B.S.R.U what do they mean ?

Discussion in 'The War In The Air' started by izzy, Aug 24, 2011.

  1. izzy

    izzy Senior Member

    On the Unit text for a casualty named on C.W.G.C site are the initials B.S.R.U. The casualty was a Leading Aircraftsman and his name is Edward Stead.
     
  2. wowtank

    wowtank Very Senior Member

    Base Signal Radar Unit??
     
  3. izzy

    izzy Senior Member

    Thanks for your quick answer.
     
  4. wowtank

    wowtank Very Senior Member

    Thanks for your quick answer.

    I have no idea if that is correct. Just what I found on Google .
     
  5. AlanW

    AlanW Senior Member

    Can confirm, Base Signals and Radar Unit.
     
  6. DoctorD

    DoctorD WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    I served in No.6 BSRU BAFO at the end of hostilities in 1944, on disbandment of 2 nd TAF Mobile Signals units and MSSU's. It was based on an exLuftwaffe airfield at Stade, 9 miles NW of Hamburg. BSRU stands for Base Signals Repair Unit, for it was there that all of the vehicles from disbanded MSU's were concentrated and the large complement of Wireless Mechanics and MT Fitters were employed in their maintenance. Some of these were purchased by the French Air Force to equip their newly formed Units in the Midi of France.
    Les
     
  7. ritsonvaljos

    ritsonvaljos Senior Member

    Can anyone assist if they have any information regarding how LAC Stead and others from the B.S.R.U. (RAFVR) lost their lives on this 7 November 1944? Checking "Geoff's (Wonderful) Search Engine" there appears to be over 200 B.S.R.U. casualties on that date alone (239 actually).

    Many of these B.S.R.U. casualties killed on that day appear, like LAC Edward Stead, to be buried in Oostende New Communal Cemetery. There are also a large number who have no known grave and are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

    The first thing that comes to my mind about Oostende & Belgium around that time in November 1944 would be V-weapon attacks, many of which were used to target Belgium. A V-2 hit could also explain the seemingly large number of deaths on the same day. Posssibly some kindly WW2 researcher Belgium may already have the information one way or the other?

    Part of my reason for asking is researching the possible reason and location for another B.S.R.U. casualty on that day who is commemorated on the Runnymede memorial:

    LAC John Leech, RAFVR
    Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
    Unit Text: B.S.R.U.
    Age: 21
    Date of Death: 07/11/1944
    Service No: 1671149
    Additional information: Son of Alexander Leech, and of Bridget Leech, of Saltaire, Yorkshire.
    Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
    Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 243.
    Memorial: RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL, Surrey (U.K.)

    Possibly (but only conjectures at this stage):
    ( a ) Could LAC John Leech have died in the same incident as LAC Stead;
    and
    ( b ) Could LAC John Leech have been buried as an unidentified casualty in Oostende New Cemetery? (If he died in Belgium this may be the case).

    Thanks in advance to anyone who may be able to assist.
     
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  8. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    see this thread about LST 420
    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/war-sea/16126-lst-420-a.html
     
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  9. ritsonvaljos

    ritsonvaljos Senior Member

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  10. John Marshall

    John Marshall Junior Member

    My late father was an RN survivor.

    If you check you will see my other posts.

    The RAF component I had listed along with the others from longhand serches of the CWGC site before it became searchable by other methods.

    I had managed this year to get as far as the BSRU which I understood to be the Base Signals and Radar Unit.

    I had lists of those lost and of those buried.

    Leech and Stead appear to be in that group.

    The American LST site has an eye witness report, which also, as I recollect identifies other LST's involved in the convoy and picking up survivors.

    The key problem, apart from the weather, was , as I understand it, that the convoy had no escort vessels and they could not turn round in the narrow seaway, partly due to the weather. A destroyer with a lower freeboard could have pulled people from the water. As it was scrambling nets were put out, but those who had been in the water for about 2 hours did not have the strength to climb them.

    I have passed papers on to the Landing Craft Assoc.which for the RN personnel detail the ship's movements from commissioning in the USa to its sailing from the Med. for D-Day duties.

    Happy to help any enquirer.
     
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  11. tracey138

    tracey138 New Member

    I have been trying to find out more about my mother's cousin who died on 7.11.1944 and is remembered at Runnymede.
    I had wrongly presumed he was lost from a flight over ? The English Channel.
    Thank you so much for this past 'thread' that I found on Google. This is my first time at joining a Blog
    Can anyone give me any more links/photos/relevant information?

    My mother's cousin was
    Leading Aircraftman STANLEY PERCY REES
    1397999, BSRU, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
    dies 7th November 1944....
    Remembered with honour RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL
     
  12. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Panel attached from Runnymede

    REES, STANLEY PERCY

    Rank:

    Leading Aircraftman

    Service No:

    1397999

    Date of Death:

    07/11/1944

    Age:

    22

    Regiment/Service:

    Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve



    B.S.R.U.

    Panel Reference

    Panel 242.

    Memorial

    RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL

    Additional Information:
    Son of Percy William and Daisy Flora Rees; husband of Constance Lilian Rees, of Southgate, Middlesex.

    regards
    Clive
     

    Attached Files:

  13. tracey138

    tracey138 New Member

    Thank you Clive
     
  14. mvdv84

    mvdv84 Well-Known Member

  15. Jo Ellis

    Jo Ellis New Member


    Here is a lovely piece written about the sinking of LST 420 on 7/11/44. sadly although it was the biggest single loss of life from an LST in WW2, the wreckage of the ship was not designated as a war grave, and the wreckage was salvaged in the early 1990s as depth and wreckage was becoming an issue in busy shipping lanes.
    "Belgians Remember Them": RAF unaccounted Personnel
     
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  16. Noel Mara

    Noel Mara New Member

    Hi Dr D
    I realize this response to your text above is 10 years in the making but I have just seen it as I am new to WW2 Talk Forum. Are you still engaged in this forum? My father served with 6 BSFU in late 1944 thru to late 1945 at Stade near Hamburg. Oddly my dad was a SGT PTI (Physical Training Instructor and served most of the war years on the continent after D Day with 8 RAF Hospital in France (Bayeux) Brussels and then Rinteln Germany before going to Stade. I am puzzled as to what a PTI would be doing at No 6 BSRU? While serving with the 8 RAF Hospital I believe that a PTI was employed like a physical therapist - but at 6 BSRU I am not sure what he did. Does the National Archives have an info on 6 BSRU? Do you have any information on their time in Hamburg?
    Thank you for your service wherever you may be. Noel Mara
     
  17. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Dr D last on forum July 2020
     
  18. Jo Ellis

    Jo Ellis New Member

    LST 420 was the biggest loss of life from an LST during the Second World War.
    She sailed from England into Ostend but couldn’t enter the port due to a storm. The Captain turned her around and set to return to the UK. It was on the way back that she hit a mine and was lost. Reports from some of the survivors say the loss of life was so huge because the ship was carrying many vehicles - all with full fuel tanks and the galley stoves were lit for the preparation of the evening meal.
    The wreckage was salvaged to clear the shipping Channel in 1992.
    My Uncle, Warrant Officer George Stanley Harman, was RAF with the BSRU- and is commemorated on Panel 213 at Runnymede.
     
  19. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Panel photo from my collection

    upload_2021-4-9_21-18-53.png
     
  20. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

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