Would anyone have a copy of the war diary for either of the following Royal Engineers and Royal Artillery units for August or September 1944? 3rd Field Sqn Royal Engineers and B Sqn 1st Assault Regiment Royal Engineers 24th Field Regiment (SP) Royal Artillery 56th Anti Tank Regiment Royal Artillery merlin
Hi Merlin, I'm researching a RE unit in Italy (when I can!) - Assuming you may be referring to an Assault Sqn of 1st Regt, Armoured Engr Bde RE, this unit formed Jan 5th 1945 at Viterbo and had a rapidly changing set of titles. If you're referring to 1st Assault Sqn RAC/RE, I believe this was an independent formation formed from 75%RAC/25%RE personnel and nucleus of 'T Scorpion Regt' (latter equipped with Grant 'Scorpion' flail tanks but I believe they were lost/sunk) This units tank strength shows it equipped with 12 x ARK and 12 x fascine tanks (assume Churchill variants) circa Jun/Jul 44. They worked alongside 25th Tank Bde and became 25th Armoured Engineer Bde RE in Jan 45 after 1st Armoured was disbanded and reformed with elements of 25th Tank Bde (believe me, the Orbat is in a constant state of flux!) Regards, Paddy
PLANG 876 NOT quite right- as both 21st and 25th gave up their 142 and 145 RAC Regiments at Cesena in Dec '44 -to be disbanded - NORTH IRISH HORSE moved over to 21st TB to replace the 145RAC - LEAVING 51ST RTR WITH HQ 25th TB to form the 25th Armoured / Engineer unit - 1st Armoured Div was disbanded earlier around October '44 after the Gothic Line battles Cheers
Hi Guys, I meant B Sqn 1st Assault Regiment, Royal Engineers. I now have the War Diaries 21st Tank brigade for August and September 1944, and even the equipment states for B Sqn 1st Assault Regiment Royal Engineers for late August 1944 are mentioned in it. B Sqn 1st Assault Regiment RE was under direct command of teh CRE 1st Canadian Infantry Division for part of the battle and at other times under direct command of 21st Tank Brigade. Because the units war diaries I have read do not mention much about the AVREs and Octopus (ARK) in the battles until late Sept 1944, I am thinking that they must not have been deployed for the river crossings due to terrain, but I want to find their war diary so I can be sure. Paddy do drop me a PM so I can give you my email. Regards Tom, 80 pages now and I have got more of the maps, just waiting on teh Seaforths museum to see if they have any of them. Merlin
Hi Merlin and Tom (my regards BTW!) Have to give it to Tom - his memory has outshone my vapidity in providing clear dates and details (and me a youngster!) I suspect we're referring to the same unit along it's evolution with similar titles (1st Assault ??? RE) in your research. To augment what Tom has written, these are the dates I have for 1st Armoured Divs RE assets and their genesis, into 25th Armoured Engineer Bde RE. 20/08/44 7th Fd Sqn RE re-formed into 25th Tank Bde 25/08/44 1st Fd Pk Sqn RE and 27 Bridging Tp RE re-formed into 25th Tank Bde 29/09/44 1st Fd Sqn RE, 627 Fd Sqn RE, 631 Fd Pk Sqn RE re-formed into 25th Tank Bde 28/10/44 1st Armoured Div ceases to be operational and is broken up, (HQ disbanded 11/01/45) 2nd Armoured Bde of 1st Armoured Div lost 55 out of 141 tanks at Coriano Ridge 19/09/44 - a significant reason why the Div was broken up. I hope you've come across Tom and veteran accounts of Coriano elsewhere on the forum already. 23/09/44 Tank strength I have for Assault Regt RAC/RE is 11 x M4A2, 6 x M4A4 (I have no record for why the change of equipment). NB. Does this tie in with any equipment states you've come across? If so, maybe same unit! 03/12/44 As stated by Tom, North Irish Horse joined 21st Tank Bde and 142 RAC re-formed as part of 25th Armoured Engineer Bde along with the HQ and 51st RTR of 25th Tank Bde. FYI: Check this lineage. 10th Bn Manchester Regt (TA) became 41 RTR and subsequently 'The Scorpion Regt', in N. Africa after El Alamein. Along with 3rd (Cheshire) Fd Sqn RE and other elements of 10th Arm'd Divs RE assets they formed 1st Assault Regt RAC/RE, Italy, autumn 1944. A date I have is 9th Nov at Forli (WO 204/10199 Organisation of Assault Engineer Bde Re Nov 44 - Jul 45 may yield something). There seems to be some convergent paths albeit not within the same timeframe Regards, Paddy
