What was a "Comp Issue Sec" unit? In the war diary I'm reading it is mentioned a few times in passing and abbreviated to "55 ICIS", with no context as to what it was or what it was doing. This list of 1944/45 36th Division units shows that there were 3 such units in the Division, belonging to the Indian Army Service Corps, but "Comp Issue Sec" still sounds like an abbreviation. Does anyone have any more information on them?
It's almost certainly 'Issue Section'. Comp for composite rations? The boys who collect, sort and distribute the food supplies?
Bingo Supplies are dropped from a Dakota to a forward Army division, and local Burmese villagers are employed to collect them, at Twinnge, Northern Burma. All the supplies to 29th Brigade 36th Division are dropped from the air. The handling of these supplies is carried out by the Indian Composite Issue Section RIASC (Royal Indian Army Service Corps) under the supervision of Subedar S D S Bokhary of Peshewar (India), and the Commanding Officer Captain J J Farrel of the… SUPPLIES TO THE FORWARD TROOPS IN NORTHERN BURMA (31/1/1945) | colonialfilm A crowd of local Burmese civilians. A British officer hands out payment chits. Closer shot handing over a chit. Civilians remove parachutes and heave wicker supply containers onto a lorry. Lorry drives away. Subedar Syed Daud Shah Bokhari of Peshawar (Composite Issue Section, Royal Indian Army Service Corps) directing civilians. A Douglas Dakota transport aircraft flies overhead and drops supplies by parachute; camera follows a bundle to the ground. More supplies are dropped. Civilians rush out onto the dropzone. Civilians gather parachutes and supplies; there are children present. Civilians unloading a lorry. Some civilians, hauling away a sack, are stopped by a soldier and the contents checked. Tins of food are emptied into a wicker basket. Loaves of bread are loaded into a basket. A British officer, Captain J J Farrel, Royal Scots Fusiliers, signs a receipt. Loading a lorry. A lorry arrives at a cookhouse. Cans are removed from a larger tin. Baking bread in an improvised mud oven. Making and frying biscuits. Man stirs a pan of stew. Making pies (?). Men queue for food. Food is dished up. Close-up British soldier eating. SUPPLIES TO THE FORWARD TROOPS IN NORTHERN BURMA [Allocated Title] | Imperial War Museums
Aha, that's it, thank you! That film must even specifically feature 55 ICIS as they were the unit with 29 Brigade at Twinnge.
