Hello Bruneval, Can you help with this? My father- inlaw was a driver during ww2 and after serving with 385 DUKW company in Italy he took Python leave to the uk. On his return he was posted to 14 Army Transport Company RASC. He joined them in Milan on the 29/9/45. He was released from service on the 8/12/45 in Vienna and disembarked for the UK on 7th Jan 1946. Does this tie in with the info you have on this company at that time? If so is there any way that I can take a look at the war diaries for that period. Kind regards James
Hi James, Unfortunately, these are the only pieces of the War Diary I have not copied; I intend to do get the rest of the War Diary on my next visit to TNA. I'll send you a copy once I have them. Would you happen to have any photos of your father-in-law with 14 Coy in Klagenfurt? Regards Bruneval.
Hi Bruneval, That sounds good, I will look forward to seeing those documents when you have them. My father inlaw is george ernest beardwell and most of his photos are in africa or italy. I do have 3 photos which have no place or date or any other info on them and the men are not in uniform either. I will copy them to you individually. Cheers james
Hi Bruneval, The first photo for you is in George's collection but he is not in the photo. He joined 14 coy to retrain so could the vehicle be something he retrained on. I have no idea what it is, can you identify it, is your relative in the photo? if you can't see the photo clearly I can send a hi res one some other way. Cheers james
Hello Bruneval I am a new member and new to all this and I’m trying to decipher my Grandad’s service record. He served in RASC and spent some time in the 14 COY. Will attach a copy of his pages showing this. I would love to find out more about his time with the RASC. Hope you can help. Thank you. Martina Butler
Good afternoon Martina, Thank you for posting the photos of your grand father's war record. Hopefully, you have had a chance to read the War Diary for the period of time your grandfather was with 14 Coy? He joined 14 Coy on I think 18 March 1942 (images are pixelated). This was at a time when 14 Coy was involved in assisting in the construction of railway heads in the area of Misheifa, Egypt. Also, they ran convoys from Capuzzo to Tobruk. The unit came under sporadic aircraft attacks during this work with one soldier being killed at the end of Mar' 42. During June 1942, the unit is forced to withdraw eastwards due to the German offensive which resulted in the majority of 14 Coy being captured. These prisoners would later be transferred to Italy. Unfortunately, a handful of 14 Coy soldiers were amongst those on board an Italian P.O.W ship which was torpedoed by a British submarine, although one of the 14 Coy soldiers did survive the sinking. By the time, your grandfather leaves the Company in Oct '43, he is now in Bari, Italy. The above is a very brief description as I do have a large amount of detail on 14 Company, the sinking of the SS Scillin, the prisoners, life as a prisoner in N Africa prior to being transferred to Italy, a former 14 Company soldier who became a spy etc...Happy to pass on more information if you wish? Regards Bruneval
Oh my goodness.. this is fascinating!…but heartbreaking also to read. Would love to see/hear any information / pics you have. There is no mention on his paperwork of any capture.. is that something they would purposely omit? There is no mention of any injury or hospitalisation either so he was either extremely lucky or the details were not recorded. Who knows? I know he was awarded the Africa star with 8th clasp so he must of made it out of Egypt? Not sure if I have this correct? Any other info would be amazing. Thank you so so much! Martina
Hi Martina, As there is no record of him being captured or wounded, I would suggest he was one of the lucky ones from 14 Company who evaded being caught. The Company was close to being disbanded due to the numbers left, however the unit was refitted with troops and equipment and carried on through Italy to Austria at the end of the war.
He must of been extremely lucky! There is a photo on this thread with the men standing in front of a tank.. one of the men does look like my Grandad, so hoping he wasn’t one of the poor fellows that were captured. I will attach the only photo I have of him in uniform. Oh my goodness.. I have so many questions.. (I am reading through the war diaries you have posted.. although I don’t understand most of the codes used I am slowly picking up an idea of their daily routines…) Is there any way of finding out if he was captured .. is there a list? and do you know if POWs were awarded medals? … Africa Star, Italy Star? Were the 14 Company classed as part of the 8th Army? Desert Rats? The research you have undertaken is truly wonderful. It must have taken you months and months to compile it all. Thank you Thank you thank you!!! Martina
The vehicle in the first pic s a Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT). I think it is an LVT 4 which had a ramp at the bacl so (small) vehicles could drive in and be transported acrss a water obstacle. Chris