My searching skills are not up to much, so I appologise if this has been covered already, I could'nt find anything. Is MEF (Mediterranean Expeditionary Force) and CMF (Central Mediterranenan Force) the same as BNAF? I have service records and they always meantion BNAF, untill one page where BNAF is not mentioned, but MEF and CMF is?
At one time or another I had all the addresses shown above. MEF came first and covered Egypt, then BNAF which included Algeria and Tunisia. When we first landed in Sicily we then were given the CMF heading. Hope this helps. Ron
Dave NO - three different campaigns - MEF = Egypt and desert to Tunis - BNAF = Algiers to Tunis - CMF = Italy and Balkans - PAIF = Palestine and Iraq force…BLA = British liberation force - BAOR = British Army on Rhine then there was Burma MEDITERREAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE WAS THE Ww1 name for Egptian campaign -WW2 was MIDDLE EAST FORCE… Cheers
Dave, Would usually not write over either Tom or Ron's comments, but if we are talking about the same thing, I had always thought that "PAI Force" was actually denoting "Persia and Iraq Force". Clearly Ron's service record is/was logical, but the record keeping could sometimes be described as fairly erratic. For instance, the "BNAF" designation was still being used within my father's service records when he had been in Italy (Sicily and on the mainland) for nearly 10 months. He then became "MEF" associated whilst recuperating in Egypt before becoming "CMF" when he returned to Italy later in 1944 and thence to Austria in May 1945. best
Richard It should be recalled that daily records of each man's service was usually written after a day of fighting by a clerk who was invariably exhausted not by the fighting BUT servicing the fighting by hauling ammo around - removing bodies from knocked out tanks etc - THEN writing up 150 records….usually with a pencil…and sweat dripping on the papers… WE always knew PAIF as PALESTINE AND IRAQ FORCE…and BLA as BRITISH LEAVE ARMY…but then we in 8th Army were always different as most documents had the initials BAR attached somewhere meaning Burn after Reading - this soon became BBR - which meant BURN BEFORE READING Cheers
Tom, Sure - I wasn't criticising the poor clerks, just suggesting it can be a bit tricky sometimes in working through the records if relying solely on these posting initials. Sadly, no doubt, some of the documents could be BDR.... best
Sometimes it got even crazier, as the 4th QOH Rgtl Diary shows . 19/8/1945 Advance party of A Sqn moved to TUNIS Camp, ULM, on overland leave route This related to the month my Squadron spent in Ulm in Germany running a transit camp and yet our mail address was still CMF. I suppose the Army considered it wasn't worth changing the postal code for just a month. Ron
And that is how the War Diaries at Kew are labelled. WO 169 Series MEF WO 170 Series CMF WO 175 Series BNAF
I shall have to clean my glasses as I recall it was first MEF 1940 - then BNAF Nov.1942 - and lastly CMF July 1943 or did someone change it while I was not looking… Cheers
Considering the every day problems facing the Army Postal Service, they did us proud in keeping the post going. Amongst the various means of getting a message home were the following: 1. Airletter 2. Airgraph. 3. Letters by "normal" sea-mail 4. Postcards Mentioning postcards reminds me of the one I sent from Messina as my unit was taking part in the massive bombardment of mainland Italy just prior to it's invasion http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/70/a6924170.shtml Ron
Andy Dimenticate ! Yes,..... Of course there were parcels and when they came from home how well they were received ! Ron
My fathers record shows 18-3-41 - 23-6-43 ME 24-6-43 - 2-10-45 BNAF Home 3-10-45 - 4 5-46 I know that he moved from north africa across to sicily with the first crossing then up the coast to Ancona etc.. no mention of CMF . He was part of 1006 then 1010 port ops coy There in also a a mention of 1010 D.O coy T.O.S . B.N.A.F from M.E.F on the 24-6-43 Shows that records were not always absolute
