to arrive at 259 (Corps or Army, I forget) Delivery Squadron in NWE in November '44. And I'm also wondering whether it was standard procedure to flag any newly arrived vehicle as unfit until it was looked over in a workshop, or if an assessment was made by the delivery squadron first, so that a newly arrived vehicle might not go to a workshop.
     
  2. Tom OBrien

    Tom OBrien Senior Member

    Chris,

    The REME units had their numbers changed in late 1944, so the war diary for this unit in Nov 44 is probably located in one of the files for other Tank Troops Wksps. I don’t know if there is a list somewhere showing before and after, but would be very interested if you find one.
    Regards
    Tom
     
  3. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Hi Tom,

    That's disappointing and confusing. I doubt I have the resources to pursue this.

    Not to mention, the one Canadian tank troops workshop file I looked at didn't actually record their work on vehicles. One LAD file I looked at did, though.
     
  4. Tom OBrien

    Tom OBrien Senior Member

    Chris,

    I've got some good news and some bad news.

    First the good, I've got copies of two Tank Troop Wksps diaries for 1944 and one of them is WO171/2851 - No 4 Tank Tps Wksp which was re-designated as 821 Tk Tps Wksps on 8 Oct 44 with effect from 5 Sept 44.

    The bad news, however, is that there is no mention in the war diary of the work you mention. The workshops was in LIERRE from 1 Nov - 17 Nov, when it moved to TILBURG. I don't know if those locations help? The unit was under 1 Corps, so there might be some information in either the Corps DDME diary or that of the 1 Corps Wksps diary.

    The photo below is of the last weekly workshop activity report for November - if they were working on SP 17-pdrs maybe that is recorded in the entry for "SP mtgs other than 40mm"?

    Capture.JPG

    Regards

    Tom
     
    Chris C, dbf and Aixman like this.
  5. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Hi Tom,

    First, thank you very much for looking. Even "no information" lets me put it aside and not worry that I should have looked for another stone to turn over.

    If you are interested in seeing some of the Corps Delivery Squadron side of things for that period take a look at War diaries : T-12738 - Héritage . Although that file contains the records of E and F Squadrons of the Canadian "Elgins" (25th Armoured Delivery Reg't), mixed in with that are records from 259 Corps Delivery Squadron, though I don't remember for how many months.

    As far as 821 and Archers are concerned, I have recorded (from that file, if you really want to page through it) S279670 was sent to 821 on November 20, and returned from 821 on December 3.

    It could be that "SP other than 40mm" would mean Archers. By that token it might also be M10s, I suppose.

    Cheers,
    Chris
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2019

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