Hello to the REME/RAOC forum my name is Chris, I joined just recently. Read with great interest the 5 Advanced Base Workshop REME War Diary - 1943 as it confirmed through it's location (Al Mussaiyib) where my late uncle who was a AFV mechanic in the 2nd Polish Armoured Brigade received training. From a short hand written Polish record obtained from the Sikorsky Museum London describing his training, there was one abbreviated notation spelled 3 miesiące kurs czołg Mosajb angielski (3 months course tank mechanics Mosajb English). Took a lot of reading & research before I was able to associate Mosajb with Mussaiyib and only recently with 5 Advanced Base Workshop. Was very exciting to read this diary and know that he was one of those first 500 Polish soldiers to finish their course. According to his record he later took a 2 month tank specialist course at Abbassia then a 2 week heavy vehicle recovery course with the 4th Armoured Regiment. He was in the LADC of No.3 Squadron, 4th Skorpion Armoured Regiment. The unit history mentioned mechanics sent to Mozaiby Iraku in 1942 but gave no further details.Thanks so much for posting this Jules, it made my day! By chance do you have the diary for 1942 as I am curious of the Pole's date of arrival? Also were there any photos or maps of the facilities with the diary, I've tried Googling Sikorsky Camp with no luck. Would respectfully like to obtain any further information or scans folks here might have or know of. Thanks for your patience & best regards Respectfully Chris...........
Hi, and welcome to the forum, I'm sure you'll find lots of help with your research on here. What does LADC stand for? I know LAD means Light Aid Detachment, but never seen LADC before.
Last edited by Gage; Today at 08:56 AM. Reason: Moved so everyone can say hello Had me worried there for a minute, thought I'd broken something when the post disappeared!!
Hello to the REME/RAOC forum my name is Chris, I joined just recently. Read with great interest the 5 Advanced Base Workshop REME War Diary - 1943 as it confirmed through it's location (Al Mussaiyib) where my late uncle who was a AFV mechanic in the 2nd Polish Armoured Brigade received training. From a short hand written Polish record obtained from the Sikorsky Museum London describing his training, there was one abbreviated notation spelled 3 miesiące kurs czołg Mosajb angielski (3 months course tank mechanics Mosajb English). Took a lot of reading & research before I was able to associate Mosajb with Mussaiyib and only recently with 5 Advanced Base Workshop. Was very exciting to read this diary and know that he was one of those first 500 Polish soldiers to finish their course. According to his record he later took a 2 month tank specialist course at Abbassia then a 2 week heavy vehicle recovery course with the 4th Armoured Regiment. He was in the LADC of No.3 Squadron, 4th Skorpion Armoured Regiment. The unit history mentioned mechanics sent to Mozaiby Iraku in 1942 but gave no further details.Thanks so much for posting this Jules, it made my day! By chance do you have the diary for 1942 as I am curious of the Pole's date of arrival? Also were there any photos or maps of the facilities with the diary, I've tried Googling Sikorsky Camp with no luck. Would respectfully like to obtain any further information or scans folks here might have or know of. Thanks for your patience & best regards Respectfully Chris........... Hi Chris - Welcome to the forum I am pleased that you found the diary of interest! I do have the diary for 1942 too, but haven't transcribed it yet. I have had a look at the diary and the Polish Main Party arrived in Mussaiyib on the 10th December 1942 - consisting of 8 officers and 521 other ranks. In the diary review for December it states that the "Polish personnel...are proving very apt...and also made friends rapidly with the British Workshop personnel". If you don't mind waiting a couple of days I'll sort out the pages for you - house rennovations are getting in the way of research Regards, Jules.
Found an e-book in pdf format click here wich tells of No. 5 Advanced Base Workshops. June 1943-August 1944. Interesting read.
Hello & thanks for the warm greetings and link. Apologies for posting in the wrong forum. Thank you Jules for that piece of information about the Poles arrival, very interesting and now provides me with a more personnel time-line of my uncle's movements in the middle east. Look forward to reading the transcription. I'm guessing no pictures? Thanks RemeDR, the link gave a good sense of what the place was like! The C in LADC is a designation for type 'LAD type C' "LAD Type C was larger than Type A and Type B. It was normally commanded by a Captain. It was intended for units which had a large number of tracked and armoured vehicles." http://truxmodels.co.uk/page53.html One of the first references I had to Mussaiyib was from the diaries of 684 Tank Troops Workshops when they were still 102 Infantry Tank Workshop REME & 102 Infantry Tank Ordnance Field Park ROAC. The diary also makes fond mention & association with the Poles. Best regards Chris...........
Chris - Regarding photos, I have one of my grandad which we think (and I stress think) was taken whilst at 5 ABW, but as there are no clues to his rank I can only go on what we were told - the link to the pic is here: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/reme-raoc/35604-photo-id-rank.html No maps at present. The thumb nails are copies of the war diary entries for December 1942 and the summary page too which Lee (Psywar.org) did for me. I've messed about a bit with the review image because it was quite faint. It's not brilliant, but hopefully clear enough for you to read. I will check the 1943 diary for any extra info that mentions the Poles - I am assuming he stayed with his unit until it left the base? Jules
Hey Jules Thanks for posting those most significant scans and that great photo of your granddad. As to whether my uncle stayed until the whole Polish contingent left the base I'll hazard a NO as all three armoured regiments of 2 Polish Armoured Brigade (in particular the 4th Arm Reg) were undergoing extensive training and build up. By June 1943 they had received many new support vehicles and were on their way to Nuseirat Palestine, by October they started receiving the first M4A2 Shermans. I imagine many of those 500 were returning to their infantry, artillery etc units as they were also under pressure to get up to strength and operational status. Best regards Chris........ PS If anyone is interested I have a garrison map scan of Tel-El-Kiber.
I am pleased I could help Chris. Also, the scan of the TEK garrison map would be great to see please. (My grandad was at 2 base workshops) Jules.
I am pleased I could help Chris. Also, the scan of the TEK garrison map would be great to see please. (My grandad was at 2 base workshops) Jules. Hey Jules map and image is posted here http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/reme-raoc/37342-map-tel-el-kiber-officer-group-photo.html#post413444 Enjoy Chris...........
