Frequency lists in War Diaries of Divisional Signals

Discussion in 'Royal Signals' started by Gary Kennedy, Aug 18, 2022.

  1. Gary Kennedy

    Gary Kennedy Member

    One of the members here kindly shared with me some pages from an Infantry Divisional Signals war diary, and to my surprise it contained several examples of frequency lists for the formation involved. These detail the frequency allocations to headquarters and units of the Division, and any attached troops, and help provide a better understanding of the various Divisional 'nets'.

    I was wondering whether any other members here had come across such things in war diaries and might be willing to share, or give a pointer on where to find such things? My interest in the tactical usage of wireless is pretty much confined to the campaign in Northwest Europe at present, so any examples from that theatre for Infantry Divisional Signals, Armoured Divisional Signals, or Independent Armoured or Tank Brigades would be most welcome.

    Thanks,

    Gary
     
    Chris C likes this.
  2. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    Hi Gary, yes I’ve seen these many times, especially in Ops orders for Operation Neptune, or Husky, or Dragon etc. In American operations in the Pacific, they also have detailed Signals orders etc. In the Signals section of these orders they list all the frequency, security codes, ship codes, radio code words (for locations or for specific objectives) etc etc. If you’d like to see some, let me know and I’ll get copies and post them for you

    Cheers
     
  3. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    Gary, I just grab some files from the Op Neptune Communications Orders…..examples of some of the info (and their is literally hundreds of pages with freq, when to change (which date) etc etc. these are just a few of the pages in the orders.

    upload_2022-8-18_16-10-38.jpeg

    upload_2022-8-18_16-10-54.jpeg

    upload_2022-8-18_16-11-10.jpeg

    upload_2022-8-18_16-11-31.jpeg

    upload_2022-8-18_16-11-46.jpeg

    upload_2022-8-18_16-12-6.jpeg



    Source: Fold3.com
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2022
    dbf likes this.
  4. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    A few more example pages for above

    upload_2022-8-18_16-19-54.jpeg

    upload_2022-8-18_16-20-11.jpeg

    upload_2022-8-18_16-20-27.jpeg
     
    Gary Kennedy likes this.
  5. Gary Kennedy

    Gary Kennedy Member

    Thanks for those pages Temujin.

    It was ideally the more usual operations I'm interested in. The amphibious assaults tend to have a lot more stations involved, with links to units and HQs that an Inf or Armd Div Sigs wouldn't normally be concerned with. I asked on a couple of forums earlier this year and was pointed to a page in the online Canadian war diaries for 3rd (Cdn) Inf Div on 6th June 1944, which includes a lot of units involved in the assault landing that wouldn't feature in a typical signal order.

    War diaries : T-7619 - Héritage

    Thanks,

    Gary
     
  6. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    Got it, yes I had seen these in the past also, but didn’t really study them or take a hard look and I see what you mean, about units involved who do not normally show up on other records.

    Are you looking for specific units your searching for?
     
  7. Gary Kennedy

    Gary Kennedy Member

    No, nothing specific in terms of Divisions, just something representative of a normal set up for operations in NWE during 1944-45. I have a feeling there was a generic list that gave a signals officer an outline of how many frequencies a formation would need to be allocated, based on the number of units and headquarters within it, but have no idea where to find a copy (which is the same for most of the documents I covet but cannot find!).

    Thanks,

    Gary
     
  8. Gary Kennedy

    Gary Kennedy Member

    Just risking bumping this shout from me from last year. I found a couple of examples of what I was asking about for 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, from Oct 1944 and Mar 1945 respectively.

    War diaries : T-21337 - Image 1182 - Héritage (canadiana.ca)

    War diaries : T-21338 - Image 242 - Héritage (canadiana.ca)

    I don't know if these represent 21 Army Group practise or were more specific to First Canadian Army. I would still very much like to see something on these lines for a British formation; British Divisional Signals war diaries for NWE largely cover multiple months, and I don't even know if they contain similar documents. If any of the resident war diary experts could offer any advice on the subject it would be much appreciated.

    Gary
     

Share This Page