Trying to find out more information regarding my father in law who served in the Royal Signals between 1940 - 1946. We have his service record and are trying to find out a little more detail about what he did Henry Francis Eden No. 2355569 Corps trade: Oper Spec B III - what does this mean? The service record is stamped OC "B" coy S.O.T. Bn R. Signals, what does S.O.T. mean? 12.4.41 Unit 108 section attached to No1 S.W.G.R.Signals for all purposes, w.e.f. 7.11.41 Duty WO Teleprinter, A1007, S.D.I. 5.11.41 - help to decipher this please 30.06.45 Unit W.E.D. Posted to Indian Special Wireless Depot 1.7.45 Unit W.E.D Posted to Indian Special Wireless Centre - any information on what the Indian Special Wireless Centre were up to would be welcomed. 5.11.43 disembarked Sydney ex "Mariposa" on loan from India for a period of 2 to 6 months for attachment to 1 Aust. Special. Wireless Group Talinga Its that word special again, does anyone know what this special wireless group were up to? Thanks in advance Mike
Hi Mike, I'll have a look through a couple of Signals books this week when I have some time (Feel free to nudge me if I forget). In the meantime an email to the Museum may help: Royal Signals Museum Cheers Andy
Hi Mike and welcome. My Dad was C Troop, No1 War Office Signal Regt on teleprinters National Service 1951 to 53 and those organisations/references mean nothing to him but a lot could have changed post-war. Keep us posted and let us know how your researches are progressing. Good luck, sure someone here will come up trumps. (another) Mike
Anything with special wireless in it usually refers to signal intelligence, i.e. intercepting other wireless transmissions. David
"Not only do you not exist, you never will have existed. You will remain for always unknown and unacknowledged. There will be no awards, no glory. There will be no medals for this unit." As told to a batch of recruits for the Australian Special Wireless Group, AIF. Go to ozatwar for some info on this unit: Australian Special Wireless Group, AIF, Australian Army in Australia during WW2 (I'm sure that this unit has come up in converstion on this site previously) and here it is: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/top-secret/26155-australian-special-wireless-group-aif-australia-during-ww2.html
Thanks for the Australian reference it is very interesting. I can recall Harry telling me that at one time his group were the only armed soldiers between the entire Japanese Navy and the population of Australia. His signals group were getting very nervous in a tent in Northern Australia tracking the Japanese fleet who at the time were headed straight for Oz but turned left and headed for the pacific Islands instead. The Australian Special Signals webpage confirms that the operations centre at Kalinga (its typed as Talinga on his war record, obviously miss read by the typist) was a tent surrounded by barbed wire so this is coming together nicely. I just need to sort out the Indian connection now for it to become an interesting story. Thanks for all your help so far, keep it coming and I will keep you updated with what I can find out. Mike
Some more info in here: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/user-introductions/22006-8-special-wireless-group.html
I was a driver Spec in the Engineers, It's short for specialist, "Oper Spec B III" To me, this means operator Specialist, B3 is the trade pay band, It starts at B3, then B2, and B1 is the highest until you get to A 3, A2 and A1, then it goes to T for Technician. As for the rest, I think it may take a Signaller to decode it! Edited to add, seeing as the spec in the training battalion stands for special, I would assume his trade as special operator rather than specialist. Cheers Al
Thanks to Drew I have solved one of my questions The service record is stamped OC "B" coy S.O.T. Bn R. Signals, what does S.O.T. mean? In the thread that Drew very kindly directed me to there is mention of SOTB (Special Operator Training Battalion) at Trowbridge Barracks. So SOT stands for Special Operator Training. Thanks Drew some of your scanned pages on the same thread are proving to be very helpful Mike
He appears to have been posted to Delhi India to the India Special Wireless Group in June1943. This line in his service record is stamped Wireless Experimental Centre. I have been doing a little internet digging and thanks to Wikipedia have managed to come up with the following about the Wireless Experimental Centre. The Wireless Experimental Centre was one of two overseas outposts of Station X, Bletchley Park, the British signals analysis centre during World War II. The other outpost was the Far East Combined Bureau. Situated at Anand Parbat outside Delhi[1], it was staffed by members of the Intelligence Corps, the British and Indian armies and the Air Force. Under Colonel Peter Marr-Johnson, it was used partly as a wireless intercept station for Japanese codes. There were two outstations at Bangalore and Barrackpore, and about 88 listening wireless sets around India, and several mobile Y-stations. Thought you might be interested. I am finding this fascinating especially when linked to my mums record that we are about to apply for. She served in the WRNS on Special Duties and someone has suggested that she could have been at a Y station. It is quite possible that I have two members of my family at either end of the intelligence gathering system. I will keep looking but will welcome any further information if anyone finds any. Mike
