Help with Marion's Dad's Service Record

Further to my thread: http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/48328-help-with-marions-uncles-service-record/ attached is the service record for her Dad.

Any help on regiments / locations would be brilliant.

Regards

Pete

 

Hi,

4FTR - 4th Field Training Regiment, Royal Artillery.

Barracks Reception Station, Devizes - Devizes, Wiltshire.

Posted to the 8th Survey Regiment, Royal Artillery 9/10/42 from 4thFTR.

Mark

 

Does the entry at 495/44 read "Injured on duty. Shot to ???"

The next entry is admittance and release from a CCS (Casualty Clearing Station)

 

On the BBC at war site are some memoirs of a veteran of the 8th Survey Regiment, however, he joined the unit in Italy.


Plus this on the unit

http://nigelef.tripod.com/regtsumm.htm#svyregt

8 Svy Regt - WF F 2/41 – Heytesbury

Locations:

UK 1941-3
Tunisia 1943 - 9 Corps Troops
Salerno 9/43 - 10 Corps Troops
Italy 1943-5 - 10 Corps Troops


Disbanded 12/45

 

Injured on duty. Not to blame.

 

Thanks for all the responses to date.

As I am not an expert on army procedures, could anyone explain the entries between the time he joined and the time he was posted to 8th Survey Regiment (ie what do each of the entries mean and what would he have been doing during the period 25th June 1942 to 9th October 1942). I am particularly interested in the entry for 22nd September 1942.

Any suggestions on "Granted W.P.P"?

I am guessing that some of the later entries relate to units within 8th Survey Regiment but I have not been able to decipher them.

I am struggling here (as you can probably tell), so any help on this and my other post would be much appreciated.

Regards

Pete

 

Cheers 4JB - that makes sense (I was really struggling after the first half of the entry)

 

I stand to be corrected, but I think it is War Proficiency Pay - in other words, finished all his training and posted to a unit to do his job so he gets a slight increase in pay.....

 

Thanks again Dave

Can anyone help with "Apptd (Appointed) .... i/c

In the absence of feedback on the units, could they be:

Barracks Reception Station, Devizes = Sick Quarters?
1 GBD = 1 General Base Depot ? Location?
2 CRU = 2 Corps Reception Unit? Location?

Regards

Pete

 

I think
CRU Corps Reinforcement Unit, North Africa
GBD General Base Depot, North Africa
Appointed D?? (possibly Dvr Driver??) in charge (not sure about this one)

 

Appointed D?? i/c is Driver Internal Combustion. The term came into use between the wars when mechanisation began, to differentiate between drivers of mechanically propelled vehicles (Dvr i/c) and drivers of horse teams (Driver).

 

Thanks again everyone for your time and effort; much appreciated

I am gradually putting the pieces of the jigsaw together.

If he was Appointed Driver (I/C) would that have been after he completed training or at the start of training?.

From various sources I am beginning to think that:

He was based at Devizes (which I assume is Bulford Barracks?)for basic training and driver training
He was based at Larkill for large scale manoeuvres
He was based at Brentwood for "troop" training and gaining operational readiness.

On the final point regarding "troop" training, were "teams" formed at this point (ie similar to a RAF Crew "crewing up") so that all the men were part of the same "battery" or were they still individuals who could be posted to any "battery".

Regards

Pete

 

No, Devizes is at the NW corner of Salisbury Plain and Bulford Barracks is at the SE corner.

From the time difference between leaving the Reception Station and being appointed Dvr i/c, he could have completed a driving course. If he could already drive, a rare occurrence back then, he would only have had to prove his ability on military vehicles. It's a pity my Dad isn't still with us as he spent the entire war as a L/Bdr Driving Instructor, but I do recall him mentioning that a driving course was about 4-6 weeks.

Larkhill was the RA School where all sorts of specialised training took place. The entry for Larkhill probably means that he took his driving test there although there was no specialised driver training section there. He may have done his training there or at Devizes but Larkhill probably had someone qualified to take driving tests. Bear in mind that these units were based around the edge of the Salisbury Plain Training Area and all within a short drive of each other.

 

Thanks again for the feedback.

