Hi Everyone, I'm a newbie to the forum and I'm hoping for a bit of help! I've been researching a guy who seems to have served with Force 136 (SOE) in India during 1943-1945. I'm a family researcher and some of the military terms have me stumped. Can any of you help out with the terms and abbreviations? Many thanks Nick
Nick before Owen jumps all over you - be aware that the abbreviation for PRIVATE in the BRITISH ARMY is PTE…….PVT is American SOS means that he was "struck off Strength" of one unit before being taken on TOS = "taken on Strength by another unit for rations pay- medical etc …. War diaries are helpful to investigate various units .. Cheers
Nick, have you got a copy of Penty's SOE personal file from Kew? Here's the reference: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C12045536 The B/B codes are SOE symbols or code numbers for staff positions in Burma. Penty used the symbol B/B.722. Lee
I knew I had seen his name before. He is alphabetically listed in the file HS1/28, but the images I possess do not include any other information about him. I recognised his name because it follows that of WBE. Petersen a Danish officer who served on Chindit 1. For what it is worth to you, here are the file images:
Just to follow up on some of your notes. I presume the scans you posted are from his SOE personal file? Re your note 6), it says in full "Posted to Force 136 (SOE in South East Asia) on ceasing to be attached officer General Staff Branch General Headquarters (Intelligence), (not remunerated from Army funds, i.e. the Army is not responsible for paying his salary, probably being paid by SOE) with effect from 10 April 1944." Re your note 8), the first line is saying that several SOE recruits are being security vetted ("put through the cards" was the euphemism for MI5 passive vetting procedure) SAMBUR I suspect is a codename/nick name for a group of Asian SOE agents selected for a particular operation. A Sambur is an Asian dark brown stag. There are a number of 12 Frontier Force war diaries at Kew but you'll need to drill down more to know the correct one to look at: *** ARCRE WAR DIARY SEARCH RESULTS *** WO 169/18985, 1/12 Frontier Force Regt. (1944 Jan.- Dec.) WO 169/18986, 3/12 Frontier Force Regt. (1944 Jan.- Dec.) WO 169/18987, 5/12 Frontier Force Regt. (1944 Jan.- Dec.) WO 169/18988, 26/12 Frontier Force Regt. (1944 Jan.- Dec.) WO 169/22388, 1/12 Frontier Force Regt. (1945 Jan.- Apr.) WO 169/22389, 3/12 Frontier Force Regt. (1945 Jan.- Dec.) WO 169/22390, 5/12 Frontier Force Regt. (1945 Jan.- Sept.) WO 169/22391, 14/12 Frontier Force Regt. (1945 Apr.- Dec.) WO 169/22392, 26/12 Frontier Force Regt. (1945 Jan.- July, Sept.- Dec.) WO 169/24596, 3/12 Frontier Force Regt. (1946 Jan.) WO 169/24597, 14/12 Frontier Force Regt. (1946 Jan.- Sept.) WO 172/7735, 1/12 Frontier Force Regt. (1945 May-July) WO 172/7736, 4/12 Frontier Force Regt. (1945 Jan.-Dec.) WO 172/7737, 8/12 Frontier Force Regt. (1945 Jan.-Dec.) WO 172/7738, 9/12 Frontier Force Regt. (1945 Jan.-Dec.) WO 172/7739, 12 Frontier Force Regt. M.G. Bn. (1945 Jan.-Apr., June, Oct.-Dec.) WO 172/10264, 4/12 Frontier Force Rifles (1946 Jan.- Nov.) WO 172/10265, 8/12 Frontier Force Rifles (1946 Jan.- Apr.) WO 172/10266, 9/12 Frontier Force Rifles (1946 Jan.- Apr.) (Downloaded from ARCRE War Diary Search Engine: http://www.arcre.com/wdsearch - 2014-06-03 05:46 GMT) Lee
A suggestion: you also type your questions in the body of the post, so that they are easy for every one to read, rather relying on people reading them on the images. In addition, if in the future anyone is searching on this topic, information/questions which you have written on the images will not be picked up in a search. On image 5 you say “His epaulette seems to read Guides which could make him part of the 5/12th (Queen Victoria’s Own Corps of Guides} Frontier Force Regiment” There is a previous WW2Talk thread on the 12th Frontier Force Regiment where dryan67 helpfully listed all the locations for the various Battalions . The 5th Battalion was not in Burma, so it’s unlikely to be that one. http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/51462-help-needed-re12th-frontier-force-rifles-research/?p=603428 Cheers Maureen
