Once again, can anyone provide a little 'translation' service? I am in posession of a small slip of paper with text as as follows. Subject:- Honours and Awards The following extract from Echelon Part II Orders Serial No 5115/44 dated ....(blank) is republished. The u/m is awarded the 1st Army Clasp to the medal of the Africa Star. Dated September 44 and signed by the unit comanding officer. Captain G E Bavin, 1503 Arty Pl RASC (Hy). He was also signing the unit diaries at this time My fathers medals do indeed include this clasp but what do they mean by Echelon and serial number in this context?
Hutt NO one in the Army does anything without some order or other- all this means is that the good Captain is covering his behind by telling the world that he was ordered to write this information by HIS HQ.....so the HQ is then blamed if the information is wrong by issuing the Part two Order #5115 of 1944 - which was a bit late as the 1st Army ceased to in exist in 1943 Cheers
As Tom says, a reference to the order that originally promulgated the information. If you can figure out if/where those orders are archived, you should be able to find the order for that day, though I think it unlikely you'd find any more detail. The serials are typically sequential. Not sure, but I'd take Echelon to indicate these were not the orders of his unit, but of a higher formation.
As a side-note to what others have contributed, my own Army Records show how often info was duplicated or copied from other records. On my character reference, shown below, the actual reference was originally composed by my Squadron Leader, the Major "Loopy" Kennard, but was re-written & signed by someone on behalf the RAC Camp Commandant at Barnard Castle, in the UK and just prior to my demob. Ron
In basic terms : Part I orders are published daily and give the routine orders for the day of publication- where,when and by whom. Part II and Part III orders are issued as and when -with notification in individual occurrences: Soldiers having passed a qualification, promotion etc. These orders are posted to all departments within a unit and to records. The pay office will see on part two orders the qualifications for soldiers passing trade courses etc and or rank changes and adjust pay scale accordingly. The clothing stores (CQMS/QM) will use the order as authority to issue chevrons etc. Other departments in the unit will act on these orders where it affects the individual named on the order.
The unit was a RASC platoon (organised to supply ammo for heavy artillery). I'm not entirely clear how small units like this were organised, but it would seem that the platoon had its own Echelon providing at least administrative and quartermaster functions and possibly a LAD REME. There would also have been a higher headquarters because there would need to be a Lt Col somewhere with the disciplinary powers of a Commanding Officer, this could have been a Commander RASC at a corps or higher HQ, or Line of Communication or even an Area, or one of his senior staff officers, however this platoon and others and RASC companies could have also been grouped into a Column, although in this case I'd have expected Part 2 Orders to be signed by the Column Adjutant, if they had such things in RASC. The serial number is just that, Pt 2 Orders were sequentially numbered, these meant that if any got lost in transmission then the loss could be identified by the recipient(s). Basic risk management really.
Many thanks for replies, particularly to Mapshooter. I am trying to build up an understanding of how these units were organised and ultimatly for a narrative of my fathers service. Your comments tie in well with many of the unit diary entries about who it appeared to be operating with. Most of the time it seems to have been supplying prodigous amounts of ammunition to 70 Med Regt RA and we get entries such as the following for late August 44. Unit engaged in building up stocks of ammunition in maintenance area - known as BMA - operated by 317 Coy for all regts in 1 AGRA So I guess 317 Coy (Arty) could be the admin and quartermaster function you mention. There are numerous mentions of 'workshops' and lorries being sent and fetched throughout the diaries. The Italian mountains were clearly taking a toll of both men and lorries. At a higher level you get entries that seem to suggest they came under both Canadian and New Zealand commands. Out of interest the unit strength is typically recorded as about 100 men.
Hutt The time you mentioned of August '44 was the buildup to the battles of the Gothic Line in Northern Italy - when the Cdn 1st Division crossed the Metauro River late in the evening of August 25th - this was a silent approach and the guns didn't open up until later - then they used prodigious amounts of ammunition..until they reached the River Senio which became the Winter line - and everyone had a rest... Cheers
Possibly, but I think 317 Coy may have been under command of 1 AGRA, basically they maintained ammo stocks in the AGRA's area and replenished the batteries. 1503 Pl could have been tasked with moving ammo from base depot or port to 317 Coy, as such I think they would have been under command of an HQ behind the corps rear boundary. AGRAs were 'owned' at army level but assigned to corps and under corps command until ordered elsewhere by army command. BMA means Brigade Maintence Area, in this case the brigade was the AGRA.
