I am trying to add detail to my father's brief war history and would appreciate help or advice on where to look for answers. Father was W.O.1 qualified as -Armament Artificer, Vehicle- with 152 Light Aid Detachment 51st Highland Division through North Africa, Sicily, and at D-Day. In November 1944 he was transferred to 826 Tank Transport Workshop (later, Mar 1945, renamed on the records as Armd.Tps W/S which I presume is Armoured Transport). I have been unable establish exactly the function of this unit (presumably repairing the trucks / trailers used to move tanks from workshops?? or was it repairing the actual armoured vehicles ) , was it located at a fixed point or did the unit move as the front progressed? To which Division was this Workshop attached or would it still be with the 51st?
Armd Tps ought to be Armoured Troops (transport should be tpt), implying a workshop serving an armoured formation at some level above division. Not sure who that would have been. Could it be Army Tps? Either way, it looks like left 51 Div in late 1944.
Idler/ HowardM most likely Corps troops as the Highland Div had no armoured troops attached but were in XXX corps with 7th Armoured around that time - there appeared to be a lot of switching around at that time getting ready for the last battles over the Rhine etc Cheers
War Diary at Kew will help. ROYAL ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERS Armoured Troops Workshops WO 171/10228 826 Armd. Tps. Wksp. Covering dates1946 Jan.- Mar. WO 171/7015 826 Wksp. Covering dates1945 Mar.- Dec. WO 171/7172 826 Wksp. Covering dates1945 Jan., Feb.
Sounds like his affiliation with 51st (Highland) Div ended with his transfer. An Infantry Div had 11 LADs on its establishment, one for each Infantry Brigade, each RA Regt, plus one each for the Signals, Recce, MG Bn and Div Engineers. I don't know whether the numbering of his LAD could help pinpoint which unit/formation it was attached to. The Tank Troops Workshop was a Corps level unit providing REME support to a Tank Brigade, above and beyond that of its integral Brigade Workshop. When the Tank Brigades were re-titled Armoured Brigades in March 1945, the Workshops got bumped up in nomenclature as well! The Tank Brigade Workshop worked with the Brigade and would bring vehicles back for repairs that the LADs and unit fitters weren't equipped to handle. As the Tank Brigades were continually moved about, it's likely 826 Workshop was well travelled also.
Cheers for the corrections, chaps. A bit of digging since last night confirms that the Armoured Troops Workshop was a Corps level unit, not part of a division. They were initially created to carry out 3rd echelon repairs (LADs being 1st echelon, Bde Wksps 2nd echelon) but were later nudged a bit further forward to support 'heavy 2nd echelon repairs' with 3rd echelon work taking up any spare capacity. Approximate definitions for the record: 1st Echelon - minor repairs, replacements and adjustments. 2nd Echelon - replacement of defective assemblies 3rd Echelon - repair of defective assemblies 4th Echelon - complete overhauls and repair of components The confusing bit is that the title 'Tps Wksp' does not automatically infer a 3rd echelon wksp; Corps Tps and Army Tps Wksps were 2nd echelon wksps for non-divisional units directly under those formations. Post-war, the Inf and Armd Tps Wksps were renamed Medium Wksps, perhaps to clarify things.
Many thanks to all for the information and leads for me to follow up. Surprisingly father's "de-mob" paper, 5 Feb 46, is written as if he is with the 61st Anti tank regiment R.A. which was part of 51st Highland Division (although there is no other record of a transfer to that outfit...I guess it was down to whichever Major was left to write out the paperwork. Thanks again for your help.
Many thanks to all for the information and leads for me to follow up. Surprisingly father's "de-mob" paper, 5 Feb 46, is written as if he is with the 61st Anti tank regiment R.A. which was part of 51st Highland Division (although there is no other record of a transfer to that outfit...I guess it was down to whichever Major was left to write out the paperwork. Thanks again for your help. Not sure if this will be flagged up as it's so long after the original posting, but I came across it whilst looking for info on the movements of 61 A/T Regt in 1944/45. My father was a L/Cpl REME welder with them from Normandy to early 1946. From the war diary it seems they were in the Diepholz area of Osnabruck in early 1946 when your father was demobbed and the regiment disbanded there on 1st April. My father returned home for demob on 22 Feb, so would probably have been one of your father's men at least for a while. Steve Gray.
