War Diary - 544 Company RASC (Bulk Petrol Transport)

OK, as part of researching my Grand-dads war service overseas I now have a full set of the war diaries for the 544 Company RASC (Bulk Petrol Transport). This company was formed in July 1942 as the 8 Company (Bulk Petrol) as part of the 1st Army. It became the 544 Company when the First army was disbanded and the British units became part of the 8th Army.

Prior to its breakup in October 1945 the company was responsible for all bulk petrol transport south of Rome and at one point including Sicily (assuming of course my reading of the returns etc. is correct).

Anyway, as part of the breakup the OC was asked to produce a unit history, (hopefully attached).





Near the end of its time, the unit struggled its committments, largely because a large proportion of men were absent under LIAP.

 

In August 1954 the OC was aked to produce a moral report.





So how was the CMF viewed in the UK? Was it as bad as the troops seemed to think? I also wonder as well if a lot of the unit were concerned that what they had been done wouldnt be viewed as being as important. (Just a guess, the RASC and other support units often seem to be forgotten).

The details of a death due to Infantile Paralysis hammer home the point that much has improved since then.

So, if anyone is interested I will work on uploading the diaries.

 

Of course continue putting them up. Other men were in this unit and their relatives may come along searching for the info. Don`t forget to type your grandfather`s name in the text so his name is searchable.

 

From WO170- 6130 251 Bulk Petrol Storage Section RASC 19th August 1945, Taranto Italy.

All MT80 for the Taranto Area now supplied by West Petrol Point (Comp Pln 544 Coy BPTC). Remaining stock at Il Fronte to be barrelled and despatched in accordance with instructions received from CRASC 11 Pet Insts.

WO170-6140 No 310 Bulk Petrol Storage Section RASC Jan 45, Sep 45 contains the attached pages below.

I would be most interested in any information from your Grandfathers unit diaries that might mention the 2 units here. I am particularly interested if there is anything mentioning the petrol pipelines that I believe were used to move fuel up Italy from the ports in the south.

My father spent July - Nov 45 in 251 BPSC at Taranto. Also, it looks like he went out to North Africa on the same convoy and was based in the same area for a while. Does your Grandfathers unit diary record anything about that in detail?

 

I'm out for the next couple of days so I'll have a close look over the weekend. I can find references to a railhead at Canosa where A platoon of the 544 BPTC were based but nothing jumps out about a pipeline. The information you've posted certainly helps a bit, especially naming the refineries.

My grandfather was on the Durban Castle as part of KMF 4, the diary at that point is quite sparse. Landing was at Algiers, once they'd disembarked they were immediately set to work.

All the diaries are on dropbox, if anyone is interested I'll share the link.

 

Hi, yes, definitely KMF4 but having difficulty pinning down which ship. Crucial weeks of diary missing!
I would certainly be interested in the diaries.
You can make out some of the Taranto oil installations in the attached map and photo, remnants of which can still be seen on Google Earth today.
PS the Taranto photo is upside down!

 

OK, so the paste from word made a pigs ear of all the formatting. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Anyway, for now a PDF of my transcription and copies of the jpegs,





View attachment 1942-08 War Diary.pdf

 

I don't understand the identifications of regiments etc. but my Dad left the UK, I think from Glasgow, in July 1943 to go to North Africa, Sicily and then Italy. His service record says that he was attached to 7 Bulk Petrol Field Company. Does this simply mean that he was an offshoot of the 8 Company (Bulk Petrol) or am I misunderstanding completely?

 

Hi

It looks like they may have been under 6 BPSC, or at least the workshop section for the early part of 1945. Monopoli refinery is in southern Italy, north of Taranto but on the Adriatic Coast. I understood that BPFC was Bulk Petrol Filling Company.

Can (no pun intended) anyone confirm?

It would be interesting to post his service record in a bit more detail

The diary for 251 BPSC records as follows

26 01 1945 Capt PHC Plumbly Taranto Two Pte Issuers attached from 7 BPFC with a view to training as Dipper Checkers.

and on

13 02 1945 Pte Dipper Checker posted to this unit ex 7 BPFC (Previously attached as Issuer. Trained and Trade Tested).

So I guess that 7 BPFC must have been operating in the vicinity of the oil installations at Taranto

 

Hutt, thank you so much. I can't tell you how long I have been trying to piece the few clues I had together. Must have been a naval base at least nearby because he met up with his brother who was in the navy with one of them taken in a bogus ambulance ride to enable this. Must have also been RAF somewhere close because he met up with his brother in law too. He wrote of a frightening fire but I guess that wasn't so unusual. He refused his medals because he thought that others did so much more to earn them and he never spoke of those years other than the previously mentioned incidents. Is there anywhere I can find out more?

I have scanned the applicable parts of his service record but they are not easy to read. View attachment DAD Service Record 10001.pdf

 

Happy to provide this snippet and the anecdotes are fascinating. Fighting fire in petrol handling units must have been a regular hazard especially as mentioned in one diary, it was handled in takers shunted by steam engines!
I should caution that the entries I quoted can only hint that his unit may have been in the vicinity but Taranto was certainly a major naval base and once the allies were established in Italy, were quick to open major airfields to support the fighting and begin a bomber offensive against southern Germany, the Balkans and eastern Europe.

It interesting to see how siblings could often meet up and I would be fascinated to know from any veterans how his was organised. I know from hints in letters (and family lore) that my father was able to meet with one of his brothers in the RE (15 Airfield construction Group) in Italy on more than one occasion and it is suggested from another letter that the Padre could help facilitate it. Even if he could, how did they know where each other was!
The most fascinating link up was between to other of my fathers brothers, (one in the Merchant Navy and the other in the REME) who were able to meet up in Alexandria. How was that organised!

 

OK, so onto September 1942, at this time the company were still forming and training. The men were being shown educational films and dealing with the ongoing war on the home front, In this case a aeroplane crash near the company workshops.

So the transcript of the diaries

View attachment 1942-09 War Diary.pdf

And the originals:





OC report on the aeroplane crash:



And the police commendation

 

October 1942 training continues, the company will go overseas at the end of November. My grandfather Driver T.A.W. Ward joins the company on the 3rd. At this point he'd been in the RASC for about 18 months.

Do the transcription:

View attachment 1942-10 War Diary.pdf

And page 1 of the original diary



And page 2

 

And finally November 1942. At the end of the month the company set sail on the "Durban Castle", bound for Algiers and eventually Italy.

So a transcript of the diary:
View attachment 1942-11 War Diary.pdf

The original diary pages:



And finally a couple of images of the ship carrying the company:




There are really to give some ideas of the conditions etc. If anyone has photos etc. which add further information then please let me know.