Abbreviations in Service Records (UK/ Army/ WWII) : For ref.

Welcome KPGriff,

I would recommend you start a new thread on your research in this part of the forum: Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy

Please add his full name, Date of Birth and Service Number? It will help others to help you. Plus, images and scans are not indexed.

Guidance on uploading / scanning is within: How to Start a new Thread / Edit Post / Upload Image

A visual guide to ‘Start’ is in Post 19 in: George William Knock

The two reference sites for abbreviations I use regularly are: WW2 Abbreviations and Acronyms | Researching the Lives and Records of WW2 Soldiers and a 2025 edition see: Updated WW2 abbreviations & acronyms

Do you have his full Service Record (as id'd by Tony56 above)? The two scans come from different places, the Field Return accompanies the War Diary (to my knowledge) and the Postings sheet is from an soldier's record.

Your subject's record is held by TNA, but it is 'Closed' as their procedures require an official document recording his death (CWGC entry will do). See: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C18728617

Follow the link and TNA explain: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/mod-closed-foi-request-step1/C19248003 A Death Certificate can be ordered via: https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/

 

You asked:

The record id'd by Tony56 has the Service Number: 1502118. That was issued before early 1942, following his enlistment into the Royal Artillery (RA). From: Army Number Search

The number 233 refers to a Battery in a RA Regiment, namely the 75 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt. commonly abbreviated as HAA. Two members operate a RA reference site and that is very helpful: 75 (Home Counties)(Cinque Ports) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA (TA) - The Royal Artillery 1939-45

It states: Persia & Iraq Command (PAI Force), a command that protected the oilfields in southern Iran, around Abadan and the railway and roads that moved supplies from Basra, Iraq and other ports north to the USSR. There are a few threads here about the command.

More history on: 1st Cinque Ports Artillery Volunteers - Wikipedia

The regt. was suspended in July 1944, the threat from air attacks was over and manpower was needed elsewhere. This thread refers to a gunner joining the infantry in Italy: 56 (LONDON) INFANTRY DIVISION (1943-45)

An online search with: "75 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment" site:ww2talk.com id'd a few threads here and a few with: "75 HAA Regiment" site:ww2talk.com the small number reflects that their postings beyond the UK do not attract much attention and research.

 

BSS = British Staging Section
Source: The Army Medical Services : Campaigns Volume I by F.A.E. Crew. HMSO 1956

 

I am researching my Fathers WW2 Army Records and have come across an abbreviation that I would like some assistance with understanding. (See attached snip)
I have managed (I think) to work out what most of these mean.
ie RHU = Reinforcement Holding Unit
X(ii) = for all ranks evacuated on medical grounds (and the idea being that they would return to their unit of origin in due course); thus, X (ii) referred to soldiers awaiting transfer to a hospital, etc., i.e. being on the sick list
X(iv) = were un-posted reinforcements, i.e. soldiers waiting to be posted to a unit; e.g.: an escaped PoW who is fit for duty and has returned to Army lines would be on the X(iv) list while waiting to be posted to a unit. In other words, when on the X (iv) list, the soldier is awaiting integration into his unit of destination; e.g.: he might be stationed in a transit camp while waiting to be integrated into his regiment. Even if X (iv) covers a very short period (it could be a day or a few days only), it is important to the Army in order to attest to where the soldier is, and doing what.
TOS = Taken On Strength

I have failed to get a satisfactory interpretation for CRHZH. Anyone know what this means?

Steve

 

Steve,

What is the context for CRHZH please?

In WW2 the UK used a convoy or draft five letter code to mark soldier's personal kit and equipment prior to a voyage overseas. Originally to conceal the convoy's destination.

The date of embarkation, sometimes with the port and destination port and date can identify the convoy. Where were the named RHU units? I suspect it is a cross-Channel voyage given teh dates, i.e. reinforcements after D-Day.

Guidance on uploading / scanning is within: How to Start a new Thread / Edit Post / Upload Image

No trace here or online.

 

David - you should go to specsavers - again the poster has put this in his original post.

Cut and paste means cut out the bit of your paste that does not apply.

 

Yes, I know and the correction was made before sighting your post.

 

David, thanks for your response. The draft 5 letter code mark makes sense, given the context and from other research I know that my Father was heading to join the BLA in France and thereafter heading up into NWE. As you can probably deduce, I am new to this so all comments and suggestions are gratefully received.
I am not sure where the RHUs were as the records just say Home, but as he was in Orpington War Hospital just prior to being moved around a few RHUs I am currently assuming they were in Kent, but this could obviously be wrong. My Father was in the RA and spent most of his time post D-Day, until the end of the war, with the 86th Anti-Tank Regiment in NWE. However, from his record I have discovered that on the 21/11/44 he was wounded while with the 75th A/T. There is no record of him, transferring to the 75th and on his return to active service he is recorded as being with the 86th. This is my main point of interest at the moment. Trying to identify where and how he was wounded. Unfortunately, he died when I was 18 and he did not talk about any of his time in the army while he was alive.

 

My thanks to davidbfpo for his help and guidance. I will start a new thread later, as he has suggested and post future queries, data etc to the new thread. Thanks, in advance, to anyone who helps.

 

Steve,

Regimental Holding Unit (RHU) appear regularly in threads here. My recollection is the Royal Artillery had their own, makes sense due to their size 800k worldwide. See explanation of their role: Reinforcement Holding Unit | Researching the Lives and Records of WW2 Soldiers

I suggest you do an online search, so for e.g. "30 RHU" site:ww2talk.com or with the full name! Post 7 was id'd by me that by 11/7/1944 30 RHU was in France, taken from reading a Service Record: https://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/patrick-john-barrett-died-19-06-1947.110027/

Service Records were maintained by clerks at Corps / Regimental HQ, invariably back in the UK, based on the notifications received (which were not retained post-war), which including slips of paper. Some think they were kept by the unit. This helps to explain the difference between the dates shown and the importance of having the actual date.

 

Hi David, I know I said I would start a new thread, but I do not seem to have the 'New Thread' button as described in the instructions for which you sent a link.

Is it possible there were 2 30 RHUs (I doubt it). The reason for asking is that in my Fathers record it definitely shows him being TOS at 30 RHU from Orpington Hospital 10/8/44, which is before he embarked for France (30/8/44). You can see this in the snip I inserted on my initial submission.

It does get a bit confusing, because some of the dates are out of order, but you can see that he got moved around a few RHUs between being released from the hospital and embarking for France, but they are all marked as Home. At the moment, I am assuming the 27/9/44 is the date of the entry rather than an actual move date and the sequence of events is as follows.

Orpington Hospital to 30 RHU to 45 RHU to 40 RHU to 42 RHU to Embarking for France as part of 86th A/T Rgmt. I am planning another trip to TNA in a few weeks and will order the war diaries covering 1944 for each of the units, which hopefully will clarify this. I will let you know what I find out.

Regards.

Steve

 

Steve,

All noted.

To start a thread in this example going to the suggested: Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy Top right beneath the search function box is 'Start New Thread'.

 

Thanks. Found it.