Plang876 wasn't aware that 142 RAC had been re-formed into 25th Armoured/Engineers unit- thought they had just disappeared as the 145th did with many personnel still at the Rieti depot when I returned from hospital in late January '45.. Always thought that 1st armoured were broken up as they were not battle worthy having sat around in Tunisia for so long - the Bays took a thumping at Gemmano probably accounts for a whole regiment losses there.... I still enjoy a healthy memory of those times - and probably accounts for my being accused of being "Harsh" on Authors - incidently by yet another author whose work I have not had the pleasure of reading ! Cheers
Hi Tom, We could add this to the thread on the accuracy of veteran accounts because although there's references to this re-formation in to 25th AE Bde 'on paper', the nominal roll shows few 142 RAC personnel 'actually' going in to the fighting units other than in an ad hoc way; in effect, as you rightly observed, they would have just disappeared! I'm just trying to re locate another veterans account of how 1st Armoured were 'rushed up' and thrown into the fighting with little rest - would welcome your recollections of whether that was the case. Guess we're getting off Merlins thread here, PM me by all means! Regards, Paddy
Paddy there is no doubt that 1st Armoured had been "rushed up " from Africa - and had a miserable time of some 50 hours non stop travelling before being thrown in at one of the worst battles in the whole campaign at Gemmano/Croce- where 46th - 56th - 4th Indian and 1st Armoured took a hell of a beating - and we thought we had it bad a mile to the East at San Martino ....1st Armoured did not perform too well - but what can you expect for sitting around for more than 18 months just training in the different atmosphere and terrain of Tunisia - they should have had time to acclimitise- but didn't get it ! Cheers
Hello Merlin. If the offer of the war dairies is still available I would love a copy of them. I am trying to find out any info on 25 RE/ RAC Assault Brigade. I am also looking of any info on the sny bridges built in Italy both for motor transport and railways. Best regards Ian
Hello Paddy Quote. 23/09/44 Tank strength I have for Assault Regt RAC/RE is 11 x M4A2, 6 x M4A4 (I have no record for why the change of equipment). NB. Does this tie in with aequipment states you've come across? If so, maybe same unit! Could the 6 X M4A4 be Sherman Crabs. The 11X M4A2 may be turretless tanks used as recce vehicles or stores carriers. Do you have any information regarding any of the other vehicles used by the units as in B vehicle states. Did they have any Bridging trucks etc. Cheers Iab
Gents, im looking for info about my Grandfathers unit, ROYAL ENGINEERS 571 FIELD COMPANY.C O POST 432 He died 11.7.44 from his wounds, injured sometime around end of june 44. Hes buried at Assisi cemetry, Hugh Edward O'Neill, driver RE. 1950598 Id love to find out where he served before He was killed, i think he was in north africa too. My Grandma never talked of it, as it hurt too much. I know he lied about his age and was only 20 when he died. How would i get to read about his service history and how he was injured please Many thanks for any help to can give me
Laurence. Did you know that there is a memorial to the casualties of 571 Fd Coy RE in the Guildhall in Exeter? Regards Frank
Laurence. In case you were not aware, 571 Fd Coy RE was a X (British) Corps asset during its time in Italy. This would put your grandfather at the awesome crossing of the Garigliano on 17-18 Jan 44. Regards Frank
Hi Frank, thanks for the info, i didnt know about the crossing, i thought hewas part of the irish brigade but he wasnt ( he was from Belfast). Do you know how i could find out which unit he was sectioned with and possibly get to see war daries of the unit?
