Did my dad never see any action during WW2?

I have my dad's army records and to summarise he was:

Until Jun 1943 - in England
Jun-Oct 1943 - in Bombay, India
Oct 1943-Sept 1944 - in Ceylon
Sept 1944-May 1945 - in India, location unspecified
May-Dec 1945 - Burma

I know he was in 264/43 L.A.A. Regt. RA whilst in Ceylon in March 1944, as I have letter that a Lt.T.N Michael wrote to my mother - I guess he wrote to many wives, mothers and sweethearts. Basically saying that he had come from India and put on weight whilst in Ceylon! That he was in the best of spirits, whistling all the time and cheering everyone up. Although the address on the letter doesn't say anything other than Ceylon, I know he was in Trincomalee, as he was always talking about it

My dad was awarded the Burma Star and that is listed on his papers, however, it appears he was only in Burma from May 1945 and the only information shown mentioning Rangoon, is on his Notification of Impending Release. This states that his military conduct was Exemplary, and the comments state that he has been with this unit since May 1945. Extremely hard working, honest and reliable. He has rendered valuable service in running a B.O.R.s Canteen giving up many hours of his spare time for the welfare of the troops. Has a most cheerful disposition and is very popular with his comrades. Rangoon 23.11.1945. Signed Major Lumsden.

It appears he started off as a Gunner when he enlisted in 1940, but he didn't leave England until June 1943, when he was posted to Bombay. His unit is shown as REAWW. He was then posted to Reserve A A Regt, with the authority of GHQ AC's (or is it AG?) Branch Letter. A couple of months later he was admitted to 119 IGH, which I imagine was a field hospital. He was there for 6 days, but no mention is made of the reason - probably some nasty tummy bug. By October 1943 he had been posted to Ceylon where he was T.O.S. I know from the list of abbreviations I was sent with his record that this means Taken on Strength.

Some of the records seem to have been written out of order, so they have him in Ceylon, before he embarked in India for Ceylon!

In 1944 his pay was reclassified for some reason I can't read. He then left Ceylon and in September 1944 disembarked in India again. In April 1945 he was transferred to the RIASC, and given the title of Private, which was then changed to Driver. He was transferred under various regulations and the prefix T/- was added to his army number. He is shown as being in the 92 B.S.D (Base Supply Depot) posted from H.Q.C.R.I.A.S.C 452 L of C sub area and T.O.S. In brackets is what looks like Awaiting Disposal or it could be assisting disposal. It would appear that this last transfer was to Rangoon.

On 3 December he proceeded to H.B.T.D Deolali pending a release to UK and ceased to be administered by O2 E.A.L.F.S.E.A

He arrived back in UK on the night of 5 January 1946 - which was my 5th birthday.

So unless something was happening in Bombay and Trincomalee in Ceylon, then it looks as though he didn't actually see any action. Lucky man to have been in the army from 1940 to the end of 1945 and never see any action at all.

Any thoughts? And were there other men with an army history like this

 

Yes, millions. Not every Burma Star holder fought hand-to-hand with 'the evil Jap' in the 'green hell' of the Burmese Jungle. In truth it is quite refreshing to hear from someone who doesn't think their ancestor 'was a Chindit'!
Your father had a good record in the RA and RASC doing absolutely vital jobs, and the medals to prove it.
And there is nothing wrong with being lucky!

 

Thank you for that. He lost a lot of weight in India, put it on again in Ceylon, but then seems to have lost it again by the middle of 1946 - but that could have been the English rationing!!

The only places I remember him talking about were Rangoon and Trincomalee and he has letters received after the war from someone in Rangoon, a local person rather than British. Of course, he made up stories to impress my young sons in later years, but we all took them with a pinch of salt.

 

They also serve who only stand and wait. Relatively few in all services saw action. It does not belittle the contribution they made

 

By the start of May 1945 many of the troops pushing on Rangoon were on half rations - the monsoon season had rolled in early and the Lines of Communication were stretched to the limit by the speed of their advance. He was doing a vital job at that point as Jitter Party says!

The 'India' posting (in the 'Military History Sheet' section of his records?) doesn't wholly preclude the possibility that some of that period was spent across the border in Burma. The war diaries of the unit he was assigned to at that point should give a clearer view of exactly where they were and what they were doing.

If you post some photographs of the records, forum members might be able to help you work out a few more of the codes and abbreviations.Here are a few:

REAWW - That looks like a draft serial, information on them at this link: Draft recognition codes.
HBTD - A transcription of the booklet he would have been given at the Homeward Bound depot is here: Westward Bound
IGH - Indian General Hospital

 

Hello Elizabeth, welcome to the forum.

Your father's experience, as others have suggested, was very common to men sent out to India as reinforcements to the anti-aircraft artillery.

The reference to "REAWW" indicates that he was sent out to India as a reinforcement. The letters "REAWW" indicate a temporary identifier given to the batch of reinforcements to which he was posted for travel to India. It is not a unit as such, it just refers to the specific group. As far as I know, no one has found out yet if the codes used had any meaning beyond identifying a specific group of reinforcements.

The Reserve Anti-Aircraft Regiment, R.A. appears to have been located at Mhow. As the name of the unit suggests, its purpose was to hold men temporarily as reinforcements until they were posted to a unit.

The 43rd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, R.A. was located in Ceylon from 4th March 1942. The Regiment moved to Trincomalee in early September 1943, the Regimental Headquarters arriving there on 11th September 1943.

