IEME

Discussion in 'REME/RAOC' started by RemeDesertRat, Mar 25, 2011.

  1. RemeDesertRat

    RemeDesertRat Very Senior Member

    Stephen,
    first of all the attached pdf is from your mans MSR on this line the last three words are technical advisory capacity so it looks like your man was an instructor of some sort.

    Very difficult o find much info on IEME so hard to say what structure they had, but would suggest they were very similar to REME.
    A good reference book I can suggest is: Craftsmen of the army vol 1, which can be found here or on amazon (make sure you get volume 1 which covers from wwi raoc and reme up to 1965) very little mention of IEME or RIASC (see attached thumbnails) but is an interesting book in its own right and may give you some idea what IEME was all about. Most of the WWII stuff in here concentrates on the more well know stuff like alamein and cairo workshops, but as I said it is probably the only book of its type, any more questions please feel free to PM me
     

    Attached Files:

  2. RemeDesertRat

    RemeDesertRat Very Senior Member

    PS it might be worth asking someone if they could find out which war diaries may help, although I;m not too sure if any Indian diaries are available?? :confused:
     
  3. stephenmyall

    stephenmyall Member

    Stephen,
    Very difficult o find much info on IEME so hard to say what structure they had, but would suggest they were very similar to REME.


    Thanks, I think your spot on on both accounts 1) about his capacity as Instructor and 2) the IEME being of similar structure to REME. If you read the last few lines of the 2 page of the PDF you sent, it kind of eludes to this (reading between the lines).

    I have been spending much of time this week browsing/search NA catalogue and as you mention there is little about IEME however i did find this [FONT=&quot]
    [/FONT]
    [FONT=&quot]WO/169/18923 – 252 Indian Armoured Brigade/IEME - War Diary - Jan 44 – Dec 44
    [/FONT]
    [FONT=&quot](Tom served here March to August). It was probably these searches that prompted me to PM you earlier about REME units as i was not sure whether his activities would be recorded in the Diary of the division he served (in this 252nd Ind Arm Div) or was he part of a REME/IEME regiment?
    [/FONT]
     
  4. RemeDesertRat

    RemeDesertRat Very Senior Member

    That looks promising, if there is an actual war diary for 252 Indian Armoured Brigade/IEME must be worth a look.
    REME/IEME didn't have regiments, they were a corps, and units of them were attached to regiments as and when needed.
    I am getting some diaries re: my Dads service shortly which may shed some more light on how REME operated, will post them when I receive them.
     
  5. idler

    idler GeneralList

    Infantry or armoured brigades would have had a 'Workshops attached to them, normally abbreviated as 'wksp' but seems to be 'w/s' on the service record.

    Units (e.g infantry battalions and armoured/artillery regiments) had a REME/IEME LAD - Light Aid Detachment - attached to them.

    I mention this because the service record says that he served in 43 Infantry Brigade Workshop, then went to the Scinde Horse. That implies he was in their LAD; as a captain he may well have been its commander. My understanding is that the LADs were not found from the workshops so the activities of the Scinde Horse's LAD are probably not covered by the Brigade Workshop's war diary you found; but you never know... There are some LAD diaries in WO 169 but I couldn't see one for the Scinde Horse.
     

Share This Page