Hi, new to this but would dearly like to find out more about this unit which I believe my grandfather was in from mid 1943. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Can help post VE Day 8 May 45 94 Company (Bulk Petroleum Transport) – 1 Canadian Army Troops/37 Transport Column – 1 Corps District 12 Jul 45 – 4 Petroleum Installations 3 Oct 45 – 1 Corps District 27 Nov 45 – disbandment order issued 21 Apr 46 s'Heerenberg-NL north-east of Nijmegen-NL – Letmathe west of Iserlohn 5 Oct 45 – Husaren Kaserne Rheindorf Straße, Bonn 8 Oct 45 – Westkirchen south of Warendorf 12 Dec 45 – Duisburg 7 Jun 46 Platoon – Duisburg 14 Mar 46 21st Army Group later British Army of the Rhine (under construction)
Thank you. Am I reading that right, that the company was in the Netherlands and Germany after VE day. I do know that he was in Paris at some point which I believe was after it was liberated, so quite possibly after VE Day.
Hi, I think I've got some of the unit war diary from 1944 on an old laptop. Have you got his service records? Is that why you think he was in 94 Coy RASC? I took some notes at some point: June 1944 - Coy was in RIPON; moved to Clacton-on-Sea 14 - 15 June 1944. July 1944 - embarked SOUTHAMPTON - 6 July 1944; 7/8 July disembarked Normandy. By early Oct 1944, the Coy was in OSTEND area working under 37 Tpt Coln RASC and I think they remained in this role and location until the end of Dec 44. Some, at least of the tanker vehicles that the coy was equipped with were Bedford 88 Gallon Bulk petrol lorries. Most RASC WDs don't include that many details of other ranks, but some do contain movement orders which include service numbers, ranks, names, etc so if you wanted to post those up here I can take a look and see if any of the photos I took of the war diary include your grandfather. Good luck with your research. Regards Tom
Thanks. I don't have any details or service numbers, unfortunately. I do have his cigarette lighter which I was told was from his time in the war, it's like an ashtray with a fixed lighter set in like a candle, with a removable cap which has '94 COY R.A.S.C. (B.P.T.)' engraved on it, and a cut out shape of a lorry on the top, so I thought that was the place to start looking.
His name was HAKES. He had some friends called PICTON, MARSHALL and TATE who may also be in the same Company. Thanks.
Hi 'FB', Sorry, I had a look through and none of those names appears in the war diary for 1944 as far as I can see in the parts I copied. I'd recommend getting a copy of his service records before you go any further. That will confirm if he did serve with 94 Coy and, if so, exactly when he did so. I haven't got any of the Field Returns (except that for 16 Sep 44) but sometimes other ranks who are in hospital, on course, etc are mentioned by name as being 'particularly' wanted back. The war diary is quite brief and mainly covers transport details, so far example that for 17 September 1944 is: "C Pl reported back to location 0255 hrs having delivered 24,000 Gals MT 80 (i.e. petrol) as follows 12000 Gals to 24 MPFC. 1200 Gals to 36 MPFC. Report Centre at Le Translay moved and established at Map Ref 553623. 2 ORs left at BLANGY 6266 as Report Centre." I think MPFC stands for Mobile Petrol Filling Centre - so basically the company was shifting petrol forward along the supply chain to where it was needed by forward troops. I hope that helps. Regards Tom
Hi Tom, Thanks for taking the time to look, I know that it's very time consuming. I'll have to see about getting his service records, this is literally day 3 of my search. I know that he was called up in June 1943. I previously thought he was with the Royal Anglian Regiment, but it makes more sense for him to be BPT as he was a lorry driver all his life. I've heard confirmation that he was moving petrol, and have now seen some photos of him from that time, some in Paris and some at a large pipe. Thanks again FB