On 15th June 1944, a warning order was issued for the transfer of the 43rd L.A.A. Regiment from Ceylon to India to join the 14th Army. In the event, only the 264th Battery of the Regiment moved to India, leaving Ceylon on or just after 7th August 1944.

The 264th Battery arrived at Chittagong from Ceylon on 5th September 1944, and came under the command of the 13th Anti-Aircraft Brigade. It remained there until January 1945 when the unit ceased to be operational and was made ready for disbandment. Disbandment appears to have been completed by the end of that month.

There was a constant shortage of British troops in India and Burma, especially those needed to reinforce British infantry battalions. The British anti-aircraft units in India and Ceylon were a source for these much needed reinforcements and as the war progressed, a number of anti-aircraft units were disbanded to provide them. Depending on medical fitness and aptitude, many men thus released were posted to infantry battalions as reinforcements. Those less medically fit were posted to other types of British units. It seems that your father was transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps as a driver.

Steve

 

Thank you for all the helpful information. I was going through some old photographs earlier this week and, amongst them, I found a badge (not a photo an actual badge) for the 14th Army, so saying only the 264th Battery of the Regiment moved to India, leaving Ceylon on or just after 7th August 1944 makes sense. Although I'd read on his notes he was in the RASC as a driver, somehow I'd always assumed he was there as a batman, as part of the letter sent to my mother (I mentioned in my original post) states "We shall look after him just as well as he looks after me - and that's saying a lot". Which I took to mean that my dad was responsible in some way for the Lt.

 

Welcome Elizabeth.

With all the emphasis on the Far East you may be in danger of overlooking your father’s UK service. With three years or so as a gunner before he left the UK, it is entirely possible that he saw action as part of Air Defence of Great Britain. If you can share details of his earlier career it might be possible to deduce more.

 

And Churchill said the sound of the AA guns firing boosted civilian morale even when they didn't hit anything.

 

Thank you for all your input. I'll try to scan a copy of my dad's war record and post it, you may be able to give me even more insight into what he was doing.

 

There is plenty to learn about our AA defenses down to the diaries of individual LAA regiments so don't ignore that period of his service.

 

I've not forgotten to scan my dad's war record, I've not been able to scan it yet.

 

Here's my dad's Army record I have a Territorial Army Record of Service but the pages are A3 and I can't scan them. They are from when he signed up with the TA on 29 July 1940, when he was posted to 21st L.A.A. Regt. RA.

 

I hope you can view the record OK. I resized the pages but might have made them too small.

 

Look to have started in Altrincham, 4th AA Division. I'll see if I can find any references in some of the diaries I have.

 

Thanks for posting the service record, Elizabeth. They are all readable although Page06 is difficult, a little too small.

 

Sorry, here it is sized up a bit.

 

If I'm reading these records right it looks like your dad may have seen some serious action during the Liverpool/Manchester Blitz with 44 AA Bde.

"The Royal Artillery's historian considered that during these attacks on British cities 'the actions fought [by the AA batteries] were as violent, dangerous and prolonged as any in the field'." Link: 44th Anti-Aircraft Brigade (United Kingdom) - Wikipedia

As far as I can work out, these are the units he served with:

July 1940 to October 1941 - 80 LAA Battery, 21st LAA Regiment
October 1941 to October 1942 - (Regimental HQ?), 88th LAA Regiment (newly formed)
October 1942 to March 1943 - 178 LAA Battery, 88th LAA Regiment
Then posted to the RA Depot in Woolwich to join a reinforcement draft bound for overseas service.
September 1943 to November 1943 - (Regimental HQ?), 43 LAA Regiment
November 1943 to April 1945 - 264 Battery, 43 LAA Regiment
April 1945 to December 1945 - 92 Base Supply Depot, RASC

According to that linked Wiki page, 21 LAA Rgt embarked for overseas service in December 1941, was diverted to the Far East and captured at Java in March 1942 - he was pretty lucky to have been posted to 88 LAA Rgt in October as otherwise he would have been a POW of the Japanese. 88 LAA Rgt was created in October 1941 so your dad appears to have joined it at its inception.

To find out more you really need someone to copy the various battery and regimental war diaries for you. This is the one for 92 BSD for example:

Base Supply Depots: 92 B.S.D. | The National Archives
WO 172/8481
Base Supply Depots: 92 B.S.D.
1945 Feb.-Dec.

You've already interpreted a lot of the abbreviations, but here are a few minor details you might be missing:

Page 1:
A&S Group 24C - Age and Service Group 24 (relates to his 'demob' group - see attached table below)
RA (CD+AA) - Royal Artillery (Coast Defence & Anti-Aircraft)

Page 2:
R/A @ H/R - 'ration allowance at higher rate'

Page 3:
Bottom line is 'Interposted to 264 Bty'

Page 4:
HQCRIASC, 452 L of C - Headquarters, Commander Royal Indian Army Service Corps, 452 Lines of Communication Sub Area

Page 5:
HBTD - Homeward Bound Trooping Depot
O2EALFSEA - Records Officer, 2nd Echelon, Allied Land Forces South East Asia

 

And my brother wouldn't have been born.

 

This page from 44th AA Brigade diary records the Militia intake of the 29th July including 134 to 21st LAA. I guess he would have been one of those men.
There are other references to the whereabouts of 21st LAA and its batteries in several place in the diary. As an example, from May 41 they were at the AVRO plant in Woodford south Manchester.
I would strongly reccomend getting a copy of the 80th Bty diary from Kew WO166/2826 for more detail of locations and quite possibly engagements with enemy air raids.