My father served in the RASC, as a staff driver with a car company attached to British 2nd Army Headquarters from May 1944 till early 1945 in NW Europe. I have attempted to obtain war diaries for the car company without success. I would therefore like to find out where and when British 2nd Army headquarters were located throughout that period. Is there any way of doing that ? Regards, John Stewart
Hi Drew, Thanks for the prompt reply. The unit was designated HQ RASC 87 C C CAR COLN on his Service records. I used a researcher in the UK (Bob O'Hara - you may have heard of him), and he advised they could not locate war diaries for the unit in the National Archives. Hope you can be of some help. Regards John
I've had a quick look and nothing seems to stand out, that said I don't think the search engine is firing on all 4 cylinders today. Other possibilities could be the unit is part of a larger formation and the diary/unit history is within that one or it is within a RASC 2nd Army HQ file.
Is this leading in the right direction? Headquarters 2nd Army Car Company. War Establishment XIV/1826/1. May 1944. http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/rasc/28505-car-company-rasc.html
I have seen that particular reference before, and assume that refers to the Car Company my father served with. I gave that reference to my military researcher in the UK, but he came up with nothing, when searching for war diaries. Thanks for your interest. John
Hi Drew, You mentioned the car company being part of a larger unit. He was serving with 512 GTC as part of PAIForce, returning to the UK in January 1944. It does say on his service record that on 6/7/1944 he was with 512 GTC, and was attached to 783 Coy RASC Army Car. Does this fall into line with what you are suggesting about being part of a larger unit ? I wish I'd thought of asking all these questions whilst he was still with us ! Regards John
John - Can you scan the service records and post them. I must admit RASC units do seem to be quite hard to find ref diaries along with other similiar units like RAOC, REME etc.
I think we may be getting warmer ! I found these two diaries: WO 171/2548 783 Coy. RASC 1944 Mar.- Dec. WO 171/6369 783 Coy. RASC 1945 Jan.- Dec.
I've also found this diary which maybe the GTC unit - I'm not sure what GTC stands for. General Transport Coy perhaps? WO 169/11935 512 Coy. RASC 1943 Jan.- Dec. WO 169 is the Middle East series and PAIForce diaries can be found in WO 169.
Hi Drew, GTC does stand for General Transport Company. Thanks for your help, but I have the war diaries for 512 GTC from 7/7/1942 when the unit was formed, till the end of the war in Europe, and also 783 GTC from it's formation in March 1944 till his discharge in 1946. No mention of 87 C C Car Coln though. Regards, John
Hi Drew, Another question for you. I've just been looking through the 783 diaries, and it appears as if 783 was not a general transport Company, but a unit under the command of 512GTC, actuall named 783 Company RASC (Army Car), comprising over 260 personnel, and 200 vehicles. Is this possible ? What is confusing is a testimonial on his records states that had served with RASC 87 CC Car Coln since May 1944, though his actual record doesn't mention 87 CC till early January 1946. Is it possible 783 was renamed as 87 CC ? Regards, John
