Been told a story, with little detail, about a Royal Engineer unit (possible a Field Squadron) being deployed to Turkey in WW2, to build airfields in case of a German invasion. All the unit handed in their uniforms and worked in plain clothes. I am vaguely aware that the UK supplied Turkey with aircraft and other items to bolster them should Germany invade - after spotting the Turkish Air Force graves at CWGC Brookwood awhile ago, they were here for pilot training. Has anyone encountered or heard of such a deployment?
There's quite a bit of info in ME Command files from early 1942 on how to deal with the Ninth Army sector and Turkey. WO169/3791 That may help? All the best Andreas
There is an enormous amount of material in the Chiefs of Staff minutes and memoranda available to download from TNA about relations with Turkey – all of it can be downloaded despite indications to the contrary. 1. RE-ORGANISATION OF MOBILE BASE DEFENCES. (a) Stores and equipment for Mobile base... | The National Archives
I've been downloading many of the CAB79 files over the last 2 years. If you see anything that particularly catches your eye, I may already have it. Regards Tom
Intermittently I Have been researching my father’s war record. He was a sergeant in RE and all detailed NCO records were destroyed in the Blitz. However, after watching a Gary Lineker doc on TV I learnt that every nit in the British Army kept a War diary. After a visit to Kew I found these diaries and even found my father mentioned - he spent a couple of years in Turkey. One entry relates to a sapper who was killed by an exploding oxy accetalyne cylinder - he was buried in the Anglican Church in Izmir and the Turkish Army provided a guard of honour. I did contact the church for more info but had no response. I would be very interested in any more info. Any photos would be of particular interest. My father finished the war with a brief attachment to PI Force
It might be worth checking the CWGC records for anyone buried in Turkey during WW2 from the Royal Engineers. How about this sapper? One of three soldiers in the Izmir cemetery. See: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2937634/john-sadler/ Who are PI Force incidentally? Could it be PAIC:
Yes - as I understand it was Persia and Iraq force. On reading the war diaries other interesting anecdotal entries included the receiving of casualties from the naval battle and onward transport by air to Egypt; the visit by the Bishop of Gibraltar etc
My Great Uncle William George Bruce (Srv No. 2192510 or 153760) was a Major in the Royal Engineers and we believe spent a lot of the war in Turkey although we haven't got much evidence - Would be really interested in any records especially the War diaries as have not had the opportunity yet to get down to Kew.
Benno, No-one who has posted here has id'd a War Diary, possibly as the Field Squadron sent has not been id'd.
The five pgs. are from the NZ document you linked in Post 8. Neither TNA file has appeared here before, on the assumption the numbers appear in the text of a post, not a link.
More than likely you got that from me. I remember scanning it for someone in the past. It is from the following source: Pakenham-Walsh, R.P. History of the Corps of Royal Engineers 1938-1948. Volume 7. Chatham: Institute of Royal Engineers, 1958.