My current summary is as follows:

"He received his enlistment notice and joined 4th Field Training Regiment, Royal Artillery, Devizes, Wiltshire on 25th June 1942.

Here he underwent basic army training and learned his trade, qualifying as a Driver (Internal Combustion)on 22nd September 1942.

During this period he spent a couple of days in the sick quarters at Devizes.

On 9th October 1942, he was posted to 8th Survey Regiment where he trained as part of a troop to obtain operational readiness.

By 4th February 1943 he was ready to be posted overseas and he proceeded to his port of embarkation"

Am I getting there?

I am still keen to understand whether he would have travelled as an individual to his port of embarkation or as part of a "unit"; can anyone enlighten me?

Regards

Pete

 

As 8 Survey Rgt had been in N Africa since Nov 42, he would probably have traveled with a group of reinforcements for various artillery units. It would appear his posting to 8 Svy Rgt on 9/10/42 was a paper one only, he being in Wiltshire and the regiment in N Africa. Over the next couple of months he would have been busy getting his jabs, drawing tropical kit and taking embarkation leave. As the posting order originates at Larkhill, it is possible he may have had some familiarisation training at the School of Survey there.

 

Hopefully I am there (or thereabouts) with pre-embarkation:

"Edward received his enlistment notice and joined 4th Field Training Regiment, Royal Artillery, Devizes, Wiltshire on 25th June 1942.

Here he underwent basic army training and learned his trade, qualifying as a Driver (Internal Combustion) on 22nd September 1942. During this period he spent a couple of days in the sick quarters at Devizes.

He continued to work up to operational readiness and on 9th October 1942 he was assigned to 8th Survey Regiment , who were serving overseas in North Africa; some of his trade training may have therefore been at the Army School of Survey at Larkhill.

It is understood that he was granted War Proficiency Pay on 25th December 1942; at this point he was fully equipped, inoculated and ready for overseas duty.

After a short period of leave he proceeded to his port of embarkation on 4th December 1943, along with other reinforcements for the British North Africa Forces."

I will now have a bash at his overseas duty.

As a start point, picking up on an earlier post by 4jonboy, was there a fixed location in North Africa for 1GBD and 2 CRU? (If not, does anyone have the locations for Feb / Apr 1943?)

Also, any thoughts on the entries for 8th February 1944, 30th May 1944 and 25th June 1945?

Regards (and thanks for helping get this far)

Pete

 

Well the National Archives are not able to quote me for the 1944 and 1945 War Diaries for 8 Survey Regiment due to the size of the files and the 1943 one is nearly £400 .... so as this route is a non starter, I am wholly reliant on you guys (and girls) to provide answers to the questions raised in my previous posts and to help me map the route of the regiment across Italy ....

.... so help is desperately needed!

I have ordered a book from the Library entitled "Larkills Wartime Locators" which I am hoping will provide some of the answers

Regards

Pete

 

Pete

You might find that the main reinforcement depots in North Africa were based around Algiers or therebout in Maison Carree or Cap Matifou as he joined 1Xth Corps - this was the main 1st Army
corps then when the noise stopped - he then joined Xth Corps - which was made up of 46th & 56th Divs plus a handful of Commando's...and for their sins - landed at Salerno with the US 5th Army
under Gen. Mark Clark....then Naples - a few rivers before Anzio - then they had a rest and appearing once more at the Gothic line back in 8th Army- where they were both clobbered but managed to hang on to the end of the campaign when 46th Staggered into Austria at Graz and 56th went into Venice and Trieste--- so google for 46th and 56th Order of battle to find which one he was in -then google for the Italian version of "The Battle for Gemmano"..and if he was still with them - I'm not too surprised he got FP for being AWL...so once you have established which Div he was with in Italy get their war diary - and a box of cleenex as they went through the mill..and will keep you quiet for while

Cheers

 

Pete

meant to add that war diaries from Psy-war ,org or Drew should be much cheaper than the Archives lot..just pick the area you want - not the whole shebang

Cheers

 

Thanks Tom; much appreciated

I will work through your information tomorrow; the trouble is that I am working completely blind, as all my previous research has been RAF related .... I have a lot to learn, so I really do need all the help I can get.

Regards

Pete